At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead a remote dev team, ensuring uptime and delivering impactful product improvements.
- Company: Join NewsNow, a top UK news aggregator revolutionising independent journalism since 1997.
- Benefits: Enjoy private health insurance, a Nest pension scheme, flexible hours, and home office equipment.
- Why this job: Be part of a mission-driven company that values innovation and offers a collaborative culture.
- Qualifications: Minimum ten years in software engineering, with two years in a leadership role required.
- Other info: Remote work with occasional travel to London; flexible full-time or part-time options available.
The predicted salary is between 72000 - 84000 £ per year.
Posted: May 2, 2025
Company name: NewsNow
Location: London (remote)
Country: United Kingdom
Pay rate: £90,000 to £100,000 plus on-call bonus
Terms of employment: Salaried employee
Hours: Full time
Onsite: no
Description: Salary: £90k-100k plus on-call bonus
Benefits: Private health insurance, Nest pension scheme, competitive holiday allowance, home office equipment and more
Experience: Minimum ten years in a related role, of which two in a team lead/management role
Type: f/t (37.5hrs) or p/t (4-day week, 32hrs) and flexitime policy
Location: Remote (occasional travel to London)
NewsNow is a rare UK-based .com success story: a news organisation using technology to support and promote credible, independent and public interest journalism, via the extremely successful news aggregation and discovery platform NewsNow.co.uk. Founded in 1997 to democratise and disrupt the market for news, NewsNow has since become a global top 50 news website with millions of loyal users who discover news from thousands of publishers.
We are looking for a fully-remote Senior Software Engineer/Dev Team Lead to take overall day-to-day operational responsibility for uptime of the NewsNow platform and for leading our small dev team in efficiently shipping product improvements that deliver business impact both commercially and in respect of our mission to provide the public with world-leading news aggregation services.
The right candidate will:
- Be highly numerate and analytical, backed by a mathematics, computer science, stats or physics degree (or equivalent experience)
- Have excellent high-level language coding skills in any of e.g. Perl, Python, C/C++, Go, Rust, NodeJS, Java and a language-agnostic attitude
- Have experience of Perl, Python 3 and NodeJS and a willingness to work with these or learn them fast
- Have strong scripting skills (Bash, Perl, Python)
- Have excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to engage authoritatively in technical discussions around the specifications of projects
- Be confident with Linux server/system administration (e.g. package installation/configuration, upgrades to distribution and kernels, filesystems and volume management)
- Have experience running containerised workloads using Docker or K8s
- Be expert-level at Root Cause Analysis
- Bring a strong appetite for learning new skills and technologies
- Expert at researching and becoming adept in new or unfamiliar technologies
- Have two years experience of training and running teams to deliver on time and on budget
- Be willing to drive the team from the front and be accountable for its performance
The right candidate will also have understanding and experience of at least 3 of the following, and be capable of learning the rest as needed:
- Distributed or large-scale systems
- MySQL/SQL database design, query optimisation and admin
- Web development in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Vue/React
- Apache web server software and related modules
- Cloud platforms and concepts (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure)
- Setup, testing and administration of CI/CD pipelines
- Networking and firewalling
- Natural language processing
Responsibilities
Leading, driving and motivating the development team:
- Allocating work to individual developers, keeping a focus on business priorities and how they further the company’s mission.
- Supporting team members in their work and learning
- Driving and reporting on team performance and execution
- Motivating the team to keep momentum high and the focus on delivery
Design, build and implementation:
- Developing and maintaining a detailed understanding of, and striving to become an authority on, all NewsNow’s systems and languages
- Scoping, designing and developing across frontend and especially backend subsystems
- Upholding standards (e.g. in maintainability, security, scalability, efficiency)
- Squashing all the bugs other developers cannot
Contributing towards monitoring, maintenance and administration of our production stack:
- Dell R630/R640 servers running Debian Linux and containerised workloads (Docker Swarm)
- Replicated databases (MySQL) and volume management using LVM and ZFS
- Firewall (iptables/nftables) and dynamic routing protocols (BGP, OSPF)
- Participation in on-call rotation, and providing third line support with overall responsibility for resolving production outages.
On-the-job training will be provided on the specific application of these technologies in our stack.
Senior Software Engineer / Dev Team Lead - Remote (UK based) employer: The Perl Programming Language
Contact Detail:
The Perl Programming Language Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Software Engineer / Dev Team Lead - Remote (UK based)
✨Tip Number 1
Familiarise yourself with the technologies mentioned in the job description, especially Perl, Python, and NodeJS. Even if you're not an expert yet, showing a willingness to learn these languages can set you apart from other candidates.
✨Tip Number 2
Highlight your leadership experience by preparing examples of how you've successfully managed teams in the past. Be ready to discuss specific challenges you faced and how you motivated your team to overcome them.
✨Tip Number 3
Brush up on your knowledge of Linux server administration and containerisation technologies like Docker or Kubernetes. Being able to speak confidently about your experience with these will demonstrate your technical competence.
✨Tip Number 4
Prepare to discuss your approach to root cause analysis and problem-solving. Think of examples where you've identified and resolved complex issues, as this is crucial for the role's responsibilities.
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Software Engineer / Dev Team Lead - Remote (UK based)
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV highlights relevant experience, especially in software engineering and team leadership. Use keywords from the job description to demonstrate that you meet the specific requirements.
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Write a cover letter that showcases your passion for technology and journalism. Explain how your skills align with NewsNow's mission and how you can contribute to their success as a Senior Software Engineer/Dev Team Lead.
Showcase Technical Skills: In your application, emphasise your proficiency in languages like Perl, Python, and NodeJS. Provide examples of projects where you've used these technologies, particularly in a team lead capacity.
Highlight Leadership Experience: Detail your experience in leading teams, focusing on how you've motivated team members and ensured project delivery. Mention any specific methodologies or tools you've used to manage team performance effectively.
How to prepare for a job interview at The Perl Programming Language
✨Showcase Your Technical Skills
Be prepared to discuss your experience with high-level programming languages like Perl, Python, and NodeJS. Bring examples of past projects where you used these technologies, and be ready to explain your coding decisions and problem-solving processes.
✨Demonstrate Leadership Experience
Since this role involves leading a development team, share specific instances where you've successfully managed a team. Highlight how you motivated team members, allocated tasks, and ensured projects were delivered on time and within budget.
✨Prepare for Technical Discussions
Expect to engage in technical discussions about system administration, containerisation, and database management. Brush up on your knowledge of Linux server management and be ready to discuss your experience with Docker or Kubernetes.
✨Express Your Willingness to Learn
The right candidate should have a strong appetite for learning new skills. Be sure to convey your enthusiasm for technology and your ability to quickly adapt to new tools and frameworks, especially those mentioned in the job description.