Lead Developer

This is a hands-on leadership role where you'll influence both the technical direction and day-to-day delivery within your squad. Working closely with Product and UX teams, you'll be involved early in the lifecycle of new features, helping to define practical, well-architected solutions and seeing them through to delivery. You'll lead from within a development squad, combining strong engineering capability with collaboration and support for others in the team. We operate in a flexible, fully remote (UK-based) environment, with a culture that values ownership, continuous improvement, and thoughtful, human-led development. Whether you're already operating at Lead level or ready to take that next step, this is an opportunity to make a visible impact across a diverse and high-performing digital estate., * Act as Technical Lead within a development squad, guiding the design and delivery of new features

• Collaborate closely with Product Managers and UX Designers to refine requirements and shape solutions
• Develop and maintain high-quality, scalable software using PHP and associated technologies
• Support and mentor developers within the team, helping to improve coding standards and best practices
• Contribute to architectural decisions and ensure alignment with wider platform strategy
• Work across both front-end and back-end systems to deliver end-to-end solutions
• Champion agile ways of working and contribute to continuous improvement within the team
• Ensure code quality, performance and reliability across all outputs
• Work with version control systems (Git/GitHub) to manage codebases effectively

Do you have experience in Web design?, * Strong experience in PHP, with a solid understanding of design patterns

• Proven experience in a full development environment (circa 3+ years)
• Experience working with both SQL and NoSQL databases (e.g. MySQL, Elasticsearch, Redis)
• Comfortable working in cross-functional teams alongside Product and UX
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly
• Experience using Git and GitHub for version control

Desirable but not essential:

• Experience working in an Agile environment
• Exposure to modern JavaScript frameworks (e.g. Vue.js)
• Understanding of web design principles and modern web technologies
• Degree in Computer Science or a related field

Pulled from the full job description

• Referral programme
• Employee discount
• Company pension
• Paid volunteer time
• Cycle to work scheme
• Discounted gym membership, * Competitive salary
• Contributory pension
• Perks and discounts with numerous retailers and organisations
• Opportunities for team building and training days
• 25 days' paid holiday, plus statutory bank holidays
• An extra day off on your birthday
• Holiday purchase scheme
• Structured career progression, ongoing training, and personal performance reviews
• Discount vouchers
• Discounted gym membership
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Mental health support via Lifeworks
• Eye test vouchers, plus £50 towards the cost of new glasses
• Annual volunteer or charity day
• Staff referral scheme

Join Newsquest Digital Media, the digital division of one of the UK's leading local media publishers, and play a key role in building and optimising the backend systems that power our extensive network of trusted local news brands-helping to shape the future of digital journalism at scale. We're looking for a Lead Developer to take a central role in shaping the evolution of our digital products across a portfolio of over 200 high-traffic websites, serving millions of users each month., We are a media company with a difference. We are committed to bringing a voice to your region by investing in a passionate team of journalists who proudly serve their communities by sharing authoritative news that readers trust. Our sales teams provide local businesses with highly responsive digital advertising and marketing solutions. We are one of the largest regional news publishers in the UK and have a portfolio of more than 250+ local news brands and magazines online and in print. With an online audience of 41 million users a month and 7 million readers a week in print, our content is read by a substantial proportion of the UK population. In addition to our local news brands, we own several digital pure play and specialist media businesses such as s1jobs and s1homes, Exchange & Mart, and Newsquest Specialist Media. We also own LOCALiQ, an award-winning digital marketing agency that specialises in driving more leads, increasing online growth and generating return on marketing investment on behalf of thousands of UK SMBs.