Head of Engineering

About the Job

We are seeking an exceptional Head of Engineering to lead Tonik Bank’s engineering division. This is a senior executive role at the heart of our mission to revolutionise digital banking in Southeast Asia. As Head of Engineering, you will provide strategic and operational leadership across all engineering disciplines, including mobile, API and middleware, QA, business analysis, and scrum, while driving the architecture, delivery, and continuous evolution of our digital banking platform.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned engineering leader with deep expertise in AI, enterprise architecture, cloud platforms, and scalable systems design. You will embody Tonik’s values of innovation, customer-centricity, andrelentless execution, building high-performing teams and delivering technology that empowers millions of customers with accessible, secure, and personalised financial products.

JobResponsibilities

ü Engineering Leadership and Strategy: Define and own the engineering vision, roadmap, and strategy in alignment with Tonik’s product and business objectives. Lead the end-to-end engineering function across mobile, API and middleware, QA, business analysis, and scrum delivery teams. Provide executive-level technical guidance and thought leadership to the organisation.

ü AI and Innovation Agenda: Drive the integration of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning into Tonik’s product and platform capabilities. Champion innovation in digital banking, identifying emerging technologies and translating them into competitive advantages. Lead R&D initiatives and proof-of-concept development for next-generation banking features.

ü Enterprise Architecture and Scalable Systems: Architect and govern scalable, secure, and resilient systems that support Tonik’s growth across the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Ensure alignment with enterprise architecture principles, cloud-first strategies (AWS), and TOGAF-based frameworks. Drive cost optimisation and performance engineering across the technology stack.

ü Platform Delivery and Engineering Excellence: Oversee the delivery of high-quality software releases across all product areas, ensuring engineering practices meet the highest standards of reliability, security, and velocity. Establish and continuously improve engineering processes, CI/CD pipelines, quality gates, and operational excellence frameworks.

ü People Leadership and Talent Development: Build, lead, and inspire a world-class multi-disciplinary engineering organisation. Define team structure, hiring strategy, and career frameworks. Foster a culture of ownership, collaboration, psychological safety, and continuous learning. Mentor senior engineers and engineering managers to grow technical leadership capability across the function.

ü Regulatory Compliance and Security: Ensure all engineering deliverables comply with BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) digital banking regulations, PCI-DSS, and data privacy requirements. Partner with compliance, risk, and legal teams to embed regulatory thinking into the engineering lifecycle. Maintain audit-ready engineering documentation and governance standards.

ü Stakeholder and Executive Engagement: Serve as the primary engineering representative at the executive table. Communicate technology strategy, delivery progress, and risk posture clearly to the CEO, CTO, board, and external stakeholders. Build strong partnerships with product, design, operations, and finance leadership to align engineering output with business value.

ü Customer-Centric Product Engineering: Champion a customer-first engineering culture where every technical decision is rooted in delivering superior customer experiences. Partner closely with product and design teams to ensure engineering capabilities enable personalisation, accessibility, and reliability for Tonik’s growing customer base.

Preferred Experience and Qualifications

ü Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.

ü 15+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, with a minimum of 5 years in a senior engineering leadership role (Head of Engineering, VP Engineering, or equivalent).

ü Proven track record of leading large-scale engineering organisations in fintech, digital banking, or high-growth technology environments.

ü Deep expertise in AI/ML integration, enterprise architecture, and cloud-native platform engineering (AWS preferred; AWS Certified Solutions Architect is a strong advantage).

ü Strong working knowledge of TOGAF enterprise architecture framework.

ü Extensive experience in mobile application engineering (iOS, Android, React Native) and API/middleware platform development.

ü Solid understanding of regulatory compliance in digital banking: BSP framework, PCI-DSS, data privacy, and security standards.

ü Demonstrated ability to define and execute multi-year technology roadmaps aligned to business growth objectives.

ü Exceptional people leadership skills: proven track record of building and scaling high-performance engineering teams across multiple disciplines.

ü Outstanding communication, stakeholder management, and executive presence.

ü Experience operating in an agile, fast-paced, cross-cultural, and globally distributed engineering environment.

ü AI-first engineering leader with a passion for leveraging Generative AI technologies, including Claude and ChatGPT, to accelerate software development, enhance engineering productivity, and foster a culture of continuous innovation, experimentation, and learning.

WhoAre We Looking For?

ü A visionary technology leader who combines strategic thinking with hands-on engineering credibility.

ü A champion of AI and innovation who continuously pushes the boundaries of what is possible in digital banking.

ü An empathetic people leader who builds trust, grows talent, and creates an environment where engineers do the best work of their careers.

ü Someone who embodies Tonik’s core values: teamwork, honesty, reliability, sense of humour, and street smart.

ü Relentlessly customer-centric, driven by the impact technology can have on the financial lives of millions of people.

ü A decisive, calm, and resilient executive who thrives in a high-growth, high-ambiguity environment.

AboutTonik

We are a transformative digital bank with a mission to revolutionize the way money works. We create better financial products for the world by encouraging inclusivity through simplifying processes, reducing costs, improving transparency, and embracing flexibility to empower more people with unique financial needs. All these are on the most secure mobile banking platform. To enable this, innovation is woven into the DNA of our company. We do not just search for the best talent, but for people who seek to challenge the status quo and are passionate about transforming the impossible into reality.

Tonik (www.tonikbank.com) is the first digital-only neo bank in the Philippines, providing loan, deposit, payment, and card products to consumers on a highly secure digital banking platform. The neo bank operates based on the first private digital bank license issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Tonik is led by a team of retail finance veterans who have previously built and scaled multiple retail banks and fintech’s across the global emerging markets. It is backed by top international venture capital funds. Tonik operates out of hubs in Singapore (HQ), Manila, Chennai, and Kyiv.