Lead Software Engineer - Typescript, AWS

About us

We’re the team behind digital retailer Very. 

Our purpose, helping families get more out of life, powers everything we do. 

And we want our people to get more out of life too! If you’re high-performing, ambitious and make the most of every opportunity, we want to hear from you. In return, you’ll enjoy heaps of flexibility, great perks and benefits, and the freedom to be yourself, keep learning and take your career wherever you want it to go. 

If you love making a difference, you’ll love making it sparkle for millions of Very customers. ✨ 

About the team

This is much more than a senior coding role.

You'll be one of the key technical leaders within our engineering community, helping shape how software is designed, built and operated across a broad portfolio of customer-facing products.

Working closely with Engineering Managers, Architects, Product teams and Engineers, you'll help define technical direction, influence technology choices and raise engineering standards across the organisation.

You'll have the opportunity to work with modern technologies including TypeScript, React, Nest.js and AWS while tackling challenges around scalability, security, performance and reliability. Most importantly, your work will directly impact the experiences delivered to millions of Very customers.

About the role

You'll play a leading role in helping our engineering teams deliver exceptional customer experiences by:

• Leading the design and development of modern software solutions that serve millions of customers
• Setting the technical direction for squads and helping teams make confident engineering decisions
• Championing engineering excellence, secure development practices and high-quality software delivery
• Solving complex technical challenges across front-end, back-end and cloud technologies
• Driving improvements in performance, reliability, scalability and operational excellence
• Helping squads adopt modern engineering approaches that enable faster and safer delivery
• Working closely with Architects and Engineering leaders to shape technology roadmaps
• Building reusable solutions and patterns that create consistency and efficiency across teams
• Coaching and mentoring engineers, helping them grow their skills and confidence
• Creating an environment where collaboration, learning and continuous improvement are part of everyday work
• Sharing ideas and expertise across the wider technology community, both internally and externally

About you

You're someone who loves building great software and helping others build it too.

You'll likely have experience leading engineering teams through complex technical challenges while remaining hands-on with delivery. You enjoy influencing technical direction, making pragmatic decisions and balancing today's priorities with tomorrow's opportunities.

You'll bring:

• Strong experience delivering software within Agile, DevSecOps-focused environments
• Deep technical expertise and a passion for modern software engineering practices
• Hands-on experience with technologies such as TypeScript, React, Nest.js and AWS
• A track record of designing and evolving complex software architectures
• A passion for secure, scalable and reliable software development
• The ability to mentor engineers and elevate technical standards across teams
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Curiosity, pragmatism and a drive to keep learning

Most importantly, you'll be excited by the opportunity to make a lasting impact on technology, people and products.

Some of our benefits

• Flexible, hybrid working model
• Inclusive culture and environment, check out our Glassdoor reviews

• £6500 flexible benefits allowance to suit your needs
• 30 days holiday + bank holidays
• LinkedIn Learning access
• Bonus potential (performance and business-related)
• Up to 25% discount on Very.co.uk

• Matched pension up to 6%
• More benefits can be found on our career site

How to apply 

Please note that the talent acquisition team are managing this vacancy directly, and if successful in securing this role, you will be required to undertake a credit, CIFAS, Right to Work checks and if a specific requirement of your role a DBS (criminal records) check. Should your application progress we require you to let the team know if there is anything you need to disclose in relation to any of these checks prior to them being undertaken, including any unspent criminal convictions.  

What happens next? 

Our talent acquisition team will be in touch if you’re successful so keep an eye on your emails! We’ll arrange a short call to learn more about you, as well as answer any questions you have. If it feels like we’re a good match, we’ll share your CV with the hiring manager to review. Our interview process is tailored to each role and can be in-person or held remotely.  

You can expect a two stage interview process for this position: 

1st Stage - Take Home Technical Test - typically 2 Hours which you then share with us to review, 

2nd stage - A one hour face-to-face or Teams interview with the hiring team to discuss your take home task, technical skills and relevant experience + competency questions. This is also a great opportunity to find out more about the role and to ask any questions you may have.  

As an inclusive employer please do let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.  

If you'd like to know more about our interviews, you can find out here. 

Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities

We’re building a culture of everyday inclusion, and welcome applications from anyone who believes they can do the job. We don’t discriminate based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

We want our recruitment process to be accessible to everyone. If you need reasonable adjustments to apply, interview, or perform a role, let us know via [email protected]. We’ll be happy to support you.

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer and have nine brilliant colleague networks - including DAWN (Disability Awareness at Very) and Think (Neurodiversity at Very) - that are helping us make Very an even more inclusive place to work.