Lead Engineer
OVERVIEW:
This is a hands-on Lead Software Engineer role where you'll be writing code, designing integrations and solving hard technical problems day-to-day, driving the technical direction and improving how we do engineering across Platform Engineering. You'll be a recognised domain authority: shaping architectural vision, setting the technical bar, and actively elevating the engineers and leads around you. You will bring both strong backend engineering craft and the presence to make the whole team better through technical credibility, clear thinking, and a genuine investment in how the team grows and delivers
WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING:
Craft
Designs and documents clear architectural diagrams and key decision records that are accessible to both technical and non-technical audiences
Ensures the team is using suitable engineering practices, spotting knowledge gaps and helping adopt new and emerging best practices and tooling where appropriate
Enforces quality and testing best practices from design through to production
Articulates the value of addressing tech debt in terms that resonate with business stakeholders, and creates space to address it iteratively
Brings strong technical grounding with enough parity with the team to earn trust quickly, without the instinct to redesign systems from the ground up
Delivery
Leads the delivery of scalable backend services leveraging Event Driven Architecture and AWS Serverless technologies: Lambda, EventBridge, SQS, DynamoDB
Leads the team to design and build APIs (REST & GraphQL) that support world-class customer-facing features
Has the toolkit to work on complex and unknown problems under pressure or at speed, including leading on business-critical incidents
Delegates low-risk technical decisions that can be revisited if needed, and personally owns high-risk technical decisions that are harder to change
Champions testable, maintainable, observable and scalable software, embedding CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code as first-class considerations across all delivery work
Collaborates with the Product Owner, Scrum Master and Engineering Manager to continuously optimise both the efficiency and impact of team output
Culture
Creates an environment where engineers are empowered to own and deliver their work, breaking down knowledge and delivery silos and stepping back to let the team get things done
Works with Engineering Managers to help engineers at all levels perform and grow through mentoring, learning opportunities and a coaching-first approach to development
Fosters a culture of skill-sharing and accountability through excellent documentation, retrospectives and regular knowledge-sharing
Delivers consistent, constructive feedback and actively seeks it from peers in equal measure
Leadership
Although this is an individual contributor role you will set and communicate a clear technical vision and architectural direction for the team, making pragmatic trade-offs to deliver iteratively against business objectives
Is seen by others as an authority in their technical domain, using that expertise to coach and mentor on more ambiguous and challenging technical problems
Influences technical strategy and cross-team ways of working through trust, sound judgement and clear communication by standardising code and practices across teams without relying on authority
Actively builds peer relationships with other lead engineers by sharing knowledge openly, engaging honestly on technical challenges, and working collectively to raise the bar across the platform engineering teams
Proposes and gets buy-in for projects that would help Gymshark achieve its goals, leading on longer-term technical improvements across quarters
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Essential Criteria:
Worked as part of a high-performing software engineering team in a lead or senior contributor capacity
Strong experience writing production code in Golang or another strict typed language in a commercial engineering environment
Strong backend engineering background with hands-on experience implementing event-driven architectures
Experience designing, building and maintaining APIs, with a strong grasp of REST and GraphQL patterns
Strong understanding of high-quality code and architecture best practices, producing readable, maintainable and scalable software
Experience embedding quality and testing practices e.g. unit, contract and integration testing across the teams and services they've worked on
Experience with CI/CD pipelines and Infrastructure as Code in a production environment
Database design experience across both relational and non-relational approaches
Demonstrable track record of coaching and developing engineers
Contributed to a team's delivery in an agile environment with a clear focus on shipping business value
Experience influencing technical direction without direct authority
Empowers and enables engineers to do their best work, rather than owning it for them
Role models leadership behaviours in communication, feedback, and how ambiguity is handled
Brings a pragmatic, get-things-done attitude alongside technical rigour
Gives and receives candid, constructive feedback openly and regularly
Reflects and upholds Gymshark values: One Team, Hard Work, Stay Humble, Community Service, in day-to-day actions and interactions, and actively role models them for the people around them
LOCATION:
Please note this is a hybrid role and requires the successful candidate to attend at least 3 days a week in GSIQ, Solihull, UK.
BELONGING AT GYMSHARK.
Our mission is to be a place where everyone belongs. We’re an equal opportunities employer, and for us that means we always strive to be as inclusive as possible in all aspects of employment, right from your application. We’re committed to finding reasonable adjustments* for candidates with specific needs or have a disability during our recruitment process, and all applicants will be considered fairly and equally. We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind. *If you’d like to request a reasonable adjustment please email talent@gymshark.com.
ABOUT US.
We’re here to unite the conditioning community. We believe that putting the sweat in today, prepares us for tomorrow. So, we give people the tools they need to reach further, go faster, be stronger. We celebrate those who show up – for themselves – to be their physical or mental best, whatever that means for them. It’s what we want for our community, and our team. A team that’s growing rapidly around the world. A collective of talented individuals working together to invent Gymshark’s future. Our plans are ambitious, and we’re looking for people who want to join us for the ride – our growth will be your growth.
THE PERKS.
Standard benefits include:
Performance-based Bonus opportunity
Funded Healthcare benefit
25 days holiday, additional day for your birthday & Bank Holidays
Contributory Employer pension scheme
Flexible benefits programme – including salary sacrifice EV scheme, dental insurance, cycle to work, tech scheme, holiday trading
Gymshark Employee Discount & long service awards
Access to High Street cashback and discounts
Financial, Physical and Mental Wellbeing Support
Enhanced Family Leave package
Life Assurance
Office location specific benefits include (IQ):
Gym Membership to The Lifting Club (LC)
Onsite lunch provision & coffee bars
EV charge points available
Note: The bonus program and benefits have certain eligibility requirements. Gymshark reserves the right to amend these programs in whole or in part at any time without advance notice.