Overview
We’re Tails.com, a dog food subscription company with a big difference. We create tailored food for each and every dog we serve. We start by asking people a few simple questions about their dog, then use that information to create the dog’s unique Tails.com recipe so they get the nutrition they need, in the taste they love, delivered to their door every month. We’ve got bold plans and are scaling fast, backed by Purina. You’ll join a team working toward the same goals and a group of smart dogs, all pursuing their own tasks. Together, we’ll change the world of pet food for good.
Build our brand
We’re building a brand quickly, setting ambitious goals and supporting each other. We prefer to test ideas and learn quickly rather than spending months building a business case. We celebrate when things go right and learn when they go wrong.
The role
As a Lead Software Engineer, you’ll lead a cross-functional squad in delivering high-quality, scalable software that supports our Operations team and drives business efficiency. You’ll combine hands-on technical expertise with people leadership, project delivery, and stakeholder collaboration. From guiding architecture and writing code to prioritising work and mentoring engineers, you’ll create a high-performing team aligned with our company’s goals. You’ll play a key role in how we scale, delivering features that improve the customer experience, enhance operational efficiency, and support our expansion across markets.
Our Engineering Environment
- Frontend: Vue.js
- Backend: Python
- Data & Messaging: Postgres, SQL, and Kafka
- Infrastructure: Docker, Kubernetes, and Cloud API
Your responsibilities
- Technical leadership & architecture
Provide clear technical direction and architectural input for squad initiatives - Own the design of scalable, secure, and high-performing systems
- Conduct comprehensive code reviews and contribute hands-on when needed
- Research and propose relevant new technologies or tools to improve outcomes
- Ensure comprehensive documentation for systems owned by the squad
- People leadership
Conduct regular 1:1s and career conversations - Support the personal and technical development of engineers in the squad
- Set clear priorities and expectations for team members
- Create a collaborative, inclusive, and feedback-driven engineering culture
Delivery & execution
- Drive sprint ceremonies (planning, refinement, retrospectives, standups)
- Work with Product Managers and Product Designers to plan and deliver high-impact features for the Operations team
- Provide high-level and low-level estimates during discovery and planning
- Be accountable for sprint commitments and velocity tracking
- Coordinate with other squads to manage dependencies
- Ensure support requests are triaged and actioned appropriately
Stakeholder management & cross-functional collaboration
- Provide context to engineers on how their work contributes to company OKRs
- Communicate squad progress and risks to wider stakeholders
- Help prioritise and sequence work based on business impact
About You
- You’ve led cross-functional engineering teams in a fast-paced, product-led environment
- You’re comfortable balancing hands-on coding with coaching, planning, and delivery
- You have experience architecting scalable systems and working in distributed environments
- You’re highly collaborative, able to partner with Product, Design, and other stakeholders
- You’re passionate about engineering excellence, team growth, and continuous improvement
- You’re excited about the opportunity to help shape the future of tech in a scale-up environment
What’s in it for you?
- Competitive salary, reviewed annually
- Annual bonus, based on company performance
- Flexible core hours, giving you true work life balance
- Hybrid role to ensure this role works for you
- 25 days of holiday (excluding bank holidays) which increases over time to a max of 27 days
- 9/10 day working week to enhance your wellbeing without a reduction in pay and leave allowance
- Optional 5 days unpaid leave and 1 paid volunteer day each year
- When you need a change of scenery, you can work from abroad 2 weeks every 6 months
- Health insurance for you, paid by Tails.com
- Extended maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption pay. 6 months at 70% pay
- Flexible paid care leave to support immediate dependants, people close to you and pets
- In house L&D team, with access to year round courses to help drive your development
- 50% discount on all Tails.com
- Discounted gym membership
What’s next?
If this sounds like it matches your experience and what you’d love to do, we can’t wait to hear from you! If you’re unsure whether you fit our criteria exactly, please get in touch anyway. And we believe diverse teams perform better, we’d especially love to hear from you if you’re from an under-represented demographic.
Here’s a taster of how our recruitment process works:
- Once you have applied your CV will be reviewed by the Talent Acquisition Team.
- If selected, you will then have a call with the TA Team who will tell you more about us and the role, as well as learning more about your skills and experience.
- Should you be successful, the next stage will be a video call with the hiring manager.
- If successful, you will be invited to present a task back to a panel of interviewers.
Our Commitment
We’re proud to be an active equal opportunity employer. We want to give everyone a fair chance to join us in changing the world of pet food for good. We do this by conducting a structured recruitment process for all candidates, as well as actively promoting our roles to communities that are under-represented at Tails.com.
During your interview process you’ll meet some of our team with varying levels of responsibility and experience. We want to give every candidate a fair interview process and if you need any reasonable adjustments made, please let us know.
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