Head of Identity Platform
About iProov
iProov is the world leader in biometric verification. We are on a mission to make the world a safer place for businesses and consumers and work with fantastic customers across a number of industry sectors - organisations using our technology include the US Department of Homeland Security, the UK Home Office, the NHS, Eurostar, the Australian government, the Singapore government, UBS and many more.
Diversity at iProov is about reflecting the customers we serve, holding the principles of equality and inclusion at the heart of everything we do and all that we stand for, embracing differences, creating possibilities, and growing together. We aim to foster a culture where individuals of all backgrounds feel confident in bringing their whole selves to work, feel included and their talents are nurtured, empowering them to contribute fully to our purpose.
The Role
Reports to: CIO
Location: London or Sweden
Comp: Negotiable (base) + Company Performance Bonus (20%) + Equity + iProov Benefits
The aim of the role is a mix between technical expertise and team leadership for building, maintaining, and evolving the identity platform. This is a critical, hybrid role that combines people leadership with deep technical ownership. The person will not only guide the team but also work in the trenches with them, contributing directly to the code, making key architectural decisions, and setting the standard for technical excellence.
The primary objective will be to foster a supportive environment that enables the team to thrive, manage technical debt, and scale for the future, all while ensuring the platform's security, privacy, and robustness.
How you can make an impact
- People Leadership: Manage, coach, and mentor a team of experienced backend developers. This includes career development, performance management, and fostering a culture of intellectual honesty and collaboration.
- Hands-on Development & Code Review: Contribute directly to the codebase by designing and implementing key features. Tackle the most complex technical challenges and perform critical code reviews to maintain high standards of quality and security.
- Architectural Ownership: Own and define the technical vision and architectural roadmap for the Identity platform. High-level decisions will be made to ensure the system is built to be secure, scalable, and robust "by design."
- Technical Stewardship: Guide the team's technical vision and strategy. Efforts will be overseen to reduce tech debt, improve documentation, code readability, daily work processes and tooling.
- Process and Delivery: Shield the team from undue pressure while ensuring the successful delivery of new features and maintenance tasks. This Lead role will act as the key point of contact between the technical team and Product Team and other Business stakeholders, translating business needs into technical requirements and vice-versa.
- Facilitate Knowledge Transition: Actively manage the process of knowledge sharing and distributing codebase ownership from senior members to the wider team, mitigating the risks of single-person dependencies.
- Team Scaling: Prepare the team for future growth by establishing best practices and being responsible for hiring and onboarding new members.
What we would like to see from you
- Identity Domain Expertise: Deep technical experience with the iProov identity platform is a must have.
- Proven Hands-on Leadership: Demonstrable experience leading a technical team while remaining a significant individual contributor. A history of successfully owning a codebase and taking responsibility for its entire lifecycle.
- Strong Technical Foundation: A background in "real-world software development" is essential. While not necessarily coding daily, the ability to hold one's own in deep technical discussions on topics like symmetric and asymmetric encryption and hashing is crucial.
- Excellent Communicator: Can communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences, clearly articulating the link between coding tasks and their business impact.
- Strategic Mindset: Skilled at balancing the immediate needs of feature development with the long-term health of the codebase, including managing tech debt and planning for scalability.
- Pragmatism and Resilience: Experience navigating complex technical and organizational challenges. Failures and production incidents are seen as valuable learning opportunities, and that mindset can be instilled in the team.
- DevOps Acumen: Familiarity with modern DevOps practices, especially with Kubernetes, is a plus.
- Educational Background: A master's degree in a STEM field is a must. A successful PhD is recognized as a strong indicator of the required skills and personality traits for this role.