AI-Driven Software Architect - Lead Django Microservices

We're looking for a Software Architect to join our engineering team and play a pivotal role in shaping the technical direction of our platform. This is not just a hands-on engineering role, it's a leadership position where you'll be expected to bridge the gap between product vision and technical execution. You'll work closely with Product Managers to translate business requirements into robust technical strategies, produce detailed technical analyses, and guide a team of engineers toward successful, on-time delivery. At the same time, you'll remain deeply hands-on, contributing directly to our codebase and setting the bar for engineering excellence across the team. Our engineering team sits at the centre of everything we do at Plentific and is constantly tackling challenging problems, such as online payments, quoting, invoicing, booking, search and scoring algorithms, ETL, data pipelines, in-app messaging, real-time notifications and fraud prevention. Our backend engineers mostly work with Python and Django on a service-oriented architecture deployed at scale on Kubernetes. The rest of the tech stack includes Django REST Framework, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, AWS, React.js, Docker, Redis, Celery, Pandas, NumPy, Git, Jenkins and Elasticsearch. We put significant emphasis on design patterns, code readability, automated testing, maintainability and extensibility. As Software Architect, you'll be the standard-bearer for these values. At Plentific AI is at the core of how we build and deliver software. We expect our Software Architect to be fluent in AI-assisted development practices, leveraging AI tools across the entire engineering lifecycle: from spec-driven development and architectural design to coding, code review and delivery. Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Strategy

Collaborate closely with Product Managers to translate product requirements into comprehensive technical analyses, breaking down complexity into clear, actionable engineering plans with the help of AI spec-driven development tools. Define and own the technical roadmap for your team, ensuring architectural decisions align with business goals and long-term platform scalability. Guide and mentor engineers throughout the delivery lifecycle, from design through to deployment, ensuring the team stays on track and produces high-quality output. Act as the primary technical point of contact for your squad, facilitating alignment between engineering, product and stakeholders.

Architecture & Design

Design and evolve scalable, resilient microservices architectures using Django and Python, deployed on Kubernetes at scale. Lead the design of APIs, data pipelines and distributed systems with a strong focus on performance, reliability and maintainability. Define and enforce best practices around database design, query optimisation and data modelling across relational databases (PostgreSQL). Evaluate emerging technologies and architectural patterns, making evidence-based recommendations to the broader engineering organisation.

Hands-On Engineering

Write well-formulated, testable and readable code using appropriate software design patterns. Build and maintain APIs, microservices and data pipelines. Write complex SQL queries and optimise database performance. Debug and resolve issues across our applications, including production incidents. Review, maintain and refactor existing code to support improved or new features.

AI-Driven Development

Champion and embed AI-assisted practices across the full development lifecycle, including spec generation, architectural design, coding and delivery, ensuring the team operates at the frontier of modern, AI-augmented engineering.

Delivery & Collaboration

Lead code reviews, setting a high bar for quality and consistency across the team. Work with product owners, engineering managers, UI designers and engineers to produce technical specifications and project documentation. Remove technical blockers and proactively surface risks to delivery, proposing pragmatic solutions. Write clear technical documentation for code, algorithms, APIs and system architecture.

8+ years of software engineering experience, with a strong focus on Python and Django. Proven, hands-on experience building and operating Django-based microservices at scale, running in production on Kubernetes. Demonstrable experience with AI tools to assist Software Development and Architectural document writing (e.g. Claude Code, Cursor). Demonstrable experience in a Tech Lead or Software Architect capacity, owning technical direction and guiding teams toward delivery. Strong track record of producing technical analyses: working alongside Product Managers to assess requirements, define solutions, estimate complexity and produce clear, actionable engineering plans. Deep knowledge of distributed systems design, including event-driven architectures, asynchronous processing (e.g. Celery, Redis) and inter-service communication patterns. Expert-level understanding of relational database management (PostgreSQL preferred), including schema design, normalisation and query optimisation. Solid grasp of computer science fundamentals: data structures, algorithms and software design patterns. Experience with AWS and cloud-native infrastructure; familiarity with CI/CD pipelines (e.g. Jenkins). Ability to work UK working hours (+/- 3 hours). Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences. A collaborative, can-do mindset with strong ownership and accountability.

As you can see, we are quickly progressing with our ambitious plans and are eager to grow our team of doers to achieve our vision of managing over 2 million properties through our platform across various countries. You can help us shape the future of property management across the globe. Here's what we offer:

A competitive compensation package 25 days annual holiday + 1 additional day for every year served up to 5 years. Flexible working environment including the option to work abroad. Private health care for you and immediate family members with discounted gym membership, optical, dental and private GP. Enhanced parental leave. Life insurance (4x salary). Employee assistance program. Company volunteering day and charity salary sacrifice scheme. Learning management system powered by Udemy. Referral bonus and charity donation if someone you introduce joins the company. Season ticket loan, Cycle to work, Electric vehicle and Techscheme programs. Pension scheme. Work abroad scheme. Company-sponsored lunches, dinners and social gatherings. Fully stocked kitchen with drinks, snacks, fruit, breakfast cereal etc.

#J-18808-Ljbffr

At Plentific, we're redefining property management in real time. Our mission, is to lead real estate through the transformative journey into "The World of Now," enabling us to empower property professionals through our innovative, cloud-based platform. We harness cutting-edge technology and data-driven insights to streamline operations for landlords, letting agents, and property managers-enabling them to optimise maintenance, manage repairs, and make informed decisions instantly. Our platform is designed to create seamless, real-time workflows that transform traditional property management into a dynamic, digital experience. Backed by a world-class group of investors-including Noa, Highland Europe, Brookfields, Mubadala, RXR Digital Ventures, and Target Global-Plentific is at the forefront of the proptech revolution. Headquartered in London with a global outlook, we're continually expanding our reach and impact. We're looking for forward-thinking, passionate professionals who are ready to contribute to our mission and drive industry innovation. If you're excited about making an immediate impact and shaping the future of property management, explore career opportunities with us at Plentific.