Head of Engineering

About Kayana

Kayana is one of the fastest-growing companies, empowering small and medium-sized businesses with cutting-edge technology to compete with larger enterprises in the ordering and payments space. As a disruptive force in the industry, we provide everything from essential point-of-sale systems to advanced solutions like self-service kiosks, enabling brands to scale and succeed.

Our mission is simple: to help businesses thrive through innovative technology. With operations across the USA, UK, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East, Kayana is proud to foster an inclusive and dynamic culture. Every employee is supported with a personalized development plan, offering clear and achievable career paths for long-term growth.

About You

As Head of Engineering, you'll be the operational backbone of our development team. You'll work closely with our CTO - who remains the technical visionary and architect - to translate strategy into delivery. This is a player-coach role: you'll lead people and process while remaining hands-on with code.

This role exists because we're scaling. Our CTO's strengths lie in deep technical architecture and product direction. Your strengths will complement that - you bring the structure, cadence, and team leadership that turns great ideas into shipped software.

Key Responsibilities

Team LeadershipOwn the day-to-day management of the engineering team - 1:1s, performance conversations, and professional developmentFoster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvementSupport hiring decisions and help onboard new engineers effectivelyAct as the first escalation point for team blockers, conflicts, or resourcing issues

Delivery & ProcessLead sprint planning, stand-ups, retrospectives, and release processesOwn engineering delivery timelines and communicate progress clearly to stakeholdersIdentify and remove blockers before they become delaysMaintain a healthy, well-prioritised backlog in collaboration with product

Engineering ExcellenceIntroduce and embed best practices: CI/CD, code review standards, testing culture, documentationDrive developer productivity - tooling, workflow automation, and reducing frictionChampion code quality without slowing deliveryContribute directly to the codebase as a player-coach - shipping code alongside the team

CTO PartnershipWork closely with the CTO to translate technical vision into actionable roadmapsKeep the CTO informed without burdening them with operational noiseBe a trusted sounding board on architecture decisions and technical trade-offs

What We're Looking For

Experience5-8 years of software engineering experience, ideally full-stack or relevant to our product stack (EPOS, SaaS, payments, mobile)2-4 years leading or managing engineering teams of 3-10 peopleProven track record of improving engineering delivery - not just speed, but quality and predictabilityComfortable working in a scaling startup or SME environment

Leadership & CommunicationStrong people manager - empathetic, direct, and consistentHigh emotional intelligence; able to build trust quickly with both technical and non-technical stakeholdersComfortable working alongside a strong technical CTO - collaborative, not territorialExcellent written and verbal communicator

Technical SkillsHands-on engineering capability - you can still read, write, and review code at a meaningful levelSolid understanding of modern software development practices: Agile, CI/CD, version control, code reviewFamiliarity with cloud infrastructure and SaaS architecture principlesExperience with tools like Jira, Linear, GitHub, or equivalent

Why Join Us?

At Kayana, you'll be part of a fast-growing global company where your contributions will make a direct impact.

We offer:A clear path for career growth.The opportunity to set up and shape the compliance framework for a growing international business.A supportive and collaborative environment where your success is celebrated.

Starting salary: INR 250,000 per month