Tech Lead (AWS / TypeScript)
Location and basis
Contract, outside IR35. Starting as soon as possible.
While there's no set number of days you're required on site, there will be times when the client needs the team together in person for important meetings, workshops and key moments. When that's the case, we'd expect you to attend.
To make that work, you'll need to be based within 50 miles of one of our offices in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester or London.
The engagement
You'll lead engineering on a high-volume online marketplace, part-way through a major, multi-year technology transformation. A version 2 build is underway, and a move to AWS is under active evaluation as part of that.
The current client-facing platform runs on PHP and Laravel. The direction of travel is a service-based architecture built in TypeScript and Node, with PHP likely retained in places. You'll set technical direction across that shift while keeping delivery moving.
You'll need to be hands-on and broad: someone who understands cloud, architecture, data, auth, front-end and APIs, and has built service-based platforms in AWS before. In an older structure this person would have carried an architect title.
This is a demanding, fast-paced environment. You'll need to be productive quickly without a long ramp.
The platform
This is a genuinely large-scale marketplace. Very few platforms handle a product catalogue or transaction volume at this level.
The roadmap includes agentic AI workflows built into the platform, retail media integrated directly into the marketplace, and infrastructure work targeting cost and performance at high volume.
A lot of this is being attempted at volumes that have rarely been tested in a marketplace before, so the work leans research-led rather than routine.
Who this suits
This is a fast-paced scale-up environment on a complex platform.
You'll do well here if you think strategically rather than transactionally, and you can advocate for technical change and bring people with you.
What we need
The essentials:
Principal-level engineering breadth across cloud, architecture, data, auth, front-end and APIs
Track record building service-based platforms in AWS, with infrastructure as code (Terraform or CDK)
Experience decomposing a monolith into services, ideally via the strangler pattern
You bring AI and agentic workflows into your engineering practice
You set and hold engineering standards, and communicate decisions with authority
Comfortable leading delivery in a fast-moving, complex environment
Comfortable working in English, written and spoken
Nice to have:
Retail or e-commerce background
Experience leading through a major re-architecture or cloud migration
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Tech Lead (Aws / Typescript) employer: hedgehog lab
Hedgehog Lab is an exceptional employer that fosters a dynamic and innovative work culture, perfect for those looking to make a significant impact in the tech industry. With a focus on employee growth and development, you will have access to cutting-edge technologies and the opportunity to shape data strategies in a fast-paced scale-up environment. Located in a vibrant area, we offer a collaborative atmosphere where your contributions are valued and rewarded.
