Lead Engineer (Python)

Lead/Principal Python (Django) Engineer, Architect the Future of Retail Tech

Location: London/West (Remote-first 1 day a week in office)

Salary: £100k + Equity Options

A leading provider of white-labelled drop-shipping middleware, powering some of the UK’s most recognised retail brands, is looking for a Lead/Principal Python Engineer to help shape the next phase of their journey.

Following significant investment and a proven track record in streamlining complex supply chains, the company is now scaling internationally and bringing its technology fully in-house. This is an exciting opportunity for a seasoned engineer to take ownership of architecture, modernise legacy elements, and lead technical decision-making from the ground up.

The Role

The company’s platform has been developed over time by a mix of in-house and third-party teams. To support global growth, they are now consolidating their engineering efforts internally, and they're looking for someone to define how that happens.

This role will involve:

• Partnering closely with the CTO to define technical direction and system architecture

• Taking ownership of a microservices-based platform with a focus on scalability, resilience, and performance

• Setting engineering best practices and guiding team culture

• Playing a central role in hiring, mentoring, and shaping the growing engineering team

The Stack

• Backend: Python, Django, AWS Lambda, Docker, Kubernetes

• Frontend: React, TypeScript

• Cloud: AWS, IBM Cloud

• CI/CD: CircleCI

• Roadmap: TBC

The internal team currently comprises 7–8 core engineers, with new DevOps and QA leads joining to strengthen operational excellence.

Ideal Candidate

• Proven expertise in Python and Django at scale

• Strong experience designing distributed, microservices-based architectures

• Hands-on leadership style with a collaborative, team-first mindset

• A passion for clean code, automation, and delivery excellence

Want to help shape the foundation of a next-generation retail platform?

This is a rare opportunity to make high-impact decisions and lead engineering from the inside out.

To learn more, apply directly.