Lead Software Engineer

About the Company

Spires is a fast-growing online tutoring marketplace connecting students with expert tutors across the world. Our platform powers thousands of lessons each month and is central to delivering a seamless experience for students, tutors, and our internal operations team. As we continue to scale, we are investing in strengthening our technology leadership to improve our platform, support new product verticals, and better integrate our internal systems. This is an exciting opportunity to join a lean, ambitious startup environment where your work will directly shape the future of the platform and the company.

About the Role

We are looking for a Lead Software Engineer to take ownership of the development and evolution of the Spires platform. You will lead a small team of developers, helping to guide their technical development while remaining hands-on in building and improving the platform. Working closely with the CEO and Founder, you will help translate business priorities into technical solutions, influence product direction, and ensure our systems scale as the company grows. You will play a key role in enhancing our online tutoring platform, integrating it more deeply with our operational systems, and supporting the development of new product verticals. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys startup environments, takes ownership of systems, and wants the opportunity to shape both technology and product strategy within a growing company.

Responsibilities

Technology Leadership

• Lead and mentor a small team of developers (currently two), supporting their development and ensuring high engineering standards
• Provide technical guidance, code review, and architectural direction
• Help establish scalable development processes and best practices

Platform Development

• Improve and expand our tutoring marketplace and client management systems
• Build and maintain full stack features using modern technologies
• Take ownership of core areas of the platform and internal tooling

Product & Business Collaboration

• Work closely with the CEO, Founder, and senior team to translate business priorities into product and engineering solutions
• Collaborate with sales, marketing, and operations teams to improve internal systems and workflows
• Support the development of new product verticals and platform capabilities

Technical Strategy

• Contribute to architectural decisions and long-term platform scalability
• Identify opportunities to improve performance, reliability, and user experience
• Support data-driven product improvements through analytics and experimentation

Qualifications

• Degree (2:1 or equivalent preferred) in Computer Science or related discipline

Required Skills

• 5+ years experience as a Senior Full Stack or Software Developer
• 2+ years of proven management experience
• Strong experience with React and modern frontend development
• Backend development experience (Java preferred)
• Solid knowledge of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
• Experience working with PostgreSQL databases
• Experience using Git in a collaborative development environment
• Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders

Preferred Skills

• Experience with PHP
• Familiarity with Google Cloud infrastructure
• Experience using Google Analytics, Search Console, or experimentation tools
• Understanding of marketplace platforms or EdTech products
• Experience managing developers or owning product features end-to-end
• Experience working in a startup or high-growth environment

Pay range and compensation package

• £60,000–£80,000 salary
• Direct involvement in company strategy and product direction
• Hybrid working (2 days WFH per week)
• 31 days holiday
• Company pension
• Free on-site gym (Canary Wharf office)
• Regular team socials
• New Apple MacBook Pro (personal use permitted)
• Training, workshops, and mentorship programmes
• Friendly, supportive office culture with a strong focus on growth