Lead Backend Engineer – C++ & AI-Driven Platform

Digital Waffle; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 63,000 - 77,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Job summary

Digital Waffle in Birmingham seeks a Lead Software Engineer to own the backend and steer the platform's next phase. You’ll combine hands-on delivery with leadership, mentoring, and architectural input while collaborating with Product, Front End and R&D teams to lift performance and velocity.

The role requires deep C++ expertise, experience building scalable services and a drive to integrate AI-powered tooling and modern development practices.

Qualifications

• Strong commercial experience in a leadership backend role.
• Expert-level C++ with knowledge of the standard library and algorithms.
• Experience designing and maintaining scalable backend services and APIs.
• Strong understanding of database systems and performance optimization.
• Previous experience leading, mentoring, or coaching software engineers.
• Experience working in Agile environments.
• Hands-on experience with AI or ML-powered solutions and AI tooling.
• Familiarity with LLMs and AI-assisted development tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and evolution of scalable backend systems and APIs.
• Own backend projects from planning to production delivery.
• Define technical requirements with Product, Architects and Engineers.
• Lead and mentor a team of backend engineers.
• Drive improvements in architecture, performance, reliability and observability.
• Identify bottlenecks and optimise queries and system performance.
• Evaluate and implement AI-powered tools to boost productivity and quality.
• Support adoption of AI engineering practices across the team.
• Lead sprint planning, stand-ups and retrospectives with Product and Delivery teams.
• Champion secure coding, testing, code review and best practices.

Skills

Leadership

Mentoring

C++ expertise

Backend delivery

AI adoption

Agile

Architecture

Tools

C++

STL

Databases

Job description

Digital Waffle in Birmingham seeks a Lead Software Engineer to own the backend and steer the platform's next phase. You’ll combine hands-on delivery with leadership, mentoring, and architectural input while collaborating with Product, Front End and R&D teams to lift performance and velocity.

The role requires deep C++ expertise, experience building scalable services and a drive to integrate AI-powered tooling and modern development practices.