Head of Client Engineering – Client Implementation in Manchester

About Finova

Finova is the UK’s largest financial services technology provider, supporting one in every five mortgages nationwide. Our agile, cloud-native solutions enable over 60 banks, building societies, specialist lenders, equity release providers and a network of 2,400+ brokers to stay ahead in a competitive market. Built on open architecture and backed by deep industry expertise, our platform is designed to scale. Each year, we process over £50 billion in loans, manage nearly £50 billion in savings, and support the digital servicing of more than 650,000 UK borrower accounts. Be part of a team that’s driving innovation, enabling growth and shaping the future of UK lending.

About The Role

As the Discipline Lead for Client Engineering, you will be responsible for the quality, consistency and governance of solution design across all client delivery programmes. You will set the vision and standards for how Finova’s products are implemented and integrated, ensuring approaches are scalable, repeatable and aligned to modern engineering practices. Acting as the organisation’s senior authority on client‑facing technical design, you will shape implementation architectures, challenge requirements where appropriate, and ensure solutions are resilient, supportable and fit for long‑term evolution. You will work closely with senior client stakeholders, as well as internal Product, Engineering, Delivery and Support teams, to maintain alignment with roadmap priorities and platform integrity. A key part of the role includes leading the capability and career development of the Client Engineering discipline. You will own hiring standards, skill frameworks, onboarding and ongoing development across UK and India teams. You will also hold formal responsibility for solution governance; directing architectural decisions, managing exceptions and reducing design‑related delivery risks. Your leadership will directly influence solution quality, go‑live stability and the consistency of client implementations across all delivery locations.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Define and own the Engineering vision, setting practical, product‑aligned design standards, methods and architectural patterns across all our implemented products.
• Act as senior technical authority with clients, shaping optimal architectures, challenging requirements and owning end‑to‑end solution integrity.
• Ensure high‑quality, scalable and supportable solutions, maintaining living design artefacts and ensuring long‑term serviceability.
• Drive engineering quality and reduce delivery risk, improving design‑related defects, rework, incidents and go‑live stability.
• Lead technical governance, approving architectural exceptions, defining “what good looks like,” and preventing recurring design‑driven issues.
• Own capability, standards and career pathways for all Client Engineers, ensuring strong hiring, onboarding and skill development.
• Build and lead a thriving Client Engineering community, maintaining reference architectures, reusable assets and best practices.
• Provide strategic stewardship of the discipline, supporting workforce planning, skills forecasting and sustainable utilisation.

About You

You’ll be a seasoned engineering and architectural leader who thrives in complex, multi‑product delivery environments. You bring:

• Extensive experience designing and governing enterprise‑scale software implementations, ideally within financial services or similarly regulated industries.
• Deep understanding of modern architecture patterns (cloud‑native, integration design, API‑led connectivity, security‑by‑design).
• Strong client‑facing credibility, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders, negotiate technical direction and challenge constructively.
• A track record of driving engineering standards, improving design quality and reducing production or delivery risk.
• Experience leading and developing technical teams or disciplines, including capability frameworks, hiring and mentorship.
• Confidence in technical governance, architectural review processes and managing non‑standard or high‑risk designs.
• A mindset focused on scalability, operational resilience, maintainability and long‑term supportability of client solutions.
• Collaborative leadership style, able to partner effectively across Product, Delivery, Support and Engineering.

What We Offer

• Hybrid working: At Finova, we believe the best outcomes come from working together - and having the flexibility to work in a way that suits both our people and our business.
• Holiday: 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, bank holiday trading and holiday purchase options, the opportunity to work from anywhere in the world for up to 4 weeks per year.
• Looking After You: Life Assurance, Group Income Protection, Private Medical Insurance, a pension scheme via Salary Exchange, an Employee Assistance Programme, and access to a Virtual GP.
• Family-Friendly Policies: Enhanced maternity and paternity pay, as well as paid time off for fertility treatments and pregnancy loss.
• Extra Perks: Cycle to Work Scheme, discounts on shops, restaurants, and gym memberships, free fresh fruit daily, and opportunities to join colleague networks and social groups.
• Giving Back: One paid volunteering day annually and the Give-As-You-Earn scheme to support your favourite charities.

Equal Opportunity Statement: We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. If you’re passionate about this role but don’t meet all the criteria, please reach out—we’d love to discuss how your skills and experiences align with our needs.