Tech Lead

Zinc; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading tech startup in the UK is seeking an experienced Tech Lead to mentor engineers while building high-quality features. You will balance coding and leadership, ensuring timely delivery and ownership of a core product area. With strong skills in full-stack development and cloud technologies, you'll make an impact on our platform and team as we expand. Join us for a dynamic environment that values innovation and employee growth.

Benefits

24 days holiday + Bank Holidays + your birthday off

£1200 annual benefits allowance

Early finish Fridays (16:00)

Yearly company retreat abroad

30 days to Work from anywhere

Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave

Statutory pension with NEST

Zinc shares through EMI Scheme

Unlimited access to coaching

Company socials, quarterly team socials

Nursery workplace benefit scheme

Option to lease an electric car

Celebrated Zinc anniversaries

Qualifications

• Strong experience across frontend and backend development.
• Experience with cloud-native systems, especially AWS.
• Great understanding of NoSQL, particularly document-based databases.
• Proven ability to maintain system performance and scalability.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical initiatives and ensure timely delivery of high-quality work.
• Balance hands-on coding with team management activities.
• Take ownership of the product's performance and maintenance.
• Communicate technical concepts effectively across teams.

Skills

Full Stack Development

Cloud & Infrastructure

Database Knowledge

System Maintenance

Great Communicator

Pragmatic & Ownership-Driven

Problem Solver

Empathetic Leader

Tools

TypeScript

Vue/Nuxt

React/Angular

Node.js

AWS

document-based NoSQL databases

Job description

Tech Lead

We’re expanding our engineering team and looking for a Tech Lead to help take Zinc to the next level. In this role, you’ll be a true player‑coach - building high‑quality features hands‑on, while mentoring and supporting engineers, and owning a core product area to keep it running at peak performance.

You’ll work closely with Product and the wider business to shape not just what we build but how we build it, ensuring long‑term success. And as the voice of engineering across teams, you’ll help communicate new features, align priorities, and set the pace. With a blend of coding and leadership, this is your opportunity to make a lasting impact on both our platform and our people as we scale.

Driving projects & productivity 🚀 – Lead technical initiatives, ensuring your team delivers high‑quality, impactful work on time.

Player‑coach leadership 👥 – Balance coding (60%) with management (40%), including running 1:1s, performance reviews, and mentoring two direct reports.

Owning your product area 🎯 – Take high ownership of your product’s performance, stability, and long‑term maintainability.

Cross‑team communication 🛠️ – Partner with Product, Customer Success, and Account Management to explain new features and technical decisions, through presentations, Q&A, and tailored updates.

Team onboarding & growth 🌱 – Support smooth onboarding for new engineers, helping them ramp up quickly and feel set up for success.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise 🚀

Hard Skills ⚡

• Full Stack Development – Strong experience across frontend and backend, ideally with TypeScript, Vue/Nuxt (or React/Angular), and Node.js.
• Cloud & Infrastructure ☁️ – Experience with AWS and cloud‑native systems.
• Database Knowledge 📂 – NoSQL expertise, particularly with document‑based databases.
• System Maintenance 🏗️ – Proven ability to keep systems performant, scalable, and reliable over time.

Soft Skills ✨

• Great Communicator 🗣️ – Able to clearly explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Pragmatic & Ownership‑Driven 🎯 – Makes sound decisions balancing speed, quality, and long‑term impact.
• Problem Solver 🧠 – Navigates ambiguity, finds solutions, and unblocks others.
• Empathetic Leader ❤️ – Builds trust with direct reports, supports their growth, and fosters a positive team culture.

What we offer 🍉

Zinc offers a chance to work on a product that brings a fresh perspective on data ownership in hiring.

• 24 days holiday + Bank Holidays + your birthday off 🎉
• £1200 annual benefits allowance (ThanksBen, from month 2)
• Early finish Fridays (16:00)
• Yearly company retreat abroad ✈️
• 30 days to Work from anywhere 🌍
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, and Adoption Leave (2 months full pay, then statutory)
• Statutory pension with NEST (3% employer, 5% employee)
• Zinc shares, issued through the EMI Scheme
• Unlimited access to MoreHappi coaching
• Company socials, quarterly team socials Free Monday lunches
• Nursery workplace benefit scheme (Yellownest)
• Option to lease an electric car through Electric Car Scheme
• Celebrated Zinc anniversaries 🥳

Who we are ⚡

Zinc builds automated reference and background checking tools designed to improve candidate experience and set new industry standards. Founded in 2017 by a team with extensive HRTech experience, Zinc is an early‑stage startup rapidly growing as it redefines efficiency, transparency, and fairness in background checks.

Read more about our story here: https://zincwork.com/mission

We're a culture first company, by this we don't just mean an active calendar of both company and team organised events 🍔🍻🎯 (which we do have 🤩), Zinc's culture is defined by a respectful and autonomous approach to all employees, fostering support for new ideas, promoting a flexible work environment, and operating within a flat structure. While socials, lunches, and events enhance the experience, the core of Zinc's culture drives employees to embrace innovation, share successes, and feel motivated about the company's future.

We recently redefined our company values:

🧩The pieces that make Zinc: Pragmatic, Integrity, Empathy, Collaborate, Empowered, Speed.