Head of Engineering

Zelt; London; On-site; GBP 160,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech company in London seeks a Head of Engineering to lead their development efforts. This role involves hands-on coding, technical decision-making, and growing the engineering team. Ideal candidates combine strong technical skills with leadership qualities, focused on delivering high-quality software and building a cohesive team culture.

Benefits

Health insurance

Equity bonus

Airline miles bonus

Qualifications

• Experienced engineer who has delivered great software.
• Known for impeccable code quality.
• Strong communicator who can inspire a team.

Responsibilities

• Design and build software across multiple technologies.
• Lead a small engineering team and oversee projects end-to-end.
• Improve engineering velocity and quality.

Skills

Impeccable code quality

Attention to architectural integrity

Strong communication

Thoughtful decision-making

Technical ownership

Education

Experience in fast-moving product environments

Tools

Node.js

TypeScript

React

AWS

PostgreSQL

Job description

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Zelt is on a mission to rebuild how organisations run. Our all-in-one platform helps modern companies manage their people; across payroll, onboarding, time off, IT provisioning, and more - in a seamless, automated way.

We’re the only platform on G2 named a Global Momentum Leader across HR, Payroll, and IT and we’re just getting started. Watch our product teaser to get a feel for what we’re building.

Why This Role:

There are other HR tech platforms but none like Zelt. We’re building a first-of-its-kind employee platform that combines HR, IT, payroll, onboarding, access, and automation in one integrated system. It’s technically ambitious and structurally different from anything else on the market.

This role is for an engineer who wants to:

• Build real infrastructure, not just small point solutions; granular permissions, identity, security, reporting, and automation at scale
• Own technical decisions from day one; working directly with the Founder & CPO on product and architecture
• Lead without giving up coding; this is a hands-on role, not a managerial one in disguise
• Set the tone for engineering culture; standards, speed, and systems
• Join a company early enough to shape it, but far enough along to have backing, product-market fit, and momentum

If you care about building things right and also building the right things - this is a rare opportunity to do both.

Your Role:

We’re looking for a Head of Engineering who loves to get into the code; and is ready to lead a small but growing team.

You’ll report directly to our Founder & Chief Product Officer, and play a key role in how we build, scale, and evolve Zelt. You'll be the most senior engineer on the team, responsible for hands-on coding, system design, and day-to-day leadership of our engineering efforts.

This role is ideal for someone who combines strong technical ability with a passion for helping others deliver high-quality software. You’ll be expected to lead by example, through your code and code reviews, your decisions, and your drive to continuously improve how we build.

In your first few months, success means improving engineering velocity and quality, introducing clear standards and structure without overengineering, and aligning the team around technical direction and accountability, while continuing to ship the most critical code and infrastructure yourself.

Your Tasks:

• Design and build software yourself, across Node.js, TypeScript, React, AWS, PostgreSQL, while also guiding others to do the same
• Take technical ownership of projects and infrastructure end-to-end: from architecture to testing, shipping, and iteration
• Work closely with the Founder & CPO to align engineering with product direction
• Lead by example, review code, suggest better patterns, clean up messy corners of the codebase
• Gradually introduce structure: engineering principles, better processes, lightweight SLAs (without slowing down shipping)
• Identify where engineers need support, unblock them, coach them, and challenge them to raise their quality
• Keep things lean: reduce duplicated effort, improve developer workflows, and adopt smart tooling
• Stay hands-on and technical as this is a leadership role through code and clarity.

Requirements:

• An experienced engineer who has delivered great software in fast-moving product environments
• Known for impeccable code quality and attention to architectural integrity
• Uses performance data and code quality as tools for improvement, not control
• Brings technical clarity and structure without adding unnecessary process
• Strong communicator who can challenge, support, and inspire a team
• A thoughtful decision-maker; someone who reflects on the why behind their choices, including in education and career
• Brings a sense of ownership and pride in their work; motivated by outcomes, not just tasks, and willing to go the extra mile when it matters.

Nice to have:

• Experience building and leading teams in early-stage startups
• Familiarity with CI/CD, observability, and dev infrastructure at scale
• A history of improving systems; whether performance, code quality, or developer experience.

Why Zelt?

• Tackle unique and uncommon challenges that will enrich your skill set and expertise
• Be part of a culture that values technical excellence and supports your professional growth
• Multiple workplace benefits (Help us shape our culture! Tell us what you think is important: We already have health insurance, equity bonus, Airline miles bonus and more).

Let’s succeed together! If you’ve ever wanted to take full ownership of a product, lead without politics, and build a system that touches every person in a company, we’d love to meet you.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Not Applicable

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Industries

  Software Development and Human Resources Services

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