Senior AI-Driven Engineering Lead — Hands-on Delivery

Backbase Inc.; Cardiff; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

Backbase Inc. in Cardiff is seeking a Senior+ Engineer who leads a squad of 6–9 engineers, delivering production code while staying hands-on. You’ll own the pace of the team and mentor others to raise the bar.

Hybrid work with global offices, a strong emphasis on AI-native tooling, design reviews, incident response, and proactive risk management. Real ownership and strong collaboration are essential to success.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience with production code delivery.
• Desire to lead people while continuing as an active technical contributor.
• High emotional intelligence and resilience under pressure.
• Strong ability to unblock and translate complex problems.

Responsibilities

• Delivery Mastery: optimize cycle time and improve delivery predictability.
• Talent Density: own 1:1s, performance calibration, hiring decisions, succession planning.
• Hands-on Leadership: ~50% time on design, ~20% on code reviews and technical issues.
• Conflict Resolution: mediate cross-team conflicts to protect cohesion.
• BS Detector: spot unrealistic estimates and risky designs.
• Emergency Response: jump in technically or coordinate incident response.
• AI-Native Engineering: lead adoption of AI tooling and LLM workflows.

Skills

People leadership

Technical leadership

Shipped production code

Emotional intelligence

Conflict resolution

Job description

Backbase Inc. in Cardiff is seeking a Senior+ Engineer who leads a squad of 6–9 engineers, delivering production code while staying hands-on. You’ll own the pace of the team and mentor others to raise the bar.

Hybrid work with global offices, a strong emphasis on AI-native tooling, design reviews, incident response, and proactive risk management. Real ownership and strong collaboration are essential to success.