Lead Back-End Developer

ADLIB Recruitment; Greater London; On-site; GBP 49,000 - 58,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading software firm in Exeter is seeking a Lead Back-End Developer. In this role, you will lead a talented back-end team, managing delivery and technical roadmaps while ensuring system performance. Ideal candidates will have strong skills in PHP, Laravel, and team leadership experience. The role offers a starting salary of up to £58k, with benefits including 25 days holiday, an annual bonus, and a training budget to support your career development.

Benefits

Annual bonus scheme

Training budget

25 days holiday increasing with service

Qualifications

• Experience in a technical leadership or senior developer role, ideally in SaaS.
• Significant experience with modern frameworks and languages.
• Solid understanding of databases, APIs, and microservices.

Responsibilities

• Drive the delivery and evolution of back-office systems.
• Plan sprints and mentor team members.
• Manage delivery and act as a key technical stakeholder.

Skills

Technical leadership or senior developer experience

Modern frameworks (PHP, Go, Symfony, Laravel)

Databases, APIs, and microservices understanding

AWS and Azure

Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines

Frontend frameworks (Vue.js, React)

Job description

Fast-growing, award-winning SaaS scale-up.

PHP, Laravel / Symfony, lead a talented back‑end team.

Exeter / Remote, ambitious market‑leader, career development.

We are looking for a Lead Back‑End Developer to join a top software business in Exeter with more than a thousand Leisure, Tourism, and Events businesses across the globe. They’ve grown significantly over the last few years and off the back of a very successful 2025, they are now looking for a hands‑on Lead Back‑End Developer to join the team (80% Back‑End, 20% Team Leadership).

2 days per week in Exeter office.

What skills you’ll be needing

Experience in a technical leadership or senior developer role, ideally within SaaS or enterprise software.

Significant experience with modern frameworks and languages (e.g., PHP, Go, Symfony, Laravel).

Solid understanding of databases, APIs, and microservices.

Experience managing technical roadmaps and stakeholder expectations.

Confident working with cloud services (e.g., AWS, Azure) and CI / CD pipelines.

Familiarity with reporting systems, data pipelines, and system configuration tools.

Exposure to frontend frameworks such as Vue.js or React.

Prior involvement in system re‑architecture or platform migration projects.

What you’ll be doing

The Lead Back‑End Developer will drive the delivery and evolution of back‑office systems, ensuring continuous improvements and enabling platforms to be high‑performing, secure, and future‑ready. This is a hands‑on leadership role ideal for a technically skilled senior developer who can lead a team, manage delivery, and act as a key technical stakeholder for core system components such as reporting, configuration tools, and customer / venue management interfaces. You will plan sprints, mentor and support team members, promote best practice, high coding standards and track and report on team performance. They will look for you to be able to review code, propose improvements and manage technical debt, modernising legacy systems.

What you’ll get in return

You’ll receive a starting salary up to £58k and benefits including an annual bonus scheme, a generous individual training budget per year to spend on courses or accreditations. You’ll join the team with 25 days holiday plus bank holidays and your birthday off, but this will increase by a day a year (up to 30 days) to reward long service. This is a great opportunity to challenge and progress your career with one of the region’s tech success stories as they continue to thrive.

What’s next?

Interested? Send in your CV or you can get in touch with Mike if you have any questions.