Senior Lead Developer (Head of Engineering / Full-Stack)
Role details
Job location
Tech stack
Job description
As our Senior Lead Developer / Head of Engineering, you will:
Lead technical direction
- Architect the next evolution of TruTrade's platform
- Drive the migration to a modern MVC / microservices structure
- Set coding standards, performance benchmarks, and engineering culture
Be a Hands-On Senior Developer
- We are not looking for a "manager only"
- You will be writing code daily.
- Full-stack development (backend + frontend)
- Lead major feature builds end-to-end
- Solve complex technical challenges at speed
- Review and improve codebase quality
Build & Guide the Development Team
- Lead internal and external developers
- Review code, set standards, mentor others
- Shape hiring decisions as the team grows
Own Integrations & Core Platform Systems
- Merchant pricing integrations
- POS/order APIs
- Estimating and quoting automation
- AI-driven workflows (LLMs, takeoff tools, assistants)
- User dashboards, reporting, and backend logic
- System security, scalability, uptime, and optimisation
Deliver Product at High Speed
- Work directly with the founder and leadership
- Turn ideas into shipped features quickly
- Own delivery timelines and technical decisions
- Push the platform forward aggressively, * Senior-level salary + performance bonuses
- Hybrid working (Warwickshire-based office + remote flexibility)
- Full ownership of the engineering function
- Direct collaboration with the founder
- Opportunity to build a national-scale platform
- Zero bureaucracy - pure delivery, speed, and impact
- Long-term progression as Engineering grows
Who This Role Suits
Someone who wants:
- Ownership
- Responsibility
- Autonomy
- and the chance to build something huge
If you've built complex systems and want to lead a platform that's scaling fast, this role is for you., TruTrade will be used by thousands of builders and merchants across the UK.Explain in detail how you would architect a scalable, secure multi-tenant SaaS platform using Laravel + React/Next.js.
Include how you'd structure the backend, database, API layer, tenant isolation, caching, queueing, and deployment.
QUESTION 2 - Merchant API Integration
**You need to integrate a merchant ERP/POS for live pricing, stock, and order submission.
Explain step-by-step how you would:
- Authenticate with the merchant API
- Fetch live prices
- Handle rate limits
- Manage timeouts/failuresSync orders + track status
- Log and monitor errors
- What standards or patterns would you use?
QUESTION 3 - AI Workflow Design
TruTrade will integrate an AI assistant to process plans, generate quotes, and support builders.
Explain how you would design an AI workflow using LLMs, vector search, embeddings, and image/document processing.What tools or frameworks would you choose and why?
QUESTION 4 - Code Quality & Leadership
Explain your process for leading a dev team while still coding hands-on.
Include:
- How you run code reviews
- How you prevent technical debt
- How you enforce standards
- How you mentor junior developers
- How you balance delivery speed with quality
QUESTION 5 - Legacy * Modern Migration
The platform currently includes legacy Laravel + Vue components being migrated to a modern React/Next.js + API-first backend.
Explain how you would plan and execute this migration without causing downtime or breaking features.
Requirements
Do you have experience in Vue.js?, Must Have:
- 7+ years professional coding experience
- Strong backend expertise (Laravel/PHP or Node/Python equivalent)
- Strong frontend skills (React / Next.js)
- Built and scaled real SaaS platforms
- Proven experience leading dev teams
- Excellent API design and integration background
- Strong database experience (PostgreSQL or similar)
- Ability to architect large systems with multiple moving parts
- Fast, accurate, and accountable - not a drifter
Ideal Extras:
- Experience integrating builders merchants (ERP, stock, POS, pricing APIs)
- Experience with AI tools (LLMs, vector search, embeddings, LangChain)
- Experience with multi-tenant platforms
- DevOps experience: Docker, CI/CD, Fly.io, AWS, Kubernetes
- Experience in construction-tech or trade-related software
Benefits & conditions
Full-time | Senior Leadership Role | Competitive Salary + Performance Bonuses
