Function Architect

WE'RE LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO LEADS AND SETS TECHNICAL DIRECTION IN EQUAL MEASURE. SOMEONE WHO CAN MAKE HARD CALLS, NAVIGATE BUSINESS TRADE-OFFS, AND STILL WALK INTO A ROOM AND HAVE A GENUINELY USEFUL CONVERSATION ABOUT ARCHITECTURE, CREDIT DECISIONING, OR HOW AI IS CHANGING THE WAY GREAT ENGINEERING TEAMS WORK. THAT COMBINATION IS RARE. THAT'S WHY WE'RE WRITING THIS. FEW COMPANIES AT THIS STAGE HAVE THIS MUCH COOL STUFF AHEAD OF THEM. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE FOUNDATION IS BUILT. THE REAL EXPANSION STARTS NOW. We've already helped a lot of people in debt take back control of their finances. But we're moving to a much larger scale, extending the journey toward lasting financial stability and wellbeing for more people across Europe. We're profitable. We're regulated as a kreditmarknadsbolag, a licence that lets us operate across the entire EU. Germany is growing fast and Sweden and Finland is strong markets. Our 2030 ambition is to be a pan-European company. That future is genuinely exciting and not fully written yet. The team is small and intentionally so. We're not trying to build a massive organisation. We'd rather have fewer people who want to do the exceptional and sometimes the unthinkable. People who trust each other, move fast and care about doing things properly. That's the culture we've built and it's something we're protective of. AI is a big part of how we work. Not just as a strategy, but something that's lived and breathed across engineering, analytics, operations and product development. We're building internal tooling on frontier models and we believe the way strong product and engineering organisations operate is changing quickly. This role requires someone who genuinely believes that too. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT THE ROLE ACTUALLY IS You'll own the full technology function. That means setting direction, building the team, making trade-offs between speed and quality, and being a real contributor in leadership discussions about the business, not just the technical ones. This role is inherently cross-functional. The CTO's scope isn't tech alone, it's how technology creates value across every part of the business. How engineering decisions shape customer behaviour and the product experience. How technical choices affect our ability to expand, comply, and compete. We don't really think of "the business" and "tech" as separate conversations. You'll be close to the work. Not because we expect you to write production code every day, but because we think good technical leadership requires genuine proximity. Something that's just lived and breathed, not performed. You must be the kind of person who finds that energising rather than beneath them. The problems ahead of us are not just engineering problems. They're business problems, AI problems, regulatory problems and organisational problems at the same time. Credit decisioning across markets. Payments infrastructure. Scaling internationally. Multilingual AI systems. Understanding how customers actually behave and interact with financial products. Building a team that stays strong as we grow. You'll need to hold all of that. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT WE THINK MATTERS You've been here before. You've sat in a leadership team, made decisions that affected the whole business and have managed other leaders. You've scaled an organisation from scrappy to structured, without losing what made it good. If your experience is primarily hands-on engineering management, this probably isn't the right next step. You've scaled a modern B2C product company in fintech, lending, payments or another regulated financial environment where product, risk and engineering constantly influence each other. You understand the business well enough to have a real opinion in any room, not just the technical ones. You lead well. Not in a "strong leader" the LinkedIn way. People actually want to work for you and with you. You make decisions, give direction, and create clarity without creating politics. You understand systems, trade-offs and leverage. You're comfortable making difficult calls with incomplete information and you don't need the picture to be fully clear before you act. You care about impact. Not just shipping things but actually moving the needle for customers and the business. You know what good looks like and it bothers you when things aren't and you don't really know how to turn that off. That's just how you're wired. And you're genuinely excited by AI. Not just following the discourse, but actually building with it, thinking about it, and probably annoying people at dinner parties with it. You're the person who can't stop thinking about what it changes. For products, for engineering teams, for financial services, and probably for a lot of other things too. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technically, we work with TypeScript, Python, Go, GraphQL, React Native, Kubernetes, BigQuery and GCP. The stack matters less than the judgment you bring to it. This role is based in Stockholm. We're at a stage where leadership needs to be embedded, close to the teams and part of how the culture develops. That's not negotiable, but we think if this role is right for you, it won't feel like a compromise. We offer a competitive salary and meaningful equity. This is real skin in the game, we're profitable and growing, and we want you to feel that. If this sounds like the kind of problem you want to work on, we'd like to hear from you.

At Qred, we’re building the world's best bank for small businesses. Since launching 11 years ago, we’ve grown from startup to profitable fintech scale-up, now generating over 1 billion SEK in annual revenue and supporting 50,000+ entrepreneurs across Northern Europe. We combine smart technology, real data, and human judgment to make financing simple, fast, and fair. With bold growth plans and strong momentum across multiple markets, we’re now looking for an Engineering Manager for Cloud & Platform Operations for the next phase of growth. About the Role As the Engineering Manager for Cloud & Platform Operations, you will bridge the gap between technical execution and business impact by taking end-to-end ownership of our foundational internal systems and workplace technology architecture. Reporting directly to the CTO, you will lead a critical function that optimizes company-wide efficiency, secures our digital environment, and ensures our platforms scale seamlessly alongside our growing fintech operations - from core cloud operations to the internal systems and workplace tooling the company relies on. This is a mission-oriented leadership role where your strategic planning directly empowers employees across the bank. Key responsibilities Own cloud infrastructure operations across all markets - availability, performance, resilience, and disaster recovery. Run FinOps: cost visibility, forecasting, Reserved Instances/Savings Plans, and per-account budgeting - with clear reporting to leadership. Build self-service platform capabilities (CI/CD, IaC, observability, secrets) that reduce friction for product teams. Embed regulatory controls (DORA, EBA outsourcing, GDPR) into how we operate, with audit readiness as a default. Manage data residency, IAM, least-privilege, and third-party/concentration risk. Implement and govern privileged access management (PAM) - just-in-time access, and audit trails for sensitive systems. Drive workplace IT automation and run a set of internal services streamlining employee permissions, SaaS management, and the day-to-day tooling the company relies on. Hire, grow, and retain a strong team while managing a broad ownership scope. What we’re looking for We are looking for a leader who thrives in a fast-paced environment and brings a structured approach to technical operations. You have a proven ability to drive cross-functional alignment with legal, security, and engineering teams while maintaining a strong proactive mindset. You are motivated by building scalable frameworks, minimizing security risks, and automating manual workflows to eliminate operational friction. Qualifications Several years of technical leadership or people management experience within a Cloud Infrastructure function, with a style that's hands-on enough to be credible and strategic enough to scale a lean team. Proven experience with cloud environment billing structures, specifically AWS cloud, GCP/Google Workspace, and SaaS license management. Strong grounding in platform/SRE practices: IaC, observability, incident management, and automation for access management and identity provisioning. Background working in regulated environments, banking, or fintech, with a solid understanding of ICT compliance, audits, and security controls is highly preferred. Why Qred? This is the place to be if you’re looking for a place to grow. Qred is growing fast, and our Qredsters along with it. With a non-bureaucratic organization and delegated responsibilities, we make sure there’s a short path from idea to action. In addition to our great culture, you get to work with the latest cutting-edge techniques, full ownership, and last but not least a bunch of great competent colleagues to learn from! One Last Thing This is a full-time, permanent position based in our headquarters in Stockholm. We believe our culture thrives when we work together, which is why we have an office-first approach. To balance this with some flexibility, we have the option of working remotely one day per week. We review applications on a rolling basis and while the start date is flexible, the right candidate can join us immediately. Qred celebrates diversity and does not discriminate based on ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability status, or any other applicable characteristics protected by law. #LI-JL1