Technical Lead, Full Stack

At VoCoVo, our software engineering teams develop our Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings that run on our cloud computing platform, and the software that runs on our large estate of hardware appliances 'on prem' at our customers' stores. This Technical Lead role will report to a Principal Software Engineer within our Engineering Leadership Office, and will work within a multi-disciplinary team including Product, Delivery and QA.

You will lead a development team focused on reducing the time and cost of installation and ongoing maintenance of 'on prem' equipment. The team will provide tools for our Customer Support team, channel partners/distributors and retail customers. Thus enabling them to install, configure, maintain and update the firmware and software deployed in stores. A key part of your role will be to work with Product to define the future and inspire the development team with a clear technical vision.

This team is 1 of 8 development teams and is supported by the Engineering Leadership Office, Architecture & Platform.

Please note, to apply for this position you must be based in the UK and have the legal right to work in the UK. This role is largely remote but would require visits to our Oxfordshire or Cheltenham offices once a month for team meet-ups/key meetings., * Act as a key member of the Product Development technical leadership team, shaping engineering direction and standards.

• Line manage team members, supporting performance, growth and career progression planning.
• Lead the team's development efforts, taking responsibility for the end-to-end delivery of software applications.
• Provide day-to-day servant leadership to a team of 4 Software Engineers and 1 QA Engineer.
• Make and document evidence-based architectural decisions in collaboration with peers and stakeholders.
• Agree the scope of work for each sprint with Product, Architecture and your team.
• Contribute to the technical roadmap, researching emerging technologies and developing proofs of concept where appropriate.
• Building and lead the team whilst enabling them to thrive within an enjoyable, supportive and fun working environment.
• Identify, assess and mitigate technical risks to ensure sustainable, scalable solutions.
• Ensure that release management processes are suitable for managing multiple release channels, to accommodate the varied populations of hardware at customer premises.
• Collaborate closely with the Platform team responsible for the Linux-based on-prem hardware appliances, to ensure smooth integration and performance.
• Plan proactively to support upcoming initiatives aligned to the product roadmap.
• Act as a peer reviewer across teams, maintaining high engineering standards and consistency.
• Coach the team towards both VoCoVo's strategic goals and their own professional development objectives.
• Identify resource gaps or skill shortages and address these through hiring, upskilling or training initiatives.
• Mentor less experienced engineers, including those outside your immediate team, contributing to broader engineering capability.

What does success look like?

• Team members have clarity, are enjoying the work they are doing and are reporting good wellbeing.
• VoCoVo are able to set-up and maintain the appliances in tens of thousands of retail stores.

o 99.5% store uptime.

• Tripling of the number of stores, without increasing the number of installation and support staff.

Do you have experience in Vue.js?, The following are desirable, but we do not expect you to have them all:

• Proven experience in the leadership of Agile software teams, fostering collaboration, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Previous experience as a Technical Lead or Engineering Manager, including coaching, performance management and supporting career development and progression.
• Prior experience in the design, development, testing and maintenance of large-scale software projects.
• Strong backend engineering experience with TypeScript/Node.js, we are also open to experience with other backend languages.
• Familiarity with the Linux operating system.
• Practical experience designing and operating SQL and/or NoSQL databases, with a clear understanding of performance and scalability considerations.
• Experience designing, implementing and integrating HTTP-based APIs.
• Experience provisioning and operating cloud infrastructure (Azure preferred), using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) or other structured paradigms.
• Familiarity with containerisation technologies such as Docker and/or Kubernetes.
• Excellent communication skills (ability to explain complex concepts clearly) and a leadership style based upon a foundation of empathy and humbleness.

"Nice to have skills"

• Experience managing or building systems that interact with fleets of IoT devices or other remote systems (even as a personal project).
• Familiarity with Bash scripting or similar shell scripting tools.
• Experience with remote device update and management tools (such as Mender).
• Understanding of networking fundamentals and distributed system challenges.
• Experience designing or operating event-driven systems and state machines.
• Practical understanding of monolithic and microservice architectures, including migration strategies between them.
• Exposure to modern frontend development frameworks and tooling (e.g. Vite, React, Vue).

Salary range: £80,000 - £85,000., * 25 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays (increases with years of service)

• Option to buy or sell 5 days holiday each year
• Sick Pay - 8 weeks full pay, 4 weeks half pay
• Life Assurance - (4 times basic pay)
• Private Medical Insurance
• Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP)
• Cycle2Work Scheme
• Electric car green salary sacrifice scheme
• Enhanced Maternity & Paternity package
• Child Care Scheme
• Training & development opportunities
• Company organised events
• Pension (Royal London Group) 5% employer contribution matched
• Apple MacBook, Wireless Magic Mouse and Keyboard, monitor and headphones

Diversity and Inclusion At VoCoVo, we are dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to thrive. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and experiences. Our commitment is to create an environment that champions equity, innovation, and collaboration, ensuring all team members can flourish. Join us in shaping the future together.

We are also committed to ensuring an inclusive recruitment process, so please let us know if you need any reasonable adjustments at any stage.

Company Values Embracing VoCoVo's 'VOICE' Values is important to us, shaping our collaborative and innovative culture.

VoCoVo specialises in innovative communication solutions tailored for businesses, particularly within the retail sector. Our flagship products are designed to create a connected store experience, facilitating seamless communication among retail staff to enhance efficiency and elevate customer service. We empower teams to collaborate effortlessly and achieve their retail goals. You've probably already seen us in action, we're trusted by Tesco, Asda, Dunelm and Iceland, just to name a few. With over 250,000 users across more than 10,000 locations in 21+ countries, and recognition as one of the top 100 best small-to-medium size businesses to work for, join us on our journey!