Principal Tech Lead

Walker Smith; Auckland; On-site; NZD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

RCP Platform is seeking a Tech Lead to provide technical leadership for the new platform. You will partner with the CTO to define the architecture and roadmap, building a greenfield SaaS application on a modern stack and guiding security, data, and DevOps practices.

You will own the CI/CD pipeline (GitHub/Vercel), design data models in Supabase, and collaborate across React/TypeScript, Node.js, and Claude API integrations.

Qualifications

• 8+ years software engineering experience with 3+ years in a tech lead or principal capacity.
• Experience shipping and operating a production SaaS application.
• Strong leadership and mentoring capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Partner with the CTO to define platform architecture and technical roadmap.
• Make and document architecture decisions across the stack (Supabase, Node.js, React, Claude).
• Lead code review and maintain engineering quality.
• Own the CI/CD pipeline and deployment reliability.
• Design data model and security posture in Supabase (RLS, Auth, Edge Functions).
• Integrate Claude API into product features and tooling.
• Run sprint planning with Product Manager and mentor the team.

Skills

Strong problem-solving

Initiative

Decisive under ambiguity

Pragmatic prioritisation

Communicates trade-offs

Mentoring

Tools

React

Node.js

TypeScript

Supabase

REST/API design

GitHub workflows

CI/CD

Claude API

Job description

Tech Lead

RCP Platform — Job Description

Reports to: CTO

Work arrangement: Office-first, in line with RCP's collaborative, in-person working culture

About the team

The Digital Team exists to make RCP a genuinely digital consultancy — technology, data, and AI as core to how RCP delivers, not a layer bolted on. This role sits inside that team, building the RCP Platform from a greenfield position rather than maintaining legacy systems.

Purpose

Provide technical leadership for the RCP Platform, working closely with the CTO to define and deliver it — building and innovating with AI, a modern stack, and modern ways of working. As the most senior developer on the team, this role is expected to progressively take on greater ownership of engineering decisions as the platform and team mature. Joins a competent team that needs more depth and capacity to deliver on RCP's digital journey.

Why this role, why now

• This is a build, not a maintenance job — RCP Platform is being built from scratch on a modern stack, with real latitude to shape technical direction rather than inherit it.
• Fast-paced, cross-functional team — product, engineering, data, and AI sit together, not in silos.
• A genuine opportunity to shape the future technical direction of the company, not just execute against someone else's architecture.
• Strong learning and development trajectory — this role grows in scope as the team and platform scale.

Key responsibilities

• Partner with the CTO to define platform architecture and technical roadmap
• Make and document architecture decisions across the Supabase + Node.js + React + Claude API stack
• Lead code review and maintain the engineering quality bar
• Own the CI/CD pipeline (GitHub Vercel) and deployment reliability
• Design data model and security posture in Supabase (RLS, Auth, Edge Functions)
• Integrate Claude API into product features (prompt design, tool use, streaming)
• Run sprint planning with the Product Manager; provide technical mentoring across the team
• Own infrastructure and DevOps, alongside developers and the CTO
• Step in as ceremony facilitator (stand-ups, planning, review, retro) if the Product Manager/Scrum Master is unavailable

Technical skills

Must-have

Nice-to-have

• React (hooks, state management)
• Node.js
• TypeScript
• Supabase (Postgres, RLS, Edge Functions, Auth)
• REST/API design
• Git/GitHub workflows
• CI/CD (GitHub Actions, Vercel)
• Claude API / LLM integration experience
• Prior experience leading a small engineering team
• Has built and delivered a SaaS web application from scratch
• Exposure to infrastructure/DevOps practices

Soft skills

• Strong problem-solving — breaks down ambiguous or complex issues and drives them to resolution
• Initiative — proactively identifies what needs doing and acts on it, keeping actions aligned to agreed plans and priorities rather than going off on independent tangents
• Decisive under ambiguity — willing to make a call and own it
• Pragmatic prioritisation to balance delivery speed with engineering best practice — knows when to move fast and when to slow down for quality
• Communicates trade-offs clearly to the CTO and non-technical stakeholders
• Puts team throughput ahead of individual output — this team treats sprint goals as a shared outcome, not a personal scoreboard
• Mentoring and constructive code review

Experience

8+ years software engineering, 3+ years in a tech lead or principal/staff engineer capacity, experience shipping and operating a production SaaS application.

First 90 days

• Weeks 1–4: Onboard into RCP and the Digital Team — meet the CTO, Product Manager, and wider team; get hands‑on with the RCP Platform codebase and the team's Scrumban sprint cadence; start contributing with small, well‑scoped pieces of sprint work alongside onboarding.
• Weeks 5–8: Deepen contribution — active in code review, taking on larger sprint work, and joining the CTO in early architecture discussions on current roadmap priorities.
• Weeks 9–12: Take clear ownership of a defined slice of the platform's architecture; established working rhythm with the CTO on technical decisions; actively mentoring across the team.