Hands-on Head of Development

A profitable and growing fintech company in central Israel is looking for an exceptional, highly hands-on Head of Development with deep practical expertise in AI tools and coding agents to lead its software development function.

This is a central and highly influential role with direct impact on the company’s products, delivery capabilities, and business growth.

We are looking for a strong technological builder who combines deep engineering expertise, direct people management, strong execution, and a genuine passion for AI-driven development. The right person already uses AI tools and coding agents extensively in day-to-day engineering work and knows how to lead a team in adopting these methods effectively.

The company operates several mission-critical payment, transactional, and SaaS platforms that run 24/7. The current technology environment is based primarily on PHP and MySQL, alongside .NET, Python, JavaScript/Node.js, and legacy components.

Experience with a specific programming language is not mandatory. In an AI-driven development environment, the key requirement is the ability to enter a complex codebase quickly, understand it in depth, make sound architectural decisions, and lead the team toward faster and more effective ways of working.

Responsibilities:

• Directly manage and professionally lead a small development team, including remote developers, QA professionals, and external vendors
• Take responsibility for the lifecycle of the software systems managed by the development department, from planning and development through releases, production, and ongoing maintenance
• Lead architecture and System Design for existing systems and new products, services, and capabilities
• Remain deeply involved in technical planning, Design Reviews, Code Reviews, and complex production challenges
• Improve Delivery through effective planning, prioritization, estimation, dependency management, and execution against commitments
• Increase predictability and shorten the time between a business need and a stable production release
• Build and improve development processes, including QA, CI/CD, deployments, releases, and Production Readiness
• Lead the gradual modernization of existing systems while maintaining stability and business continuity
• Implement AI tools and coding agents across development, testing, Code Review, debugging, documentation, security, and maintenance
• Inspire and guide the team in adopting AI-based working methods that improve speed, quality, and productivity
• Work closely with company leadership and other business and technology functions

Requirements:

• Significant Backend or Full Stack development experience with complex software systems
• Proven experience directly managing a development team
• Recent and meaningful hands-on involvement in architecture, System Design, code, and production environments
• Experience building a significant system, service, or product from the ground up
• Experience managing business-critical systems operating 24/7 in a fintech, payments, transactional SaaS, high-availability, or similarly critical environment
• Strong and recent experience with Production, Deployments, Releases, critical incidents, and Delivery improvement
• Strong knowledge of relational databases and SQL
• Extensive practical use of AI development tools and coding agents
• Ability to demonstrate how AI has materially improved development speed, quality, security, or team productivity
• Genuine passion for AI and the ability to lead others in adopting new AI-based working methods
• Experience working with remote teams or outsourced development providers
• High ownership, sound judgment, and the confidence to challenge decisions when necessary
• Strong English communication skills

Significant Advantages:

• Direct experience in payments or payment processing
• Strong experience with PHP and MySQL
• Experience working with Legacy systems and multi-technology environments
• Experience in regulated environments
• Experience with High Availability, On-premises or Hybrid environments, QA Automation, and CI/CD

Why This Role:

• A central role with direct impact on technology, products, and business results
• The opportunity to lead meaningful AI adoption across the development function
• Broad ownership of architecture, delivery, and team development
• A profitable, growing fintech company with significant room to build and improve