Senior Tech Lead (Full-Stack + AI-Native)

This organisation is building AI-native from the ground up. Every engineer on this team is expected to use AI tooling as their primary development environment. This is not a future aspiration, it is the current operating standard. Own the technical direction and delivery quality for a product engineering team of four. Reporting directly to the CEO, you will lead 2 FE and 2 BE developers to ship fast, reliable, and secure features across a multi-country enterprise platform, while simultaneously driving AI-native workflow adoption across the entire engineering organisation. You combine hands-on Full-stack depth (Java/TypeScript, modern FE frameworks, APIs, PostgreSQL) with clear leadership, a product mindset, fluent English, and a demonstrated ability to multiply team throughput through AI tooling and agentic workflows.SCOPE & IMPACTArchitecture: Define pragmatic service boundaries, data contracts, and integration patterns across web, ERP, and external partnersPerformance: Keep Core Web Vitals green on key pages; profile and tune backend APIs and PostgreSQL (p95 latency, error rate, throughput)Delivery: Establish standards for code quality, testing, CI/CD, and release hygiene. Drive trunk-based development with safe feature flags and rollbacks.Reliability: Implement observability (metrics, logs, traces), SLOs/SLIs, incident response, and post-mortemsSecurity & Compliance: Enforce secure coding, secrets management, and GDPR-aware data flowsPeople: Mentor and grow engineers; run reviews, pairing, and design sessions.Product partnership: Translate business goals into road-mapped technical work; challenge scope, sequence bets, balance speed with quality.AI TEAM UPLIFTSet and enforce AI-native development standards across the engineering organisationRun in-person office hours and pairing sessions with a specific focus on AI workflow adoptionDiagnose individual AI tool gaps per engineer and close them within the first 30 daysBuild a culture with urgency using LLM, agents, and automation tooling at full capacitySet measurable 90-day AI adoption benchmarks per team member, and hold the line on themWHAT YOU’LL LEAD & DOLead day-to-day execution for 2 FE + 2 BE across sprints and technical qualityHands-on development (~20–30% IC time): design and implement core features end-to-end across backend (Java/Spring Boot, Kafka/RabbitMQ, PostgreSQL, Redis) and frontend (React 18+/TypeScript)Own APIs and integrations: auth, contracts, versioning, idempotency, retriesGuide frontend architecture in React 18+/TypeScript: shared components, accessibility, performanceDrive backend quality using Java/Spring Boot and Python where appropriate; model data, tune queries, optimise PostgreSQLImprove build pipelines (Vite/Webpack on FE, CI/CD on BE); automate tests and deployments; codify templates and scaffoldsCreate technical docs, runbooks, and standards to make the team faster and saferVendor & RFP support: technical input during vendor selection; define criteria, deployment strategy, KPIs, analytics; support vendor interviews and architecture evaluationsBuild and maintain AI-augmented development workflows for the team, not just personal toolingIdentify repetitive tasks across the codebase and implement agentic automation to eliminate themEvaluate and integrate new AI tools (coding assistants, review agents, test generators) as the state of the art evolvesKEY PROJECTS & ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIESProjects: Drive development of custom ERP, CMS, and supporting platform systems for a large e‑commerce environment.Plan & deliver: Implement work according to the assigned plan; ensure delivery on schedule and at the required quality bar.Team: management, training, and guidance of project staff.R&D: Research and develop new technologies aligned to the roadmap.Project participation: Participate in and complete assigned projects as required.Governance: Implement planning and reporting regime according to regulations.