Technology and engineering leadership search for African fintech
TITC runs retained CTO, VP Engineering and technology leadership searches for fintech across Africa. For CEOs and founder-CTOs scaling a platform that moves real money.
The hire that keeps going wrong
The founder-CTO built the platform and it works. But leading 40 engineers, owning security, and passing an audit is a different job from writing the early code. That's usually what this search is really about.
The wrong hire is the brilliant builder who can't lead people. They go deep on architecture and ignore the team, the roadmap and the board. The other wrong hire is the manager who's never owned a payments platform, and underestimates what "always on" means when the system has to settle at 3am on payday.
In fintech the technical stakes are specific. Uptime and settlement integrity. PCI-DSS and POPIA. Security the regulator will scrutinise. Tech debt that compounds. Build-versus-buy calls on rails, KYC and fraud that shape the business for years.
What good looks like
An engineering leader who's scaled a regulated, money-moving platform without a rewrite. Who owns security and reliability as first-order problems, not afterthoughts. Who leads distributed teams across African time zones and actually develops people. And who can sit in front of a board or a regulator and be understood.
How we run it
We assess technical depth and leadership separately, because the gap between them is where these hires fail. For founder-CTO transitions we manage the handover with the same care as the search.
Common questions
When should a fintech hire a CTO or VP of Engineering above the founder-CTO?
When the engineering org outgrows what one technical founder can lead, usually past 20 to 30 engineers, or when security, reliability and audit demands need dedicated senior ownership.
What makes fintech engineering leadership different?
The platform moves money and is regulated. Uptime, settlement integrity, security and compliance are non-negotiable, and the cost of failure is measured in money lost and licences at risk, not just downtime.
Can TITC place engineering leaders who've scaled payments platforms?
Yes. We screen for experience running regulated, high-availability, money-moving systems, and for the people-leadership track record to match.
Discuss a mandate
Outgrowing the founder-CTO setup? Tell us where the platform is heading.