Engineering Technical Lead

Planet DDS; Glasgow; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical and Dental insurance

Life Assurance and Income Protection

Employee Well-Being program

23 Days of Annual Leave

Company Paid Sick Time

Volunteer Time Off

Technology Stipend

Employee Referral program

Job summary

Planet DDS in Glasgow is seeking a Tech Lead who is a hands-on software engineer and pod leader. You will own the technical delivery of a small team (typically 2 engineers + QA), drive architecture decisions, and mentor others while integrating AI-assisted development tools across the SDLC.

The role blends deep coding with leadership in a SaaS, healthcare-oriented environment. You’ll collaborate with Product, work with DevOps and DBAs, and help evolve engineering practices as the team ships

Qualifications

• 12+ years commercial software engineering experience.
• Proven technical leadership in delivering complex SaaS projects.
• Experience using AI coding tools as part of daily workflow.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical delivery of your pod end-to-end: design, implement, test and deploy.
• Drive planning, estimation, and prioritization within your pod.
• Mentor engineers and conduct meaningful code reviews to raise the bar.
• Collaborate with Product to shape technical solutions addressing customer problems.
• Maintain CI/CD pipelines and continuously improve development processes.

Skills

Tech lead experience

OOP & design patterns

AI coding tools

CI/CD practices

Mentoring

Tools

.NET

React

Job description

About Planet DDS

We’re on a mission to fix dental software - and we’re not playing small. Our platform replaces clunky, outdated systems with modern, cloud-based, AI-powered technology built to actually work at scale. From practice management to imaging to revenue cycle automation, we’re tearing down the old infrastructure and rebuilding the future of dentistry. Planet DDS is the fastest-growing provider of dental practice management solutions and the #1 cloud platform for DSOs and multi-location groups.

About Planet DDS

We’re on a mission to fix dental software - and we’re not playing small. Our platform replaces clunky, outdated systems with modern, cloud-based, AI-powered technology built to actually work at scale. From practice management to imaging to revenue cycle automation, we’re tearing down the old infrastructure and rebuilding the future of dentistry. Planet DDS is the fastest-growing provider of dental practice management solutions and the #1 cloud platform for DSOs and multi-location groups. Here, you won’t just join a team - you’ll join a movement. We want bold thinkers who are ambitious enough to push limits, empathetic enough to work as one, and accountable enough to own big outcomes. Trust is our currency, collaboration is our edge, and impact is our fuel. If you’re ready to grow fast, challenge the status quo, and help reinvent an entire industry, Planet DDS is where you belong. To learn more, visit: Planet DDS .

Overview

We’re looking for a Tech Lead who is a strong software engineer first – someone who has integrated AI development tools deeply into how they work and can drive a small, autonomous team to deliver meaningful outcomes for our customers. This isn’t a management role. You won’t have HR responsibilities. What you will have is ownership: a dedicated product pod (typically 2 software engineers and a QA engineer), a direct line to DevOps, DBAs, and Product, and access to real customers so you can iterate fast and ship with confidence. You’ll lead the technical direction of your pod, make architectural decisions, unblock your teammates, and set the standard for how modern, AI-assisted software engineering gets done at Planet DDS. You’ll have meaningful input into how we evolve our engineering practices as an organization, and you’ll be a key part of our transition to outcome-driven, pod-based delivery.

• This is a hybrid position working 1-2x per week in our Glasgow, Scotland office.

Job Duties

• Own the technical delivery of your pod’s commitments end-to-end: from technical design through implementation, testing, and deployment
• Drive planning, estimation, and prioritization within your pod, working closely with your Product Lead to balance technical quality with delivery speed
• Remove blockers for your team; coordinate with DevOps, DBAs, and other pods to keep work flowing
• Establish and maintain a sustainable pace of weekly deployments, continuously improving the team’s ability to ship with confidence
• Make sound architectural decisions that are maintainable, scalable, and aligned with our product direction
• Write production code daily – this is a hands-on role where you lead by doing, not just directing
• Use AI-assisted development tools strategically across the full SDLC: planning work with AI agents, generating and refining code, creating comprehensive test coverage, and accelerating debugging
• Drive improvements to development processes, tooling, and CI/CD pipelines within your pod and across the wider engineering org
• Mentor engineers on effective AI-assisted workflows; help establish team-wide patterns and practices that raise the bar for everyone
• Conduct meaningful code reviews that focus on design, maintainability, and helping teammates grow
• Foster a culture of technical curiosity, continuous improvement, and shared ownership of quality
• Collaborate directly with Product to shape technical solutions that address real customer problems
• Participate in customer feedback sessions to build empathy and inform technical decisions
• Translate customer needs and product goals into clear technical plans your pod can execute against

Essential

Skills and Qualifications

• 12+ years of commercial software engineering experience, with a track record of shipping and maintaining production systems at scale
• Demonstrated experience leading technical delivery – whether as a formal tech lead, senior engineer who naturally stepped up, or lead on complex projects where you were the person others looked to for direction
• Deep understanding of software engineering fundamentals: OOP, design patterns, SOLID principles, testing strategies, and writing code that others can maintain
• Proven experience using AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or similar) as a core part of your daily workflow – you should be able to articulate how you approach complex problems differently with these tools and how you’d help a team adopt them
• Ability to work effectively across the stack; .NET and React experience strongly preferred, but excellent fundamentals in other modern stacks considered
• Experience with CI/CD, automated testing, and shipping code frequently with confidence
• Strong communication skills and the ability to make technical concepts accessible to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders
• Comfort with ambiguity and rapid iteration – you ship, learn, adapt, and help your team do the same

Nice to Have

• Experience in SaaS, healthcare software, or other regulated/compliance-sensitive environments
• Hands-on DevOps experience (IaC, Azure) or infrastructure knowledge that helps you make better architectural decisions
• Prior experience introducing new tools, practices, or ways of working to a team – and navigating the human side of that change
• Exposure to trunk-based development, continuous deployment models, or outcome-driven delivery frameworks
• Experience working with distributed teams across multiple time zones
• Background in API design, integration patterns, or building platforms other teams consume

Benefits

• Medical and Dental insurance
• Life Assurance and Income Protection
• Employee Well-Being program
• 8 Public Holidays
• 23 Days of Annual Leave
• Company Paid Sick Time
• Volunteer Time Off
• Technology Stipend
• Employee Referral program
• Additional perk and voluntary benefit programs

Salary is based on a number of factors and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. This position is also eligible for variable pay as part of the total compensation package.

Planet Dds Core Ideology

• Collaborative – Working independently and across teams, we create scalable solutions to enable company growth
• Empathetic – We are educated on the experience of our customers and feel vested in their success
• Accountable – We feel ownership for the quality of our work and take pride in the positive outcomes
• Trustworthy – We operate with integrity and honest, making promises we know that we can keep
• Ambitious – We are driven by our ability to make a long-term, positive impact on the lives of dental market leaders

Planet DDS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.