Technical Lead

trg.; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Monthly London office

Job summary

trg. is seeking a hands-on Tech Lead to own engineering for a small cross-functional pod, combining coding, technical leadership, and line management.

The role is in a globally recognised tech-for-good platform that helps organisations build more sustainable, responsible supply chains. You’ll lead backend services in Kotlin/Java, drive architecture, and coach engineers while embracing AI tooling to boost team productivity.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years senior-level experience as a key engineer in a startup/scale-up.
• Cloud-native skills: Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD.
• 1+ year using AI coding assistants; able to discuss benefits and limits.
• Experience mentoring or line-managing engineers.
• Product-minded, pragmatic, comfortable with ambiguity, strong Agile background.

Responsibilities

• Build and evolve backend services (Kotlin/Java), owning architecture and technical direction.
• Line-manage engineers — 1:1s, growth, accountability, culture.
• Partner with Product/Design to ship in thin, valuable slices.
• Drive AI-assisted development — daily use, coaching the team, evaluating tools, measuring impact.
• Remove bottlenecks, simplify systems, improve CI/CD and delivery speed.

Skills

Leadership

Mentoring

Agile

Product mindset

Communication

Tools

Kotlin

Java

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

CI/CD

AI coding assistants

Job description

Tech stack is primarily Kotlin / Java, open to Python, .Net or Node

Once per month in London office

We're working with a globally recognised tech-for-good platform helping organisations build more sustainable, responsible supply chains. Backed by a huge global customer base and years of rich data, they're investing heavily in AI to shape their next-gen product.

They need a hands-on Tech Lead to own engineering for a small cross-functional pod — combining coding, technical leadership, and line management. You'll be the technical role model: someone who's been a pivotal engineer through a scale-up, leads by example, and makes full use of AI tooling to push team productivity.

What you'll do:

• Build and evolve backend services (Kotlin/Java), owning architecture and technical direction
• Line-manage your engineers — 1:1s, growth, accountability, culture
• Partner with Product/Design to ship in thin, valuable slices
• Drive AI-assisted development — daily use, coaching the team, evaluating tools, measuring impact
• Remove bottlenecks, simplify systems, improve CI/CD and delivery speed

What they need:

• 3–5 years senior-level, ideally as a key engineer in a startup/scale-up
• Cloud-native chops: Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD
• 1+ year using AI coding assistants, can speak to benefits/limits
• Experience mentoring or line-managing engineers
• Product mindset, pragmatic, comfortable with ambiguity, strong Agile background