---
title: 'Chief of Staff to CTO at Abound'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/chief-of-staff-to-cto-abound-london-xgmt2b0yb6pv'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-06'
---

# Chief of Staff to CTO at Abound

- **Company:** Abound
- **Location:** London, United Kingdom
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-08-27
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-06
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/abound/f4086dbd-d272-4fcd-a843-b2cc17f524bf

## Job description

## About Abound

We’re redefining consumer lending in the UK, and beyond. Using advanced AI and Open Banking data, we make fair, affordable personal finance available to more people. While traditional lenders rely almost entirely on credit scores, we look at the full financial picture - how much you spend, and what you can afford to repay to build a deeper, more accurate understanding of each customer's unique financial situation.

And we've shown it works at scale. We’ve issued over £1.3bn in loans directly to customers while delivering market-leading credit performance - for every 10 defaults the industry expects, we see only 3. We also reached profitability just 2.5 years after launch.

Backed by £2bn+ of funding from top-tier investors including Citi, GSR Ventures, and Deutsche Bank, we’re recognised as one of Europe’s fastest-growing fintechs (Sifted, CNBC). Now, we’re expanding into new markets and product lines - and we’re looking for ambitious people who want to learn fast, take ownership, and grow with us.

## About the role

We are hiring a Chief of Staff to act as the CTO’s right hand, responsible for building the operating discipline and execution leverage required to scale the technology organisation.

This is a high-impact leadership role focused on execution, clarity and accountability. You will ensure the organisation is working on the right priorities, making clear commitments, and delivering at pace without introducing unnecessary process or bureaucracy.

Your mission is simple: build a high-performing engineering organisation that consistently delivers.

## What you'll be doing

Execution & Delivery Discipline

- Ensure engineering teams are aligned to the company’s most important priorities
- Drive clear commitments, realistic timelines and predictable delivery
- Surface risks early and ensure fast, decisive resolution

Operating Cadence

- Run the core operating rhythm of the technology organisation
- Own planning cycles, delivery reviews, leadership forums and executive reporting
- Improve decision-making clarity and ensure follow-through

Roadmap & Visibility

- Create end-to-end visibility of the technology roadmap across product and central teams
- Provide clear insight into progress, risks, dependencies and trade-offs
- Enable leadership to focus attention where it matters most

Cross-Team Execution

- Manage dependencies across engineering, product, risk, compliance and commercial teams
- Remove bottlenecks and ensure coordinated delivery across a complex organisation

Organisation & Performance

- Strengthen accountability, performance management and leadership discipline
- Help scale hiring, onboarding and organisational capacity
- Act as a visible driver of a high-performance culture

Operating Model

- Improve how central teams (Platform, FinOps, AI, Security, IT) support product teams
- Establish clear ownership, interfaces and expectations to increase speed and clarity

CTO Leverage

- Reduce the CTO’s overhead on coordination, planning and follow-up
- Create space for focus on technology strategy, architecture and innovation

## Who you are

- Proven experience scaling engineering or product organisations in high-growth environments
- Strong track record driving execution, delivery discipline and operational clarity
- Experience running planning cadences, portfolio visibility and cross-team coordination at scale
- Ability to work credibly with senior engineers and technology leaders
- Commercial mindset: understands how technology drives growth, customer outcomes and risk management
- High standards, strong judgement and a bias for action

You are structured but pragmatic, demanding but focused on outcomes. You know how to raise performance without slowing teams down.

## What we offer

- Everyone owns a piece of the company - equity
- Hybrid with 3 days a week in the office
- 25 days’ holiday a year, plus 8 bank holidays
- 2 paid volunteering days per year
- One month paid sabbatical after 4 years
- Employee loan
- Free gym membership
- Team wellness budget to be active together - set up a yoga class, a tennis lesson or go bouldering

## About Abound

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Abound uses AI and Open Banking to provide fair, affordable personal loans to consumers and a white-label lending platform for businesses.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Debt‑funded)
- **Headquarters**: London, England (Commodity Quay, London E1W 1AZ)
- **Founded**: 2021 (launched March 2021)
- **Founders**: Dr. Michelle He (CEO) and Gerald Chappell (COO) – [getabound.com/company/what-we-do](https://www.getabound.com/company/what-we-do)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Consumer lending / Fintech / Lending‑as‑a‑Service
- **Target customers**: B2C (UK individuals seeking loans up to £20k) and B2B (businesses wanting to launch or scale lending products)
- **Mission / purpose**: “Making borrowing fairer for consumers and smarter for lenders.” – [getabound.com](https://www.getabound.com/)

## Products & Services
- **Abound Personal Loans** (B2C): Fast, flexible loans of up to £20,000 with same‑day decisions. Uses Open Banking and AI to assess affordability beyond traditional credit scores.
- **Abound Lending Platform** (B2B): A modular platform that powers underwriting, origination, and collections for partners. Enables faster, lower‑risk lending with AI‑driven risk models.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total loan originations over **£1.5 billion** (since launch) – [getabound.com/company/what-we-do](https://www.getabound.com/company/what-we-do)
- **Lending capacity**: £2.2 billion
- **Notable Investors / Partners**: Loan‑book financing secured from **Citi, Deutsche Bank, Waterfall** and others. Over **15 partners** using the platform.
- **Growth Signals**: Monthly originations at a significant run rate; “Excellent” rating on Trustpilot; expanding into car finance (open role for Lead Product Manager – Car Finance); offices in London, Milton Keynes, Shenzhen, and Madrid.

## Competitive Advantages
- **AI‑powered underwriting** that integrates Open Banking data, delivering **50–70% lower default rates** vs. market benchmarks.
- **Full‑stack lending platform** that serves both consumers and enterprise partners, creating a network effect.
- **Strong debt‑financing partnerships** with global banks, providing capital to scale rapidly.

## Strategic Focus
- **Platform expansion**: Growing the B2B lending‑as‑a‑service business (15+ partners) and entering new product verticals (e.g., car finance).
- **International presence**: Offices in Shenzhen (China) and Madrid (Spain) suggest global ambitions.
- **Continuous AI innovation**: Investing in risk modeling and data science to maintain credit performance edge.

## Why Work Here
- **Equity ownership**: Everyone owns a piece of the company through equity.
- **Benefits**:
  - 30‑day paid sabbatical after every 4 years of service.
  - Skills growth budget (e.g., learning new programming languages, communication skills).
  - Free WellHub membership for physical and mental wellbeing.
  - Free breakfast and snacks in the office; lunch on us every Friday.
  - Employee loan of up to £10,000 (subject to circumstances).
  - Wellness budget for team‑chosen activities (running club, rugby team, etc.).
  - Regular team lunches and social events.
- **Culture**: Customer‑first, move fast but thoughtfully, embrace uncertainty, win as a team, and “all owners” mentality.
- **Offices**: London (primary), Milton Keynes, Shenzhen, Madrid. Hybrid policy not explicitly stated but multiple office locations suggest flexibility.
- **Engineering culture**: Heavy investment in AI, data science, and Python; senior engineering roles advertised across locations.

## Sources
1. [getabound.com – Careers](https://www.getabound.com/company/careers)
2. [getabound.com – What we do](https://www.getabound.com/company/what-we-do)
3. [getabound.com – Homepage](https://www.getabound.com/)
4. [getabound.com – Open roles](https://www.getabound.com/company/careers/open-roles)
5. [uk.linkedin.com – Abound](https://uk.linkedin.com/company/getabound)

## Other roles at Abound

- [Credit Underwriter / Analista de Riesgo Crediticio](https://feeny.ai/job/credit-underwriter-analista-de-riesgo-crediticio-abound-madrid-z6c9mexdmscn) — Madrid, Spain
- [Second Charge Mortgage Underwriter](https://feeny.ai/job/second-charge-mortgage-underwriter-abound-london-e2v17p7qjnte) — London, United Kingdom
- [Underwriter](https://feeny.ai/job/underwriter-abound-london-6bz13cfzwed5) — London, United Kingdom
- [Lead Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-software-engineer-abound-madrid-a19hhd5yp022) — Madrid, Spain
- [Compliance Officer](https://feeny.ai/job/compliance-officer-abound-london-42hmzg5mjwm8) — London, United Kingdom
- [Customer Service Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/customer-service-specialist-abound-milton-keynes-vv9d3ka5msgb) — Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
- [Graduate AI Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/graduate-ai-engineer-abound-london-wy7bzy1qc5mz) — London, United Kingdom
- [AI Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/ai-engineer-abound-london-kxe9dz85hkqa) — London, United Kingdom
- [Capital Markets Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/capital-markets-manager-abound-london-jgzr1bd1fvs6) — London, United Kingdom
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