Lead Engineer

Please note: This role is based primarily on-site in Singapore. Due to programme funding requirements, it is only open to Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs).

About Istari & HumanFactor

ISTARI is building the leading Frontier Cyber Advisory Agency; curating a global ecosystem of expert practitioners to strengthen enterprise cyber resilience from board-level strategy through to the operating system that runs it.

HumanFactor is being built within that ecosystem: an AI-native platform that helps organisations prepare for severe cyber crises, run realistic exercises, and carry those learnings into a secure response environment when corporate systems are degraded or compromised. It combines threat-informed scenario generation and an adaptive, AI-facilitated exercise runtime with HF Sanctuary, an out-of-band, end-to-end-encryptedcrisis portal with Shadow Identity, tasking and decision logging. A prototype exists with Temasek committed as pilot end-user; this role leads the build of the full platform.

Role Purpose

The Lead Engineer is the first hire on HumanFactor, working hands-on from day one to take the draft architecture into production software and stand up the platform's core modules. As the team grows, the development team will report directly to this role: hiring and coaching engineers, setting standards, and owning day-to-day delivery, with hiring and budget decisions made in coordination with the programme owner. This person is delivering across an 18-month, milestone-driven programme part-funded by CSA's CCDF.

Key Responsibilities

Build & Product Ownership

• Review the current draft architecture end-to-end, critically assess its fitness for the product and milestones, and drive any design changes needed - this is a mandate to own and evolve the architecture, not just build to spec.
• Personally build the platform: write production code across the stack and stand up core modules, evolving it as the product takes shape.
• Build quality-first and secure-by-design, and drive from prototype to hardened, production ready release.
• Own and prioritise the backlog across all modules (threat profiling, scenario builder, exercise runtime, HF Sanctuary, mobile app, learning loop, regulatory, analytics), and keep the roadmap current with the threat landscape, regulatory drivers and pilot feedback.

Team Leadership

• Hire, onboard and coach developers as the team forms; establish engineering practices and ways of working.
• Lead delivery and agile ceremonies, remove blockers, and keep the team shipping.

Programme Governance & Pilot

• Plan and track delivery against the four contracted milestones (month 5, 9, 14 and 18), and support CCDF/CSA progress reports, milestone evidence and claims.
• Run the Temasek pilot and UAT: onboarding, end-user input, acceptance and sign-off to production readiness.

Key Skills & Attributes

A hands-on senior engineer who can build a complex, AI-native platform largely single-handed at first, then grow and lead the team around it.

• Experience: 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 2-3 years in a lead or founding-engineer capacity, ideally in a startup, scale-up, or new-venture build.
• Full-Stack & Architecture: Strong, current skills across modern web (React/Next.js, Node.js or Python), mobile (native or React Native/Flutter), and cloud (AWS, GCP or Azure), with experience designing and evolving system architecture and APIs.
• AI Engineering: Demonstrated experience with AI-assisted development tools, including agentic AI, RAG and multi-model orchestration.
• Secure Engineering: Secure-by-design instincts, with working knowledge of end-to-end encryption and secure messaging, appropriate for a crisis-response product handling sensitive data.
• Product & Founder Mentality: Able to own a product and backlog and ship to milestones; thrives as a first hire in a lean team, self-directed and comfortable with ambiguity. Track record against fixed milestones or contractual scope; grant-funded or government programmes a plus.
• Communication: Strong stakeholder communication; keeps a distributed team and UK leadership aligned across time zones.
• Domain Knowledge: Background or interest in cybersecurity, crisis management, resilience.
• Eligibility & Clearance: Based in Singapore and eligible to work here. No formal government security clearance required to start, but must be comfortable with background checks and confidentiality obligations typical of grant-funded, government-linked programmes; any clearance required by CSA, CCDF or the pilot client as the programme matures is a condition of continued engagement.