MarketInvoice, a UK-based invoice finance platform, has recruited Rija Javed as its new chief technology officer (CTO).

Javed joins the firm’s London office after leaving Wealthfront, a Silicon Valley-based startup providing automated financial advisory, where she worked for five years. During this time, Javed developed the firm’s mobile app and investment products platform. She then helped the firm expand into financial services, leading the development of a new brokerage and banking platform. Prior to Wealthfront, she worked at gaming company Zynga and was a software tester at IBM Canada.

In her new role, Javed will manage the engineering, data science, product and design teams. Previously, COO and co-founder Ilya Kondrashov had been overseeing these teams after the departure of former CTO Matt Gatrell in 2015.

Since launching in 2011, MarketInvoice has funded business loans and 90,000-plus invoices worth more than £2.5bn.

“Our immediate focus is to scale up and continue improving our clients’ experience by investing in our team and technology,” says Javed, adding that MarketInvoice will be looking to expand its technology department, especially within engineering.

With the appointment, MarketInvoice joins a small group of UK fintech firms with a female CTO. “I’m very excited to help bring more diversity to the UK tech scene,” Javed says. “Diversity for me isn’t just about gender – although we certainly need more women in tech – but ensuring we have diversity in all areas like race, culture, religious and spiritual beliefs, and socio-economic background.”

According to MarketInvoice, Javed was able to join the firm thanks to the UK government’s Exceptional Talent Visa scheme, a partnership with Tech Nation which began in November 2015. It provides an easier route for UK-based tech companies to hire key talent from overseas.