Head of Engineering

About Instnt
Fraud is inevitable. Fraud loss isn't.
At Instnt, we're not just optimizing a legacy identity solution—we're inventing a new insurance category. We are the first to seamlessly merge cutting-edge AI-powered identity fraud detection with AM Best A-rated insurance. The result? Our clients stop watching fraud eat their margins and shift the entire risk off their books with a fixed premium and a 30-day reimbursement guarantee.

The service is revolutionary, but the team is the engine of disruption. Our CEO, a proven serial entrepreneur behind multiple successful companies, including a unicorn, has built a leadership bench of seasoned experts. For you, this means working alongside industry leaders and builders who know how to scale intelligently. We're at an inflection point—not merely growing, but leading the market.

The Role

We are seeking a highly technical, hands-on leader who is still close to the code, but also brings the vision and experience to build and scale a strong engineering team, and the ability to communicate that vision clearly across the company. You'll be both a player and coach, rolling up your sleeves to write code and architect systems, while also setting direction for a growing engineering team. In this role you will report directly to our CEO.

You'll work closely with product and data science to design, deliver, and scale a real-time SaaS onboarding platform, ensuring performance, security, and reliability at scale. This is an opportunity to join at a critical inflection point, help shape the engineering culture from the ground up, and grow into a senior leadership role as the company scales.

This role is hybrid lite. We value in-person collaboration and would like team members to join us in our NYC office on a regular cadence, but there is no strict requirement. Below, we have reflected the base salary range we would offer for this position. Actual salaries may vary depending on factors including but not limited to experience and performance. The range listed is just one component of Instnt's total compensation package for employees, with equity being a significant part of the overall offer.

New York City: $180,000 to $220,000

What You'll Do

• Own the strategic vision for product architecture and technical roadmap, while also being hands-on in building and coding. Deliver a scalable, high-performance SaaS platform.
• Partner with product and data science leaders to align architecture with business and customer needs.
• Own performance testing, load testing, and optimization of high-throughput distributed systems.
• Implement best-in-class engineering practices while keeping processes lightweight and startup-friendly.
• Guide, mentor, and scale a small but growing engineering team (currently includes FTE and contractors).
• Evaluate and implement AI and developer tools that increase velocity and quality across engineering.
• Represent engineering with prospects and customers, ensuring technical credibility and clarity.

Who You Are

• You are a strong leader who brings a rare blend of hands-on technical depth and architectural vision, with the proven experience of building and scaling kick-ass engineering teams.
• You have startup experience. You know how to thrive in ambiguity, move fast, stay nimble, and adapt as priorities shift. You get energy from building things at rapid speed and finding creative ways forward.
• You are fluent in the tools of the trade. Python is second nature to you, and you're confident working with AWS Lambda, API Gateway, RDS, and SQL (Postgres/Redshift) to design and scale reliable systems.
• You are obsessed with performance. Designing, testing, and optimizing distributed systems to make them faster, stronger, and more resilient is your craft.
• You are a connector. You know how to translate big ideas into clear technical direction, bridging engineers, product, and data science—and making sure everyone's aligned.
• Bonus points: You have Experience in FinTech or high-scale, real-time SaaS products gives you an extra edge.