Lead Software Engineer

Clayton
Manchester, United Kingdom
2 days ago

Role details

Contract type
Permanent contract
Employment type
Full-time (> 32 hours)
Working hours
Regular working hours
Languages
English
Experience level
Senior

Job location

Manchester, United Kingdom

Tech stack

PHP
Artificial Intelligence
Node.js
RabbitMQ
React
Backend
Bug Reporting
Kafka
Front End Software Development
Microservices

Job description

Are you the kind of Lead Developer who enjoys Greenfield work? The type of work where you are creating something completely from scratch instead of the same old bug reports and fixes?

This is an opportunity to join a small, forward-thinking tech business (around eight people within the development team) that is about to do a proper rebuild of its core platform. Right now, they're running multiple legacy applications with different standards, different front ends, and different approaches to data. The plan is to scrap that complexity and start again, unifying everything.

You'll be working on a genuinely greenfield rebuild, moving towards a modular, microservice-based architecture with a unified front-end shell that all services plug into. The focus is on modernising how the platform works, how services talk to each other, and how data moves in and out of the system.

As a Lead Developer, you'll be hands-on, influential, and trusted to bring ideas to the table. This is not a "sit quietly and ticket-bash" position.

Requirements

  • Strong experience as a Lead Developer or similar

  • Solid backend experience with Node.js and microservices

  • Frontend experience with React

  • Experience working on large or complex applications

  • Comfortable working across different technologies rather than staying in one narrow lane

  • Open-minded when it comes to AI and modern tooling, not resistant to change

Advantageous skills include experience with:

  • Bonus points if you've worked with messaging systems like Kafka or RabbitMQ

  • Bonus points for a PHP background or experience modernising older platforms

If you enjoy rebuilding systems properly, care about clean architecture, and want to have real influence in a small team, this one is well worth a conversation

Apply for this position