Location
London
Hours
Full Time
Salary
£70,000 - £85,000
About the Role
Reporting directly to the Head of Engineering, you will be responsible for the people management, technical direction, and delivery performance of your team. You will play a critical role in building a high-performing engineering culture, ensuring your team delivers high-quality work to our clients while continuously developing their skills and careers. You will lead your team’s projects, providing guidance and support while managing engineers in line with our departmental strategy to achieve Equator’s goals.
Main Responsibilities
People Management & Leadership
Line manage a team of software engineers, providing regular 1:1s, coaching, mentoring, and career development support. Monitor the effectiveness of mentoring activities and ensure all team members receive appropriate support. Identify further training requirements, both formal and informal. Ensure all team members have personal development plans aligned with company accreditation requirements and coordinate plans to meet accreditation targets. Proactively monitor team performance on projects, support where needed, and course correct to mitigate delivery risks. Review appraisal feedback, implement actions with the Head of Engineering, and monitor progress. Take responsibility for recruitment including defining role requirements, interviewing, and onboarding. Foster a positive, inclusive, and psychologically safe team environment.
Delivery & Execution
Take on the Engineering Project Lead role on specific projects, either as management support or a player/coach contributing hands-on engineering tasks. Maintain an overview of all projects within your team and provide support to ensure efficient progress. Be accountable for engineering team performance including delivery timelines and budgets. Ensure estimates are created, reviewed, and approved, verifying accuracy and adherence to team practices. Use appropriate tools to monitor progress and issues. Own and improve delivery processes including sprint planning, stand-ups, retrospectives, and release management. Attend morning huddles and report issues to the Head of Engineering. Ensure project retrospectives are conducted after all development projects. Monitor team velocity and capacity, balancing feature delivery with technical debt and operational work. Communicate project risks with Project Manager and document them. Participate in the development team support rota system.
Technical Direction & Quality
Input to the technical direction of the tech stack, leading with high standards for quality and ensuring consistent application across projects. Ensure solution designs are documented clearly and communicated across teams. Set and enforce code review schedules. Identify and correct work not meeting standards early. Ensure all work is tested using appropriate tools and techniques, agreed before project start. Promote engineering best practices including code review, testing, CI/CD, observability, and documentation. Encourage investigation of new technologies via Tech Radar documentation, assessing risks and impacts. Collaborate with the Head of Engineering and other managers on technical standards, tooling, and strategic roadmap, owning initiatives where appropriate.
Benefits
Generous Pension Scheme with 10% company match. 34 days holiday plus an extra day per year worked (up to 5 extra days). Free gym membership or contribution to a gym of your choice. Flexible working championed. Free private healthcare for all team members. Access to 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme and mental health first aiders. Cycle-to-Work scheme with up to 42% off a new bike. Enhanced maternity and paternity leave with company celebrations. Daily fresh fruit, coffee, and Friday drinks. Vibrant social scene including summer BBQs and Christmas events. £1000 referral bonus for successful hires. Long-term service rewards with surprise gifts at milestones.
Application Process
Initial telephone or Teams interview to discuss experience and role fit. A small task to demonstrate skills followed by a meeting with up to three team members to discuss the task. Additional meeting with board members for senior and externally facing roles to ensure cultural fit.
Onboarding
Meet the team and tour the studios to get comfortable. Dedicated induction with People and Culture team to get fully up to speed. A tailored 3-month programme covering key competencies and learning outcomes. Assignment of a Buddy for ongoing support. Regular welfare check-ins from People and Culture team. Breakfast with the Founders to welcome new team members and share stories.
Experience
Demonstrable experience managing and developing a team of software engineers. Strong technical background with hands-on software engineering experience. Proven ability to deliver software projects in a collaborative, agile environment.
About you
Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage technical and non-technical audiences. Ability to mentor, lead, and make decisive decisions. Strong organisational skills and attention to detail. Enthusiasm, a positive attitude, and a keen interest in all things software engineering. A genuine passion for growing people and building high-performing teams.
Desirable
Experience working in a digital agency or similar client-facing environment. Familiarity with modern software engineering practices, cloud infrastructure, and DevOps principles. Experience with agile frameworks such as Scrum or Kanban. Understanding of information security management systems and compliance requirements. A track record of driving process improvement and engineering culture initiatives.