Director of Engineering - AI Native

Director of Engineering | Permanent, London Hybrid

AI-Native Transformation | Regulated Industry

La Fosse Executive is partnering with a business in a regulated industry to appoint a Director of Engineering to lead the evolution of its engineering organisation towards an AI-native operating model.

The opportunity is to shape how engineering works: how teams are structured, how they collaborate with Product, how technical decisions are made, and how software moves from idea into production. AI will be central to that evolution, with success measured through sustained improvements in capability, delivery and business performance.

We’re looking for a leader who remains technically active and can translate emerging engineering practices into an operating model that teams understand, adopt and continue to improve.

Previous regulated-industry experience is welcome but not essential. Strong engineering judgement and the ability to balance innovation with security, resilience and governance are key.

The role

Working closely with senior technology and business leadership, you will set the engineering direction and lead its implementation across people, processes and technology.

You will:

• Evolve the engineering operating model , adapting team structures, responsibilities, technical ownership and ways of working as AI changes how software is developed.
• Build towards AI-native delivery , extending AI-assisted coding into connected workflows across discovery, design, implementation, testing, release and operations.
• Lead adoption across the organisation , working with Engineering, Product and other functions to embed new practices into everyday delivery and establish clear accountability for outcomes.
• Stay close to the technology , personally exploring tools and approaches, challenging architectural decisions and helping teams resolve practical barriers to adoption.
• Develop engineering capability , strengthening technical leadership, supporting people through changing roles and building the skills required for increasingly AI-enabled workflows.
• Establish evidence of impact , using delivery, quality, reliability and commercial measures to determine what should be scaled, adapted or stopped.
• Connect strategy with execution , explaining direction, investment and risk to Board and C-suite stakeholders, while giving technical and product teams the clarity to act.

What you’ll bring

Experience moving an engineering organisation from isolated AI use cases, coding assistance and early agentic workflows towards an AI-native operating model, reshaping how teams are organised, decisions are made and software is delivered, with adoption embedded across teams and functions. You will have led a substantial engineering function and delivered meaningful change to its structure, capabilities and performance. You understand how to move from strategic ambition to an operating model that works in practice, including the organisational and behavioural changes required to sustain it.

You will also bring practical experience advancing AI adoption within engineering. This could include scaling successful experiments across teams, redesigning development workflows or changing how teams collaborate and take ownership. You can explain the progress achieved, the constraints encountered and the work still ahead.

We’re particularly interested in leaders who combine:

• Current technical depth across software engineering, architecture and cloud platforms, supported by hands-on use of AI development tools.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and embedding change across Engineering, Product and the wider business.
• An understanding of the foundations for dependable AI-enabled delivery, including context, automated testing, evaluation, security and human judgement.
• The ability to develop strong teams and secure sustained adoption through clear direction, coaching and practical implementation.
• The credibility to engage deeply with engineers and communicate strategy, trade-offs and outcomes at executive level.

This role offers the opportunity to shape both the engineering strategy and the organisation that will deliver it.