Interim Chief Technology Officer

Interim Chief Technology Officer (CTO)

Location: UK (Hybrid)

Duration: 6-9 months

Type: Interim

Start: ASAP

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Interim Chief Technology Officer to join one of the UK’s leading financial services platforms at a pivotal moment in its evolution. This is a high-impact leadership role focused on stabilising, modernising, and repositioning a large-scale technology function within a highly regulated environment. The organisation operates a complex, mission-critical digital platform serving millions of customers and managing significant assets. The successful candidate will provide executive-level technology leadership, restore confidence and clarity across engineering and product teams, and shape a credible, forward-looking technology strategy aligned with business goals. This is not a maintenance role. It is a transformation mandate.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership
• Define and articulate a clear, pragmatic technology strategy aligned to commercial and regulatory objectives
• Partner with the CEO, CFO, and executive team to position technology as a strategic enabler
• Provide Board-level reporting and confidence in delivery, resilience, and risk management
• Technology Modernisation
• Assess current architecture, platforms, and operating model
• Develop a realistic roadmap to modernise legacy systems and improve scalability, resilience, and security
• Improve platform stability and operational performance
• Introduce modern engineering standards and DevOps practices where appropriate
• Organisational Effectiveness
• Evaluate the existing technology leadership structure and capabilities
• Clarify accountabilities across engineering, architecture, product, data, and security
• Strengthen delivery discipline and execution rigour
• Build a high-performance, accountable engineering culture
• Regulatory & Risk Oversight
• Ensure technology meets regulatory expectations in a UK financial services environment
• Strengthen governance, controls, and operational resilience
• Provide assurance around cyber security, data protection, and platform integrity
• Stakeholder Management
• Rebuild trust across business units
• Act as a credible and confident voice of technology internally and externally
• Engage constructively with regulators where required

What We’re Looking For

Essential Experience

• Previous CTO experience in a scaled, regulated financial services organisation
• Proven track record leading large engineering teams (300+ FTE ideally)
• Experience stabilising and modernising legacy technology environments
• Demonstrable experience operating at Board and ExCo level
• Strong understanding of risk, governance, and regulatory frameworks in UK financial services

Transformation Capability

• Experience leading through complexity and ambiguity
• Able to balance short-term stability with long-term transformation
• Skilled in diagnosing organisational dysfunction and implementing pragmatic solutions
• Comfortable making difficult structural and capability decisions

Leadership Profile

• Calm, credible, and outcomes-focused
• High emotional intelligence and strong stakeholder management skills
• Hands-on enough to interrogate architecture and delivery issues, but strategic in orientation
• Able to build trust quickly in an established organisation

Why This Role?

• Opportunity to shape the next era of technology in a household-name financial services platform
• Executive-level visibility and influence
• Complex and meaningful transformation mandate
• Immediate impact opportunity

Ideal Candidate Background

We are particularly interested in candidates who have:

• Led technology functions in wealth management, investment platforms, retail banking, or similar regulated sectors
• Delivered large-scale core platform modernisation
• Managed significant operational resilience and cyber security oversight
• Experience in both digital platform environments and legacy modernisation

How to Apply

If you are an experienced technology leader with a track record of stabilising and transforming complex technology functions, we would welcome a confidential conversation.