Technical Lead - Full or Part time in Manchester

About Auto Trader

You’ve probably heard of Auto Trader, but do you know what we’re all about? We’re the UK’s leading automotive marketplace, a heritage brand, and a tech darling of the stock market. We bring together vehicle buyers and sellers to give them real choices. Cars may be what we’re best known for but we’re also the place for pretty much everything else on wheels, from e-bikes to caravans. In the automotive world, change is a constant, that’s why we take our job of untangling the complex car-buying journey very seriously. At our core we’re all about people. We go our own way while embracing diversity and celebrating our differences. We dedicate ourselves to the idea that we work better together. Auto Trader is a beautiful, surprising and vibrant place to work. We might not be for everyone, but we could be perfect for you.

About the Job

We’re looking for a Technical Lead to join us and lead our engineering efforts with creativity, vision, and expertise. You will lead colleagues, producing innovative, maintainable solutions to problems whilst demonstrating a solid grasp of good system design and architecture. You will manage other engineers, supporting their continuous improvement. You will collaborate with other leads, helping define and deliver a longer-term technical vision. While we appreciate that your experience may be more weighted toward either people management or coding, we’re open to hearing from you as long as you’re open to do both. You might assume that our name, “Auto Trader,” means you need to be a car enthusiast to work here. But that’s not the case. We’re looking for people who are passionate about their work and thrive in a collaborative environment.

What You’ll Do

• Lead and mentor a diverse team of engineers, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where everyone can excel.
• Deliver software projects by leveraging your team efficiently, cultivating an engaging and productive environment.
• Contribute as an engineer yourself; coding, designing, and shaping systems.
• Support our recruitment process by evaluating candidates at all stages.
• Conduct code reviews, provide constructive feedback, and promote a culture of continuous learning and improvement.

What We’re Looking For

• Leadership in guiding and nurturing teams to achieve their full potential, fostering an environment of collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Manage and mentor other engineers, providing support and guidance.
• A software engineering background (we don’t mind what languages you’ve worked with as long as you are comfortable working with a range of tools and tech).
• Experience leading the delivery of technical projects.
• Collaboration and sharing technical expertise with others.
• Web application design and RESTful API know-how, particularly within a microservices architecture.
• A structured programming approach, including TDD, along with expertise in architectural and system design, and proficiency in SQL/relational databases.

Benefits and More

We’re offering a salary of 70k+, plus an additional 10% of your salary awarded to you in shares each year. These awarded shares will become yours in yearly instalments over the next three years, and you can choose to either sell them or keep them as shares. You’ll receive 28 days holiday, plus bank holidays and comprehensive private medical cover. We also provide a pension contribution of up to 7%, enhanced family leave provisions, a car salary sacrifice scheme, share-save options, and more. Support for your wellbeing includes access to 24/7 online GP and dentist, as well as specialist support for assisted fertility, gender dysphoria, menopause, period care plans and lots more. Our hybrid model, Connected Working, combines the best of both worlds – office and home working. You’ll have two fixed weekly office days for team collaboration and one more of your choice to suit your work‑life balance. Additionally, during July and August, along with two weeks in December, we have our remote‑first periods. During these times, you can work remotely, whether that’s from another location in the UK or even from certain locations abroad.