Software Development Lead

Salary range: circa £100k
Start: ASAP
Nature of work:  Full time, permanent position
Location: Plexal, Here East, Olympic Park, London E20
Hybrid/flexible working options available

This is important to us, so we’re putting this first. We are committed to providing a workplace that welcomes and respects all people to build an equal and productive environment. We believe a diverse team makes us more innovative, creative, and compassionate, and welcome applications from those who are under-represented in the tech sector, and here at Spork.

Spork is an established and rapidly growing technology consultancy. We believe that when we get underneath the skin of a business, and combine that knowledge with some innovative but practical software development, we can achieve enduring success for our clients. And if we can do that without babbling incoherent tech claptrap, then that’s basically what we’re about.

We typically will work with both start-ups and established brands such as household names like Leon Restaurants, Jack Wills, Disney, and EE as well as firms that are starting their journey. Currently, we’re helping the biggest Legal publisher re-architect their entire software suite, and next year our work will include a grant funded music streaming platform, and building a platform to make web products more environmentally sustainable.

We’re a friendly, collaborative and supportive team, consisting of developers, designers, and strategists. We’re committed to making Spork a great place to work by hiring talented people and investing in their growth, professional development, and wellbeing. We believe in cultivating an environment of curiosity and creativity and encourage applications from those who thrive on challenge and wish to positively change their workplace.

Spork is looking for a new Software Developer Lead to head up our development team. You will be responsible for software architectural decisions, choice of tech stack, testing strategy, devops, and maintaining the current suite of bespoke products we’ve built both internally and for our clients.

You will be equally comfortable with client-facing consulting as you will be rolling up your sleeves to get stuck in with development. You will be responsible for quality software releases, working closely with our account director and managing director, and be actively involved in the strategic decisions the company makes in terms of personnel, growth, and operations.

You will be responsible for developing internal processes to deliver technical projects and defining coding standards across the development team. You will assist the Managing Director in building and mentoring the development team, helping with performance reviews and career development.

We understand that different people have different exposures to different technologies. Well, currently this is our stack. What you don’t know we will expect you to get to grips with quite quickly and you’ll be encouraged to bring others to the table.

Front end
React.js / Redux / Next.js
Webpack
Vanilla JavaScript
SCSS and Tailwind CSS
Twig Templating

Mobile
React Native
iOS / Android
Fastlane

Backend
PHP (for Craft CMS and WordPress) / Yii and Laravel
Java – Spring / Hibernate
MySQL, PostGres
Elastic Search
Django
Node

Content Management
Craft CMS
Sanity.io
Wordpress

Learning Management Systems
Open edX

DevOps
AWS & Azure
Google Firebase
Bitbucket Pipelines
Docker

Project Management
Azure DevOps
Productive.io
JIRA

We offer:

Holiday:
25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
Christmas leave from 24th December to 1st January (inclusive) 
Up to 10 days of roll-over holiday each year
Up to 20 days unpaid leave each year (if you need them)

Benefits:
Company share structure
Bonus / dividend scheme
Annual CPD training budget
Cycle to work scheme
Business Electric Vehicle Lease Scheme
Regular socials
Free tea and (proper) coffee

Flexible working:
We want to see you in the office some days a week, but we understand that work and life needs to be balanced: your plans may vary from week to week. As long as we know about your scheduling, and it doesn’t affect client meetings, we will let you decide what’s best for you and the firm. We aim to be reasonable and choose to invest in our people. So, providing there are no more meetings on a Friday, if you’ve pulled in the hours, down tools early!

Plexal Membership:
A job at Spork comes with all the benefits of a membership at Plexal: a diverse startup community with extensive member benefits.