CTO

White Horse Employmentare supporting an established technology business in the appointment of a CTO / R&D Director to lead its global software engineering and R&D function. Reporting directly to the Managing Director, this is a senior leadership role responsible for technology strategy, engineering delivery, software quality, architecture, team performance and operational excellence.

A key priority will be transitioning the organisation towards a more product-led development model, while reducing dependency on individual technical experts and strengthening engineering leadership across international teams.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead and develop global engineering and R&D teams, including engineering managers and technical leads.
• Shape and deliver the technology and engineering strategy.
• Transition the organisation towards a scalable, product-led development model.
• Improve delivery predictability, engineering quality and operational performance.
• Drive greater use of automated testing, DevOps and modern engineering practices.
• Establish meaningful engineering KPIs around delivery, quality and recovery.
• Oversee architecture, deployment standards and technical decision-making across cloud and on-premise environments.
• Strengthen succession planning, knowledge sharing and engineering capability.
• Manage third-party development partners and external technical resources.
• Embed secure-by-design principles and support relevant regulatory requirements.
• Lead the organisation's adoption ofAI-assisted software development , delivering measurable improvements in productivity, quality, speed and cost.

About you:

• 15+ years' software engineering/technology experience.
• 5+ years' at CTO, VP Engineering, Engineering Director, R&D Director or equivalent level.
• Experience leadingdistributed international engineering teams .
• A track record of transforming engineering organisations towardsproduct-led development .
• Strong experience within SaaS, enterprise software, cloud, transportation/mobility or another complex software environment.
• Experience developing engineering managers and future technical leaders.
• Strong understanding of modern software engineering, architecture, DevOps and cloud technologies.
• Proven experience implementingAI within the software development lifecycle .
• The credibility to work effectively with highly experienced technical specialists while providing clear strategic leadership.
• Experience within private equity, acquisitive or multi-business-unit environments would be advantageous, as would additional European language skills.