Software Development Team Lead

ao.com; Bolton; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 105,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Holidays: 25 days + bank holidays (27+

Pension: 5% employer contribution

AO Arena VIP tickets

Health & wellbeing package

Discounts across products

Enhanced family leave

2 charity days paid

On-site parking

Complimentary breakfast

In-house coffee shop

Job summary

AO.com is seeking a Software Development Team Lead to build a high-performing squad that owns its craft and delivers great outcomes without burnout.

You will balance leadership with hands-on involvement, coach engineers, and shape technical direction while aligning with customer and business goals. Expect to drive engineering excellence, collaboration, and sustained delivery across teams.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership and ability to inspire teams
• Hands-on technical mentoring through pairing and reviews
• Commitment to technical excellence and sustainable delivery
• Coaching and performance management in a constructive way

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a software development team, setting ambitions and accountability
• Balance leadership with hands-on technical involvement to deliver solutions
• Coach and mentor team members daily through pairing and knowledge sharing
• Drive sustainable engineering practices and maintain alignment with business goals
• Oversee hiring, career development and timely feedback to support growth

Skills

Leadership

Pair programming

Code reviews

DevOps principles

Security best practices

Cross-functional collaboration

Mentoring

Decision making under uncertainty

Tools

Internal Developer Platforms

Job description

We’re looking for someone who loves people as much as technology to join us as a Software Development Team Lead. You’ll create an environment where brilliant engineers can do their best work - think collaboration, empowerment, and continuous learning all rolled into one. Your mission? Build a high-performing squad that takes real ownership of their craft and delivers fantastic outcomes without burning out. You’ll balance technical excellence with sustainable delivery, helping the team create solutions that aren’t just great today but stay great tomorrow. Alongside mentoring and coaching, you’ll roll your sleeves up to pair-program, solve tricky problems, and shape the technical direction. If you’re passionate about seeing engineers grow and thrive while keeping the bigger picture in focus, this could be your perfect next step.

Here's What You Can Expect To Be Doing

You’ll be leading a fantastic software development team, creating the right environment for them to shine—setting ambitions, fostering accountability, and encouraging a culture where collaboration and innovation thrive. From shaping and delivering the team’s technical strategy to getting hands-on to help implement solutions, you’ll balance leadership with technical involvement. Expect to coach and mentor team members every day, sharing knowledge through pairing sessions and driving sustainable engineering practices that make long-term sense. You’ll work closely with delivery and tech leadership to keep priorities aligned, break down complex problems, and make sure trade-offs are managed wisely. It’s also about building strong relationships across teams, helping to resolve dependencies and ensuring everything we deliver ties back to customer and business goals. On top of that, you’ll oversee hiring, career development, and provide timely feedback so that every team member feels supported to grow and succeed.

A Few Things About You

• Strong leadership skills with a knack for inspiring teams and fostering a healthy, collaborative culture.
• Hands-on technical experience and the confidence to mentor others through pairing and code reviews.
• A real passion for technical excellence, sustainable delivery, and continuous improvement.
• Skilled at coaching individuals and managing performance constructively.
• Comfortable making decisions in uncertain situations and framing problems clearly for others.
• A solid understanding of modern software engineering practices, DevOps principles, and security best practices.
• Able to manage the balance between short-term delivery needs and long-term technical health.
• Great communicator who can build effective relationships at all levels.
• Experience working with cross-functional teams, managing dependencies, and collaborating on shared outcomes.
• Bonus points if you’ve worked with Internal Developer Platforms or enablement tooling!

A Bit About Us

We’re big on appliances and electricals, REALLY big. Washing machines, fridge freezers and TVs? They’re our bread and butter. Mobiles, Airwraps and Ring doorbells? Yep, those too. If it plugs in, powers up or makes life easier, AO probably has it.

But we’re more than that… For over 25 years, trust has been at the heart of everything we do, helping us become the UK’s most trusted electrical retailer. Our customers rate us 4.9 on Trustpilot from nearly ONE MILLION reviews and more 5-star ratings than any other UK electrical retailer, because they know they can rely on us and it’s the exact same for our AOers too.

We truly believe it’s more than just a job, we genuinely care about each other and our impact on making our customers lives easier, by helping them brilliantly. Everyone here knows how their role makes a difference. Our people are our superpower, so, when it comes to finding new AOers, we know it’s about more than just a CV, it’s about what makes you, YOU.

Our benefits are designed to cover the moments that matter to AOers. From health and wellness to giving back - you’ll be rewarded inside and outside of work.

• Holidays; 25 days, plus bank holidays (increasing to 27 days after 2 years with us!)
• Pension; Contribute 5% of your annual salary and we'll do the same, giving you a little extra support for the future.
• Be a VIP at the AO Arena; we have loads of opportunities to win free tickets and pre-sale access!
• Health & wellbeing; discounted gym membership, an onsite spa and our Help @ Hand scheme giving you access to virtual GP’s, Mental Health support and much more.
• Discounts; exclusive discounts across our product range.
• Family leave; Enhanced Maternity, Paternity and Adoption leave.
• Making a difference; 2 fully paid days a year to donate your time to any charity of your choice.
• On site perks; start your day with free on site parking, grabbing a complimentary breakfast and a coffee at our subsidised in house coffee shop!

To see all our benefits and perks, visit our AO Benefits page.