Director of Engineering - Database Platform

Company Description

Wise is a global technology company, building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.
Min fees. Max ease. Full speed.

Whether people and businesses are sending money to another country, spending abroad, or making and receiving international payments, Wise is on a mission to make their lives easier and save them money.

As part of our team, you will be helping us create an entirely new network for the world's money.
For everyone, everywhere.

More about our mission and what we offer.

Job Description

We are looking to hire a new Director of Engineering to lead the Database Platform Squad in London.

Wise is one the fastest growing companies in Europe and we’re on a mission: to make money without borders the new normal. We’ve got 15 million customers across the globe and we’re growing. Fast.

Current banking systems don’t let us send, spend or receive money across borders easily, or quickly or cheaply. So, we’re building a new one. Enter: our Database Platform! 🎉

Our Database Platform underpins every service at Wise, providing databases as a service for the entire company’s engineering and analytical needs. Each day, our data estate grows by terabytes, powering everything from our internal systems to the Wise app you see as a customer.

As Director of Engineering for the Database Platform, you will steer the technical vision and lead multiple teams responsible for database and infrastructure services. You’ll collaborate closely with the teams in our Platform tribe and engineering organization. Ultimately, you'll drive our strategy to ensure long-term scalability, resilience, and efficiency of Wise’s data backbone - all while supporting and scaling high-performing teams that keep our services reliable and secure.

What You’ll Be Doing

Leading & Coaching

• Provide strategic direction for complex, high-impact database initiatives and guide your teams through the end-to-end delivery lifecycle.

• Mentor, coach, and develop high-performing engineers and engineering managers, cultivating a supportive environment that prioritizes continuous growth and learning.

• Drive a culture of ownership, resilience, and accountability in everything we do.

• Managing complexity & scaling resilient infrastructure

• Oversee the transition to ever more scalable, fault-tolerant infrastructure by championing best practices in architecture, reliability, and performance.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Engineering Leads, Product Managers, analysts, and business stakeholders to align database platform initiatives with wider organizational goals.

• Serve as a primary point of contact for vendor negotiations, budget planning, and cost optimization, clearly articulating recommendations and trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders.

• Present platform roadmaps and updates to the broader engineering organization and leadership teams, fostering transparency and knowledge sharing.

Strategic Influence & Continuous Improvement

• Identify key opportunities for innovation, automation, and process improvement across database services - driving transformation initiatives while maintaining security, privacy, and quality standards.

• Anticipate future data needs and champion strategies that keep us agile and ready for global scale, ensuring our databases and infrastructure remain a strong foundation for new products and features.

Is This You?

Leadership & Strategy

• Proven track record in leading and scaling engineering teams, including experience with complex technical transformations (cloud migrations, platform overhauls, etc.).

• Skilled in both agile and traditional project management approaches, balancing speed and reliability to deliver value across multiple initiatives.

• Advanced communication capabilities: can engage cross-functional teams, partner with execs, and inspire/mentor engineers at all levels.

• Ability to distill complex technical concepts into accessible language for non-tech audiences.

Technical Foundation

• Hands-on background in software development - including Python, Java, or similar - plus a solid grasp of system design, engineering principles, and high coding standards.

• Expertise with AWS or GCP services, and familiarity with modern platform engineering practices for building robust, scalable infrastructure.

• Experience with SQL or NoSQL databases and an understanding of high availability, scalability, security, and performance.

Nice to Have:

• Passion for technology and how it can fuel better user experiences.

• Exposure to workflow orchestration solutions (Temporal, Cadence, or AWS Step Functions).

• Knowledge or interest in payments platforms, foreign exchange, and large-scale, highly distributed systems.

• Being a Wise customer (or excited to become one!).

Additional Information

For everyone, everywhere. We're people building money without borders — without judgement or prejudice, too. We believe teams are strongest when they are diverse, equitable and inclusive.

We're proud to have a truly international team, and we celebrate our differences.
Inclusive teams help us live our values and make sure every Wiser feels respected, empowered to contribute towards our mission and able to progress in their careers.

If you want to find out more about what it's like to work at Wise visit Wise.Jobs.

Keep up to date with life at Wise by following us on LinkedIn and Instagram.