At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead engineering on a high-volume online marketplace and drive major tech transformations.
- Company: Dynamic scale-up in the tech industry with a focus on innovation.
- Benefits: Flexible working options, competitive pay, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Exciting challenges with AI workflows and large-scale marketplace operations.
- Why this job: Join a cutting-edge project and make a real impact in a fast-paced environment.
- Qualifications: Experience in AWS, TypeScript, Python, and building service-based platforms.
The predicted salary is between 66150 - 80850 £ per year.
Location and basis: Contract, outside IR35. Starting as soon as possible. Fully flexible working: home, office, or a mix, your call. We just ask that you're based within 50 miles of Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester or London. Applications from outside these areas won't be considered.
The engagement: You'll lead engineering on a high-volume online marketplace, part-way through a major, multi-year technology transformation. There's a live migration to AWS and a full version 2 build underway. The current client-facing platform runs on PHP and Laravel, and the target is a service-based architecture on AWS built in TypeScript, JavaScript and Python. 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)
- You write TypeScript, JavaScript and Python, and can read and work with PHP (Laravel)
- 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
- GenAI or agentic workflows in your engineering practice
Ready to apply? Submit your application below.
Tech Lead (AWS / TypeScript / Python) employer: hedgehog lab
As an AI Transformation Architect, you'll join a forward-thinking company that prioritises innovation and employee autonomy. With a flexible hybrid working environment across major UK cities, you will have the opportunity to shape the future of AI development while enjoying generous benefits like 28 days of annual leave, wellbeing support, and dedicated Impact Days for personal growth. This is a place where your contributions are valued, and you can truly make a difference in both client projects and internal practices.
