Technical Lead

trg.; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 125,000; Full time

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.

You’ll be the technical role model, guiding a pivotal engineer through scale-up challenges and embracing AI tooling to boost team productivity. You’ll build and evolve backend services (Kotlin/Java), mentor engineers, partner with Product/Design to ship in small, valuable slices, and drive AI-assisted development while removing bottlenecks and

Qualifications

• 3–5 years senior-level experience, 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.

Responsibilities

• 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

Skills

Kotlin

Java

Python

.NET

Node.js

AI tooling

Mentoring

Agile

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

CI/CD

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