At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead our engineering team and shape the technical direction of CarbonChain.
- Company: Join a pioneering climate tech startup focused on carbon accounting.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible working hours, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Dynamic startup environment with a focus on innovation and collaboration.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in the fight against climate change while leading a talented team.
- Qualifications: Extensive software engineering experience and strong leadership skills.
The predicted salary is between 90000 - 110000 £ per year.
About CarbonChain
The fight against Climate Change is evolving rapidly. Climate tech is changing. The first wave was reporting. The next is treating carbon the way companies treat money: as a way to decide what to buy, who to sell to, and which incentives to claim. Around the world, carbon is becoming a condition of trade. Border taxes, free allocations, green premiums, cheaper capital. It looks a lot like the post-war rebuild: governments put capital and tax incentives on the table, and the companies that could keep the books moved first. The missing piece then was bookkeeping. The missing piece now is the same, carbon accounting. CarbonChain is that bookkeeping. We turn messy, real-world supply-chain data into numbers a trader, a sustainability lead, or a CFO will actually use. We want people who are agents of change, who feel the impact of climate change and know there is no way around it to create a better future for every being. People who know the customer is the truth of how a company thrives. People who treat data as the fuel for how fast society can change. People who use AI to accelerate the cause for good by working through an AI lens first to automate repetitive tasks and analyse data. Finally, people who enjoy working with people.
Our Product
We help the world's largest commodity producers and traders measure and cut emissions, with verified primary data where we can get it and defensible defaults where we cannot. The platform turns operational and supplier files into decision-grade carbon and compliance insight: sourcing, CBAM, product and corporate footprints, reporting customers and regulators will stand behind.
We organise carbon accounting around the user in four contexts at once:
- Immediate: the tools in front of them
- Internal: how they work with colleagues
- External: how they work with suppliers and customers
- Societal: how they work with society, governments, and disclosing bodies
The data we hold is only useful if it makes all four of those jobs easier.
About the Role
We're looking for a Head of Engineering to lead our engineering team through its next stage of growth. Reporting to CEO, you'll own how we build: our technical direction, architecture, quality standards, delivery process, and, most importantly, the team itself. This is a leadership role rather than a hands-on coding one. Your impact will come through the decisions you steer, the standards you set, and the engineers you hire and grow. You'll still need deep technical credibility to challenge designs, weigh trade-offs, and earn the trust of engineers and customers alike. As a startup, we move fast and make pragmatic decisions. You'll balance speed with quality in a domain where data accuracy, auditability, and trust are non-negotiable. You'll also act as the voice of technology across the business and with our customers, and help shape how CarbonChain uses AI, both in engineering and across the company.
What You'll Do
- Own technical strategy and decision-making: set the direction for our platform, make and document key technical decisions, and keep engineering aligned with company goals as they evolve.
- Steer architectural decisions across our system, from ingestion pipelines and provenance tracking to CBAM data sharing workflows, so that what we build is scalable, reliable, and audit-ready.
- Build, coach, and nurture the team through hiring, onboarding, regular 1:1s, career development, and performance management, creating an environment where engineers do their best work and want to stay.
- Own quality across engineering by defining our QA strategy, testing approach, and code review practices. You won't review every PR, but you'll make sure reviews are consistent, effective, and uphold our standards.
- Build and maintain an engineering process playbook covering how we plan, scope, ship, handle incidents, and learn from retrospectives, and mature it as the team grows without adding unnecessary bureaucracy.
- Make sure priorities are well maintained and balanced by working with Product, Sales, Customer Success, and the Carbon Team to agree trade-offs between new features, technical debt, reliability, and customer commitments.
- Lead AI adoption in the engineering team, through AI-assisted development, tooling, and workflows, and across the wider business, identifying high-value opportunities and setting sensible guardrails given the sensitivity of customer data.
- Act as the face of technology at CarbonChain: join client calls where needed, explain our architecture and data handling to enterprise customers, and support security and procurement conversations.
- Partner with the leadership team on headcount planning, engineering budget, tooling, and infrastructure costs.
- Champion a culture of ownership, pragmatism, and customer focus, staying comfortable with ambiguity and changing priorities while keeping the long-term picture in mind.
What We're Looking For
Extensive experience in software engineering, including significant...
Head of Engineering employer: CarbonChain
At CarbonChain, we are not just a startup; we are a mission-driven team dedicated to tackling the climate crisis through innovative technology. Our vibrant work culture fosters collaboration and creativity, offering generous benefits such as a £2,000 annual learning allowance, private healthcare, and a supportive environment for professional growth. Join us in our Camden office, where you will have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact while enjoying perks like team lunches and subsidised gym classes.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Head of Engineering
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at CarbonChain or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to CarbonChain.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like CarbonChain.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like CarbonChain that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Head of Engineering
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at CarbonChain.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at CarbonChain and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at CarbonChain
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If CarbonChain uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.