Lead Software Engineer - Comms in London

Help us use technology to make a big green dent in the universe! Kraken powers some of the most innovative global developments in energy. We’re a technology company focused on creating a smart, sustainable energy system. From optimising renewable generation, creating a more intelligent grid and enabling utilities to provide excellent customer experiences, our operating system for energy is transforming the industry around the world in a way that benefits everyone. It’s a really exciting time in energy. Help us make a real impact on shaping a better, more sustainable future.

What we do: build the most AI-driven, innovative, forward-thinking platform for energy management. From optimising resources to delivering cost-effective, exceptional customer experiences through advanced Customer Information Systems (CIS), billing, meter data management, CRM, and AI-driven communications, Kraken is powering the next wave of innovation in the energy industry.

Why we do it: future energy will not look like energy as we know it today. We need to not just think about our future, but build for it. Now.

Our multi-discipline global engineering team of about 1500 people works in 'super teams' focused on platform areas and innovative products. Teams choose their own methods (often Kanban) and use tools like Notion, Asana, Github, CircleCI, Terraform Enterprise for continuous delivery, and Datadog, Sentry, and Cloudwatch for monitoring.

You’ll be joining to lead a team of five to seven engineers on the Transactional Comms team, a sub team of the wider Comms team. Your main focus will be leading the team in developing and implementing our new transactional messaging platform. This system is currently being rolled out to numerous clients and thousands of users across the globe, giving them the capability to fully configure and manage their written communications with their customers.

As Lead Engineer, you will technically lead and manage a remote team of engineers across the UK and Europe. Your team will apply Kraken's successful customer experience, operational excellence, and innovation speed from energy retail to new sectors.

Our technology: On the server-side, we mainly use Python. Most of our websites are powered by Django and GraphQL (Graphene). Client-side, we use React, Typescript, htmx, and more. We use AWS heavily as part of a continuous deployment pipeline.

We’re looking for someone diligent and thoughtful, with a strong passion for technology and a focus on human-centric problem-solving. Your level will be Senior Software Engineer or above and we expect you to have experience/expertise in the following (in rough priority order):

• Focus on what makes a great product for the people who use it daily
• Understanding concepts powering the web end-to-end
• Experience leading a technical team, setting priorities, upskilling engineers
• Python and Django (or equivalent web framework) web development experience
• Domain modelling, and ability to quickly absorb information about a complex industry
• Experience with monitoring and alerting tools like DataDog or similar HTTP, and REST & GraphQL APIs
• Writing robust and fault-tolerant software
• Celery and async processing
• Postgres
• Experience working with AWS

You’ll be responsible for leading a team of engineers, making decisions on how the team operates and setting the technical direction of the team. This role will involve line management duties, as well as being hands on and close to the code, in a roughly 50/50 split.

You’ll be responsible for ensuring the quality of the code the team delivers through thoughtful code review, pair and mob programming, etc. Be responsible for monitoring and alerting of production systems and where required, lead and manage incidents. Continued improvement in our incident response strategies, where internal or external systems cause failures in message delivery. Work closely with team leads in other regions working on the same products. Work with product managers and client delivery to help prioritise, deliver and maintain work required by clients. Help mentor, guide your team.

We’re after someone who’s passionate about working with others to solve problems, curious, and eager to learn. You’ll be solving problems with technology to help make us, and the industry, smarter and better for customers. You’ll be part of a talented tech team, working on meaningful solutions to real-world problems in an industry that needs innovation, care, and efficiency.

Kraken is a certified Great Place to Work in France, Germany, Spain, Japan and Australia. In the UK we are one of the Best Workplaces on Glassdoor with a score of 4.7. Check out our Welcome to the Jungle site (FR/EN) to learn more about our teams and culture.

Are you ready for a career with us? We want to ensure you have all the tools and environment you need to unleash your potential. If you have any specific accommodations or a unique preference, please contact us and we’ll do what we can to customise your interview process for comfort and maximum magic!

Studies have shown that some groups of people, like women, are less likely to apply to a role unless they meet 100% of the job requirements. Whoever you are, if you like one of our jobs, we encourage you to apply as you might just be the candidate we hire. Across Kraken, we’re looking for genuinely decent people who are honest and empathetic. Our people are our strongest asset and the unique skills and perspectives people bring to the team are the driving force of our success. As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute.