As our next Senior Software Engineer, you'll play a key role in helping us build the UK's go-to home improvement marketplace. You'll join the Media team that owns Checkatrade's advertising business: the ad platform behind campaign management, auctions, attribution, billing and our external ad tech integrations, plus the Matching APIs that decide which trades a homeowner actually sees when they search. One drives revenue, the other drives engagement, and you'll work across both. Our repos carry agent context files, custom agents, skills and commands that the team builds and maintains. If that's the bet you want to be part of, read on.
Forget long lists, here's what you'll actually spend your time on:
Ship production services with a direct line to revenue: you write it, you ship it, you watch it run.
Own the commercial surface, building systems where observability, correctness and latency translate straight into revenue.
Own the matching logic that decides which trades homeowners see, where relevance translates directly into trust.
Use coding agents aggressively day to day, and push the tooling further: better repo context, better agents, better skills, so the whole company moves faster, not just you.
Raise the bar on craft: review PRs, share your technical knowledge, and kill bad patterns before they spread.
Sit close to Product and Commercial, turning a revenue goal into a technical plan, and don't be afraid to push back when the plan doesn't hold up.
It's not about ticking every box. It's about turning up curious, ready to crack on. You'll do well here if you bring:
Several years shipping backend services you owned end-to-end, ideally in TypeScript/Node, with real architectural trade-offs made, lived with, and learned from.
Sharp data and API instincts (schemas that survive change, migrations run without drama, contracts treated as promises) plus comfort with asynchronous systems: queues, events, scheduled jobs, and a healthy respect for what goes wrong with them.
Care about correctness where it counts: you've built something where a bug meant money moved incorrectly, and you build differently because of it. Docker, Kubernetes and CI/CD hold no fear, and logs, traces and metrics go in as you build, not after the first incident.
An AI-native workflow: Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot or similar as part of how you build day to day (or the hunger to get there fast), and a bias for action: you'd rather ship something useful this week than wait for next quarter, and you're someone people want to work with.
We believe great work deserves great rewards. Here's just a taste:
Competitive salary + annual bonus or commission (role dependent)
Health, well-being and learning support
Monthly meal vouchers
Home office allowance
Medical + Pension scheme
How we'll get to know each other:
Recruiter screen with one of our Talent Acquisition Partners
1st stage interview with the Hiring Manager
2nd stage interview with two Senior Engineers from the team
3rd stage interview with Leadership
If this sounds like the place where you can do your best work, we'd love to hear from you, even if you don't tick every box.
Want to join our Talent Community and be one of the first to know about our vacancies? Register your interest on our Registration Form: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/checkatrade/form/register-interest
About us
We’re Checkatrade – the UK’s leading platform for finding a tradesperson. With more than 50,000 trades listed and over 6 million reviews, we help homeowners get jobs done right and help tradespeople grow their business.
We’re growing fast, with big plans to become the go-to brand for home improvements. If you care about great work, take pride in the details, and want to make an impact, you’ll fit right in.
Skills Required
- Several years of experience shipping and owning backend services end to end
- Experience with TypeScript and Node.js backend development
- Experience designing data schemas, migrations, and API contracts
- Comfort with asynchronous systems including queues, events, and scheduled jobs
- Experience building systems where correctness and financial accuracy are critical
- Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD
- Experience implementing observability through logs, traces, and metrics
- Use of AI coding tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, or GitHub Copilot, or willingness to adopt them quickly
- Strong collaboration, communication, technical review, and knowledge-sharing skills
What We Do
Checkatrade is one of the UK’s top online marketplaces for home improvements and repairs. Our mission is to be the trusted foundation of every home by connecting people with trades and tools to make home improvements easy – because we believe safe and happy homes improve lives, support livelihoods, and build communities. From our humble beginnings in 1998 to becoming a national household name, we’re on an exciting journey. For more than 25 years Checkatrade has stood for reputation and raising standards – whether that is for our trade members, consumers, or our colleagues. We think big and are passionate about changing the face of home improvements and repairs. Today, we are a modern online marketplace and a force for good. We strive every day to support people to improve their homes and we don’t settle for the status quo – we are evolving, innovating, and growing. With generous investment from private equity partners Brookfield, we have an ambitious growth plan and a robust roadmap to get there. Led by our values – Be All In, Always Customer Obsessed, Get It Done, Be Bold, and Do The Right Thing – we are 500 high-performing individuals working across the UK, with high-spec offices in London and Portsmouth. We are here to be the best and inspire others to do the same, and to get there we need exceptionally talented, bright, and driven people – so if that sounds like you, you couldn’t join at a better time!
