Backend Engineering and Architecture Lead

E.ON Next Energy Ltd; Greater London; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Parental leave

Generous pension

Annual leave 26 days

Hybrid work options

Career development programs

Job summary

E.ON Next Energy Ltd is seeking an experienced Backend Chapter Lead to shape the future of backend engineering. You will lead a group of Engineering Managers and Staff Engineers, setting the technical direction, roadmaps and architecture for services, data pipelines and cloud infrastructure.

You will stay hands-on, solving complex issues while mentoring a growing engineering community. You will partner with Product and Tech leaders to balance delivery priorities with technical debt and platform

Qualifications

• Significant software engineering experience leading engineering leaders and scaling large teams.
• Deep backend expertise in distributed systems, microservices and cloud infrastructure.
• Hands-on with Python, FastAPI and AWS.
• Experience with DevOps, CI/CD, platform engineering and modern observability tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach and develop Engineering Managers and Staff Engineers to build a high-performing backend community.
• Set technical vision and long-term roadmap for backend engineering and services architecture.
• Stay hands-on with engineering, tackling complex challenges, incidents and POC work.
• Drive engineering standards, DevOps practices and continuous improvement across backend services.
• Partner with Product and Technology leaders to balance delivery priorities, debt and platform reliability.

Skills

Backend leadership

Distributed systems

Python

AWS

FastAPI

Django

Flask

PostgreSQL

DynamoDB

Redis

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

CI/CD

Observability

AI/ML

Incident management

Tools

Python

FastAPI

AWS

Job description

We're looking for an experienced and technically passionate Backend Chapter Lead to shape the future of backend engineering at E.ON UK. You'll play a key role in setting our technical direction, developing engineering talent and building the platforms that power brilliant customer experiences. Leading a team of Engineering Managers and Staff Engineers, you'll bring together technical excellence, strategic thinking and people leadership to help more than 50 backend engineers thrive. From defining our long-term architecture to getting hands-on with code, troubleshooting complex issues and exploring new technologies, you'll balance the bigger picture with the technical detail to make a real impact.

Here's a taste of what you'll be doing Lead, coach and develop our Engineering Managers and Staff Engineers, building a high-performing engineering community with a strong focus on career development, inclusion and collaboration. Set the technical vision and long-term roadmap for backend engineering, shaping the architecture of our services, APIs, data pipelines and cloud infrastructure. Stay hands-on with engineering, working alongside teams on complex technical challenges, production incidents, troubleshooting and proof of concepts. Drive engineering excellence by championing technical standards, code quality, DevOps practices and continuous improvement across our backend services. Partner with Product and Technology leaders to balance delivery priorities, technical debt, platform reliability and capacity, ensuring we build solutions that work for the long term. Influence at executive level, shaping technology strategy, managing engineering budgets and driving innovation through emerging technologies, including AI and machine learning.

You have significant software engineering experience, including a strong track record of leading engineering leaders and scaling high-performing teams of 30 or more engineers. You have deep, hands‑on expertise in backend engineering, distributed systems, microservices and cloud infrastructure, ideally with Python, FastAPI and AWS. You're experienced in setting technical strategy, developing multi-year roadmaps and making architectural decisions that balance innovation, scalability and long-term platform health. You're a confident and influential leader who can move seamlessly between executive-level discussions and detailed technical problem‑solving with engineering teams. You understand modern software engineering practices, including DevOps, platform engineering and CI/CD, and have the commercial awareness to manage budgets and align technical investment with business priorities.

It would be great if you had Experience working with technologies such as Django, Flask, PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, Redis, Docker, Kubernetes and Terraform. Experience with event-driven architecture, REST and GraphQL APIs, messaging services and cloud-native infrastructure.

A background in observability, automated testing and incident management, using tools such as PyTest, CloudWatch, New Relic or Sentry.

Experience introducing AI and machine learning capabilities into backend services, alongside a passion for exploring emerging technologies.

A track record of leading organisational change, building diverse talent pipelines and creating an inclusive engineering culture where people feel empowered to learn and do their best work.

Here's what else you need to know Role may close earlier due to high applications. Permanent Competitive salary Location - London - with travel between sites when required.

Excellent parental leave allowance.

Award-Winning Workplace - We're proud to be named a Sunday Times Best Place to Work 2025 and the Best Place to Work for 16-34-year-olds.

Outstanding Benefits - Enjoy 26 days of annual leave plus bank holidays, a generous pension, life cover, bonus opportunities and access to 20 flexible benefits with tax/NI savings.

Flexible & Family-Friendly - Our industry-leading hybrid and family-friendly policies earned us double recognition at the Personnel Today Awards 2024.

We're open to discussing how flexibility can work for you Inclusive & Diverse - We're the only energy company in the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers.

We're also proud winners of Best Employer for Women and Human Company of the Year- recognising our inclusive, people-first culture.

Support at Every Stage of Life - We're Fertility Friendly and Menopause Friendly accredited, with inclusive support for everyone Accessible & Supportive - Do you consider yourself as having a disability? As a Disability Confident Employer, we guarantee interviews for disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role and will make any adjustments needed during the process.

Invested in Your Growth - From inclusive talent networks to top-tier development programmes, we'll support your growth every step of the way For all successful candidates.

Due to the nature of this role your employment will be subject to a basic DBS (Disclosure Barring Service) check being carried out by ourselves via a 3rd party service provider.

E.ON Next is all about creating a sustainable future, now. We're moving our energy in the right direction, one little big step at a time. We're also here to make this whole energy thing way easier for our customers. Like, really easy. That means providing exceptional service and using state-of-the-art tech to do it. Join us in our mission to bring feel-good energy to everyone...