Lead Software Engineer

Duffel; England; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading travel technology company based in the UK is seeking a Technical Leader to manage and grow a team of engineers while driving high performance and fostering a culture of collaboration and technical excellence. The ideal candidate will have strong technical judgment, hands-on coding experience, and a proven track record in leading teams. This role offers personal growth opportunities and a culture that values diverse backgrounds, ensuring every team member takes ownership of their work.

Benefits

Ownership share in the company

Support for personal growth

Inclusive environment

Qualifications

• Experience managing and growing mid-sized engineering teams (5-10 engineers).
• Ability to communicate effectively in various contexts.
• Experience with agile delivery and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical discussions and make informed trade-offs.
• Collaborate with product managers and designers for feature roadmaps.
• Drive high team performance through best practices in engineering.

Skills

Technical leadership

Strong technical judgment

Team enablement

Autonomy

Clear communication

Job description

Create the future of travel with us

Whether it’s to visit the people closest to us, starting an exciting adventure, or a career-defining business trip, travel is an essential part of our lives. Yet we've all experienced the aches and pains of getting to our destination. Today, more than 4 billion airline passengers rely on technology that hasn't kept up with the expectations of the modern connected traveller.

That’s why we’ve started to rebuild the infrastructure that underpins the travel industry. We’re on a mission to unravel travel — simplifying systems and building the tools that will make the future of travel effortless. Central to this mission is ensuring seamless, secure, and reliable payment experiences, which are crucial for every transaction and a cornerstone of trust in our platform.

We were part of Y Combinator S18's cohort and we are backed by Benchmark, Blossom, Index Ventures, and Kima Ventures. A fantastic set of investors that has helped build some of the world's largest companies.

Our team in London is growing, and we’re looking for talented people to join us on our journey.

What we're looking for in you

• You are hands-on. You're comfortable jumping into the codebase, contributing directly to projects, and pairing with engineers to solve complex problems.
• You have strong technical judgment. You can arbitrate technical discussions and make tradeoffs that balance short-term impact and long-term health.
• You’ve led engineering teams. You’ve managed and grown mid-sized teams (5-10 engineers), and you know how to balance delivery with team wellbeing.
• You value leadership. You lead by example, create space for others to thrive, and measure your success through the growth and success of your team.
• You communicate with clarity. Whether in code reviews, design documents, or team updates, you communicate ideas in a way that builds shared understanding.
• You embrace autonomy. You can be trusted to drive initiatives forward without micromanagement, and you help others do the same.

Bonus

Experience with platform, infrastructure, developer tooling, or internal enablement teams.

What we are looking for in you

• Technical leadership : Writing and reviewing production code regularly, contributing to Duffel’s engineering standards and helping the team make well-informed technical decisions.
• Shaping the roadmap : Collaborating with product managers and designers to define and deliver on a roadmap that balances technical and customer priorities.
• Team enablement : Driving high team performance through enabling healthy engineering practices—agile delivery, rapid iteration, test-driven development, and continuous improvement.
• Mentorship & coaching : Supporting your teammates in their personal growth through 1 : 1s, mentoring, and continuous feedback. Helping engineers identify and pursue their career goals.
• Engineering culture : Actively contributing to a positive, inclusive, and collaborative culture where technical excellence and empathetic leadership go hand in hand.
• Org design & hiring : Partnering with the People team and leadership to recruit, onboard, and retain top engineering talent. Helping shape how Duffel scales its technical organisation.
• Cross-functional collaboration : Working across teams to improve developer experience, infrastructure, reliability, and scalability of our systems.

What you can expect from us

We're dedicated to your personal growth. Our environment is comfortable both physically, but also in that our ears are always open to any ideas, concerns and questions. We believe that everyone should have pride in their work, taking full ownership of it and its impact. That's why everyone who joins Duffel owns a share of the company.

We are an equal opportunities employer. We believe that the key to our success is employing a diverse team, that's why recruitment decisions are only based on your experience and skills. We value your ability to problem solve and build amazing things so we welcome applications for everyone – regardless of age, sex, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion or belief.

Note to recruitment agencies

Duffel does not accept speculative CV's from external parties. Any unsolicited CV's sent to us will be treated as property of Duffel, and any attached terms and conditions associated with these CV's will be null and void.