Lead Software Architect

About the role:

This is a hands-on technical leadership role for an experienced software architect who can bring architectural clarity across backend services, APIs, web applications and mobile platforms. You will own and evolve the application architecture while working closely with Engineering Leads, engineers, Product, QA, Infrastructure and DevOps. The role combines high-level architectural ownership with the ability to dive deeply into system design, review critical implementations, challenge technical decisions and guide teams towards pragmatic, sustainable solutions.

Responsibilities:

• Own and evolve the end-to-end architecture across backend services, APIs, web applications and mobile platforms.
• Define and maintain architectural principles, patterns, technical standards and decision-making practices that enable scalable, secure and maintainable software.
• Act as the primary architecture reference point for Engineering Leads and engineers, providing direction on complex technical design decisions and trade-offs.
• Lead architecture reviews for major features, integrations, platform changes and cross-team initiatives.
• Identify technical debt, architectural risks and modernization opportunities, then help define realistic improvement plans.
• Ensure that architectural decisions support both immediate product needs and the long-term evolution of the platform.
• Review critical implementations and technical designs where architectural input is required.
• Mentor engineers and technical leads, helping strengthen system-design, architecture and technical decision-making capabilities across Engineering.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of professional software engineering experience, including strong experience in software architecture, technical leadership or senior engineering responsibility.
• Proven experience designing and evolving backend systems, APIs and service-oriented application architectures in production environments.
• Experience guiding engineers and technical leads through complex system-design decisions, architectural trade-offs and cross-team dependencies.
• Demonstrated ability to establish technical standards and improve engineering practices across multiple teams or product areas.
• Experience working in environments where reliability, maintainability, scalability and production operations are important.
• Proven ability to identify technical debt and modernization opportunities, and translate them into realistic, prioritized improvement initiatives.
• Experience mentoring engineers and raising the overall technical capability of a software engineering organisation.
• Comfortable operating between strategic technical direction and hands-on engagement with designs, code reviews and implementation decisions.

Technical fluency:

• Strong expertise in backend architecture, service design and API design.
• Strong experience with PHP and Symfony, or comparable backend technologies and frameworks.
• Solid understanding of end-to-end application architecture across backend services, APIs, web applications and mobile applications.
• Good working knowledge of modern frontend architecture, ideally including React and React Native. You will not be expected to build frontend features day-to-day, but should be comfortable reviewing and guiding frontend and mobile architectural decisions.
• Experience working with SQL databases and designing reliable data-access, integration and persistence patterns.
• Practical experience with modern production environments, including Docker, Kubernetes and CI/CD pipelines.
• Good understanding of cloud-native architectural principles, deployment practices and operational concerns.
• Experience with observability and production monitoring tools such as Sentry, Datadog or similar platforms.
• Strong understanding of code quality, automated testing, application security, performance and reliability practices.

Ways of working:

• Able to articulate and defend technical positions with senior engineers, Engineering Leads, Product stakeholders and executive leadership.
• Pragmatic in decision-making: able to protect architectural quality while enabling teams to deliver meaningful product outcomes.
• Collaborative and influential, with the ability to create alignment without relying solely on formal authority.
• Comfortable working across multiple disciplines, including backend, frontend, mobile, QA, Product, Infrastructure and DevOps.
• Able to explain complex technical topics, risks and trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
• Structured and detail-oriented, while remaining focused on the outcomes that matter most.
• Comfortable working in evolving product environments, where architectural direction must be clear but adaptable.
• Committed to helping teams succeed through mentorship, standards, thoughtful technical challenge and practical support.

Your data:

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