At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead a team in crafting scalable backend services and APIs using cutting-edge technologies.
- Company: Join Gymshark, a dynamic tech company focused on innovation and teamwork.
- Benefits: Enjoy a hybrid work model, competitive salary, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Be part of a culture that values collaboration, skill-sharing, and continuous improvement.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by shaping technical direction and mentoring future engineers.
- Qualifications: Strong backend engineering experience, especially in Golang, with a passion for coaching others.
The predicted salary is between 70000 - 90000 £ per year.
This is a hands-on Lead Software Engineer role where you'll be writing code, designing integrations and solving hard technical problems day-to-day, driving the technical direction and improving how we do engineering across Platform Engineering. You'll be a recognised domain authority: shaping architectural vision, setting the technical bar, and actively elevating the engineers and leads around you. You will bring both strong backend engineering craft and the presence to make the whole team better through technical credibility, clear thinking, and a genuine investment in how the team grows and delivers.
What you’ll be doing
- Craft
- Designs and documents clear architectural diagrams and key decision records that are accessible to both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Ensures the team is using suitable engineering practices, spotting knowledge gaps and helping adopt new and emerging best practices and tooling where appropriate.
- Enforces quality and testing best practices from design through to production.
- Articulates the value of addressing tech debt in terms that resonate with business stakeholders, and creates space to address it iteratively.
- Brings strong technical grounding with enough parity with the team to earn trust quickly, without the instinct to redesign systems from the ground up.
- Delivery
- Leads the delivery of scalable backend services leveraging Event Driven Architecture and AWS Serverless technologies: Lambda, EventBridge, SQS, DynamoDB.
- Leads the team to design and build APIs (REST & GraphQL) that support world-class customer-facing features.
- Has the toolkit to work on complex and unknown problems under pressure or at speed, including leading on business-critical incidents.
- Delegates low-risk technical decisions that can be revisited if needed, and personally owns high-risk technical decisions that are harder to change.
- Champions testable, maintainable, observable and scalable software, embedding CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code as first-class considerations across all delivery work.
- Collaborates with the Product Owner, Scrum Master and Engineering Manager to continuously optimise both the efficiency and impact of team output.
- Culture
- Creates an environment where engineers are empowered to own and deliver their work, breaking down knowledge and delivery silos and stepping back to let the team get things done.
- Works with Engineering Managers to help engineers at all levels perform and grow through mentoring, learning opportunities and a coaching-first approach to development.
- Fosters a culture of skill-sharing and accountability through excellent documentation, retrospectives and regular knowledge-sharing.
- Delivers consistent, constructive feedback and actively seeks it from peers in equal measure.
- Leadership
- Although this is an individual contributor role you will set and communicate a clear technical vision and architectural direction for the team, making pragmatic trade-offs to deliver iteratively against business objectives.
- Is seen by others as an authority in their technical domain, using that expertise to coach and mentor on more ambiguous and challenging technical problems.
- Influences technical strategy and cross-team ways of working through trust, sound judgement and clear communication by standardising code and practices across teams without relying on authority.
- Actively builds peer relationships with other lead engineers by sharing knowledge openly, engaging honestly on technical challenges, and working collectively to raise the bar across the platform engineering teams.
- Proposes and gets buy-in for projects that would help Gymshark achieve its goals, leading on longer-term technical improvements across quarters.
What you’ll need
- Worked as part of a high-performing software engineering team in a lead or senior contributor capacity.
- Strong experience writing production code in Golang or another strict typed language in a commercial engineering environment.
- Strong backend engineering background with hands-on experience implementing event-driven architectures.
- Experience designing, building and maintaining APIs, with a strong grasp of REST and GraphQL patterns.
- Strong understanding of high-quality code and architecture best practices, producing readable, maintainable and scalable software.
- Experience embedding quality and testing practices e.g. unit, contract and integration testing across the teams and services they've worked on.
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines and Infrastructure as Code in a production environment.
- Database design experience across both relational and non-relational approaches.
- Demonstrable track record of coaching and developing engineers.
- Contributed to a team's delivery in an agile environment with a clear focus on shipping business value.
- Experience influencing technical direction without direct authority.
- Empowers and enables engineers to do their best work, rather than owning it for them.
- Role models leadership behaviours in communication, feedback, and how ambiguity is handled.
- Brings a pragmatic, get-things-done attitude alongside technical rigour.
- Gives and receives candid, constructive feedback openly and regularly.
- Reflects and upholds Gymshark values: One Team, Hard Work, Stay Humble, Community Service, in day-to-day actions and interactions, and actively role models them for the people around them.
Location
This is a hybrid role and requires attendance at least 3 days a week in GSIQ, Solihull, UK.
Lead Engineer employer: The Inside Job
At Gymshark, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and innovative work culture. As a Lead Engineer in our Solihull office, you'll benefit from a supportive environment that encourages personal and professional growth, with ample opportunities for mentorship and skill-sharing. Our commitment to empowering engineers and maintaining a strong focus on quality ensures that you will be part of a team that values your contributions and invests in your development.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Lead Engineer
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Get out there and connect with folks in the industry. Attend meetups, tech talks, or even online webinars. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings or can put in a good word for you.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! Create a portfolio or GitHub repository showcasing your projects, especially those that highlight your backend engineering prowess. This is your chance to demonstrate your coding chops and architectural vision to potential employers.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for interviews by practising common technical questions and scenarios. Think about how you would tackle complex problems under pressure, just like you would in the role. Remember, it’s not just about answering questions but also about showing your thought process.
✨Tip Number 4
Apply through our website! We love seeing candidates who are genuinely interested in joining us at StudySmarter. Tailor your application to reflect our values and the specific role, and don’t hesitate to follow up after applying to express your enthusiasm.
We think you need these skills to ace Lead Engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Technical Skills:When you're writing your application, make sure to highlight your experience with backend engineering and any specific technologies mentioned in the job description. We want to see how you've tackled complex problems and what tools you've used to do it!
Be Clear and Concise:Craft your application in a way that's easy to read and understand. Use clear language and avoid jargon where possible. Remember, we’re looking for someone who can communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.
Demonstrate Leadership Experience:Since this is a Lead Engineer role, it's crucial to showcase your leadership skills. Share examples of how you've mentored others or influenced technical direction in your previous roles. We love seeing candidates who empower their teams!
Apply Through Our Website:Don't forget to submit your application through our website! It’s the best way for us to keep track of your application and ensure it gets the attention it deserves. We can't wait to hear from you!
How to prepare for a job interview at The Inside Job
✨Know Your Tech Inside Out
Make sure you’re well-versed in the technologies mentioned in the job description, especially Golang and event-driven architectures. Brush up on your knowledge of REST and GraphQL APIs, as you'll likely be asked to discuss your experience with these during the interview.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
Even though this is a hands-on role, they’ll want to see your leadership potential. Prepare examples of how you've coached or mentored other engineers, and be ready to discuss how you’ve influenced technical direction without direct authority.
✨Prepare for Problem-Solving Scenarios
Expect to tackle complex problems during the interview. Think about past challenges you've faced in software engineering and how you approached them. Be ready to articulate your thought process clearly, demonstrating your ability to work under pressure.
✨Emphasise Team Collaboration
This role requires a collaborative spirit, so be prepared to discuss how you’ve worked with cross-functional teams. Highlight your experience in agile environments and how you’ve contributed to team success while fostering a culture of accountability and skill-sharing.
