Staff Android Engineer

theeconomistgroup; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

The Economist Group is seeking a Staff Android Engineer to join our flagship mobile engineering team and shape the future of our Android platform. This high-impact role combines technical leadership with hands-on coding to guide architectural decisions, mentor engineers, and drive performance and scalability at scale.

You will collaborate with product, design, and backend teams to deliver high-quality features, set coding standards, and lead cross-squad initiatives.

Qualifications

• Proven Android development experience with Kotlin.
• Experience designing scalable mobile architecture.
• Strong leadership and mentoring abilities.
• Hands-on with CI/CD and observability practices.
• Excellent communication skills and collaboration across teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and evolution of Android architecture and performance‑critical systems across the app.
• Collaborate with product, design, and platform teams to define technical strategy and ensure high-quality feature delivery.
• Set coding standards and guide teams through reviews, architecture discussions, and docs.
• Drive cross-squad platform initiatives such as performance optimization and modularization.
• Mentor engineers across levels to grow technical and leadership capabilities.

Skills

Android development

Kotlin

Jetpack Compose

Architectural design

Mentorship

Tools

CI/CD

Observability

Job description

Who we are

Since 1843, The Economist Group has championed independence, excellence and openness, helping people understand and tackle the critical challenges shaping the world. Today, we are building on that legacy as a global media and information-services company powered by digital innovation, analytical rigour and evidence-based insight.

Across our three businesses - The Economist, Economist Enterprise and Economist Education - we deliver trusted analysis and insights to individuals and organisations in more than 170 countries. United by a shared purpose to drive progress, we empower decision-makers to make sense of change and chart a course through an increasingly complex world.

As a colleague, you will be part of a culture that values ideas, encourages ownership and holds itself to high standards. We invest in people who are curious, thoughtful and adaptable, whether they are launching new products, reporting on global events or harnessing emerging technologies such as AI to improve how we work. Here, fresh thinking is taken seriously, ambition is matched by integrity, and great work is recognised. Working across disciplines, geographies and perspectives, we are united by a commitment to innovation, excellence and creating meaningful impact.

Want to discover more about life at The Economist Group? Follow @EconomistCareers on Instagram to discover the people, stories and opportunities that make TEG unique.

Our team of 450 colleagues across Technology, Product and Data is at the heart of The Economist Group's digital-first agenda. Together, we design, build and optimise the digital products, platforms and data capabilities that power our business and reach millions of people around the world. Whether you're an engineer, product manager, designer, data scientist or analyst, you'll work on products that have real-world impact. From enhancing economist.com and developing new products for Economist Intelligence to creating personalised experiences and applying AI to solve complex challenges, you'll help shape how consumers, businesses and government leaders access trusted insights. Working in cross-functional teams, we combine engineering excellence, product thinking and data expertise to solve meaningful problems, experiment with new technologies and continuously improve the experiences we create. It's an opportunity to do challenging, purposeful work alongside curious, collaborative colleagues, while helping drive sustainable growth for one of the world's most trusted brands.

The role

We are looking for a Staff Android Engineer to join our flagship mobile engineering team and help define the future of our Android platform. This is a high-impact, hands-on technical leadership role where you will guide architectural decisions, mentor engineers, and drive the evolution of our mobile capabilities at scale. As a Staff Engineer, you will work closely with engineers, product managers, designers, and cross-platform peers to build and evolve a performant, reliable, and scalable Android experience.

How you will contribute in this role:

Lead the design, development, and evolution of Android architecture, frameworks, and performance-critical systems across the app.

Collaborate closely with product, design, and platform leads to define technical strategy and ensure high-quality feature delivery.

Set coding standards and best practices across Android teams, and guide others through code reviews, architecture discussions, and design documentation.

Identify cross-cutting concerns and lead platform-wide initiatives (e.g., performance optimization, modularization, observability, or test infrastructure).

Act as a technical mentor for engineers across levels, helping grow both technical and leadership capabilities within the team.

Champion high performance, scalability, and maintainability in everything you build, and work proactively to identify and resolve system-level bottlenecks.

Foster cross-platform and cross-squad collaboration by running design reviews and improving alignment with iOS and backend counterparts.

Who you are

Professional experience with Android development, with deep proficiency in Kotlin and Jetpack Compose.

Proven track record of designing scalable mobile architecture and leading complex engineering projects.

Strong technical leadership experience, including mentorship, cross-functional collaboration, and influencing engineering culture.

Deep understanding of UI frameworks, offline data strategies, threading, performance profiling, and memory management in Android.

Experience with test automation, CI/CD integration, and mobile observability practices.

Excellent communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex ideas and bring people along in decisions.

Strong ownership mindset, comfortable with ambiguity, and driven to solve problems at both the technical and team level.

#LI-Hybrid

Working Arrangements

The majority of our roles operate on a hybrid working pattern, wit