Lead Platform Developer (C#)

tombola; Sunderland; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

tombola in Sunderland is seeking a Platform Lead Developer to guide a Durable Team in the Operator Platform domain, combining technical leadership with hands-on engineering to deliver scalable, reliable software.

You will mentor engineers, shape technical direction, and collaborate with product, design, and delivery teams to align outcomes with business goals while maintaining platform health.

Qualifications

• Strong experience leading software engineering teams in a modern tech environment.
• Excellent knowledge of C# and .NET and software architecture best practices.
• Experience designing cloud-based solutions, ideally in AWS.
• Proficiency with web tech (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and SQL databases.
• Experience promoting testing and quality assurance; Agile delivery experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership across the team, guiding architecture, design, and implementation decisions.
• Ensure scalable, secure, and maintainable solutions aligned with engineering best practices.
• Act as escalation point for complex tech challenges and production incidents.
• Coach engineers, conduct regular 1:1s, and foster growth and knowledge sharing.
• Collaborate with Product, Delivery, and Design to translate initiatives into deliverables.
• Promote continuous improvement and effective Agile delivery within the team.

Skills

Team leadership

C#/.NET

Software architecture

AWS

Web technologies

SQL databases

Testing practices

Agile methodologies

Stakeholder communication

Job description

At tombola, our Player Experience teams are responsible for creating the products and platforms that power exceptional experiences for our players every day.

As a Platform Lead Developer, you'll lead a Durable Team within the Operator Platform domain, combining technical leadership, people leadership, and hands-on engineering to help deliver scalable, reliable, and high-quality software solutions.

Working closely with Product, Engineering, Architecture, Delivery, and Design teams, you'll play a key role in shaping technical direction, ensuring solutions align with business objectives, and supporting the successful delivery of product outcomes. You'll be a trusted technical leader, helping the team make sound design and implementation decisions while balancing long-term platform health with delivery needs.

Alongside technical leadership, you'll be passionate about developing others. Through coaching, mentoring, and knowledge sharing, you'll help engineers grow their skills, build confidence, and contribute to a culture of engineering excellence.

This role offers an opportunity to make a significant impact across technology, people, and product delivery while helping shape the future of our Player Experience platforms.

What you\'ll do

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical leadership across the team, guiding key architectural, design, and implementation decisions.

• Ensure solutions are scalable, maintainable, secure, and aligned with engineering best practices.

• Act as a technical escalation point, supporting the resolution of complex technical challenges and production incidents.

• Champion high standards of software engineering, code quality, testing, and system reliability.

• Work closely with Architects and fellow technical leaders to align platform evolution and technical strategy.

• Identify technical risks, dependencies, and opportunities, raising concerns and recommendations where appropriate.

Delivery & Collaboration

• Partner with Product Managers, Product Designers, Delivery Leads, and Engineering stakeholders to align technical solutions with business goals.

• Support the translation of product initiatives and epics into well-defined, deliverable pieces of work.

• Guide the team in creating clear, high-quality user stories and technical requirements.

• Collaborate with other teams to manage dependencies and enable successful cross-functional delivery.

• Support Agile delivery practices and drive continuous improvement within the team.

People Leadership & Engineering Excellence

• Lead, coach, and support engineers at all levels, creating an environment where individuals can thrive and grow.

• Conduct regular one-to-ones focused on development, wellbeing, performance, and career progression.

• Set meaningful goals that challenge and support individual growth while celebrating achievements and progress.

• Foster a culture of knowledge sharing, continuous learning, and technical excellence.

• Act as a role model for collaboration, accountability, and engineering best practices.

Continuous Improvement

• Drive improvements to team processes, ways of working, and engineering practices.

• Encourage experimentation, learning, and innovation to improve team effectiveness and delivery outcomes.

• Contribute to the wider engineering community through sharing knowledge, best practice, and technical expertise.

Skills, capabilities & experience

Essential

• Strong experience leading software engineering teams within a modern technology environment.

• Excellent knowledge of C# and .NET.

• Strong understanding of software architecture, design patterns, and engineering best practices.

• Experience designing and delivering cloud-based solutions, ideally within AWS environments.

• Good knowledge of web technologies including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

• Strong understanding of database design, SQL, and data-driven applications.

• Experience implementing and promoting software testing practices and quality assurance approaches.

• Strong understanding of Agile delivery methodologies, including Scrum and Kanban.

• Experience leading, coaching, and developing software engineers through effective people management practices.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence both technical and non-technical audiences.

Desirable

• Experience working within platform or product-focused engineering teams.

• Experience operating within large-scale, distributed systems.

• Exposure to regulated or high-availability environments.

• Experience contributing to technical strategy and architectural decision-making across multiple teams.

Why tombola?

At tombola, we\'re passionate about creating brilliant experiences for our players and empowering our teams to do their best work.

You\'ll be joining a collaborative engineering culture where technical excellence, continuous improvement, and personal development are genuinely valued. We encourage curiosity, innovation, and ownership, giving our people the opportunity to influence products, platforms, and ways of working while continuing to grow their careers.