Software Engineer Team Lead

The world of work is changing forever - not just where it happens, but how and why. People want flexibility, meaning, and connection. At Kadence, we’re building the operating system for hybrid work, helping organisations coordinate people, places, and projects so everyone can do their best work, wherever they are.

Our mission is to help every organisation unlock the full potential of its people through smarter coordination of workplaces, schedules, and teams. From intelligent space management and real-time workplace analytics, to seamless team coordination, AI assistants, and meaningful workplace events, Kadence helps companies create environments where work flows and people thrive.

Backed by world class investors and trusted by over 500 organisations, Kadence is growing fast. With established teams in Belfast, London, and Salt Lake City, we’re just getting started. If you’re excited by mission-driven impact, big ideas, and helping define the future of work - join us.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• This is a hands on leadership role, with around 70-80% of your time spent on engineering work and 20-30% on supporting and growing the team.
• Lead by example in writing clean, scalable code with PHP Symfony, and AngularJS - while guiding teammates through architectural decisions and best practices.
• Collaborate closely with engineers, QA, data, infrastructure, product managers, and designers to deliver high-impact features across web, mobile, and desktop platforms.
• Provide day to day technical leadership; setting standards, reviewing code, and helping guide architectural direction.
• Coach and mentor engineers through regular 1:1s, feedback sessions, and shared problem-solving.
• Support career development by helping engineers set goals, reflect on progress, and grow in their craft.
• Work with product and design to shape roadmaps and translate vision into clear, achievable work for the team.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and psychologically safe environment where people do their best work.
• Help manage team ceremonies (stand ups, retros, planning) and refine workflows to improve flow and clarity.
• Champion knowledge sharing through documentation, pairing, and internal demos.
• Lead by example in debugging, testing, and delivering clean, secure, maintainable code.
• Promote a culture of ownership, curiosity, and continuous improvement; within the team and across engineering.

WHAT YOU BRING

• Proven experience leading and delivering complex features or products within a high-performing engineering team.
• Strong hands-on expertise in backend development with PHP (Symfony preferred) and/or frontend development with TypeScript (Angular preferred).
• A solid grasp of modern cloud-based architectures and scalable distributed systems.
• Experience mentoring other engineers through code reviews, pairing, feedback, and technical coaching.
• A track record of shaping team culture, improving engineering practices, and fostering collaboration.
• Pragmatism when balancing short-term delivery with long-term maintainability and scalability.
• Comfort operating in fast-moving Agile teams with changing priorities and evolving product goals.
• Passion for clean, maintainable code and an eye for continuous improvement - in both people and systems.
• Exposure to mobile (Kotlin, Swift), desktop (Electron), or infrastructure (AWS, CI/CD, Docker) is a plus.
• BSc in a related field such as Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or other software/design discipline.

OUR TECH STACK

• Backend: PHP 8.2 / Symfony 7, REST, API Platform, NodeJS, Python, Rust.
• Frontend: TypeScript, Angular 19.
• Mobile: Android (Kotlin), iOS (Swift).
• Desktop: Cross platform desktop app built with Electron (TypeScript).
• Database: MySQL (Aurora DB), Redis (ElastiCache), MongoDB (AWS DocumentDB).
• Cloud & DevOps: AWS (20+ services), Kubernetes (EKS), Docker, Infrastructure as Code (CloudFormation, Terraform), CI/CD (Jenkins, GitHub Actions), Observability (AWS, Grafana).
• Development tools: GitHub, Jira, Notion, ChatGPT, Gemini, LangChain, AI-native IDE's (Cursor, JetBrains), LLM-powered internal tools.
• Test automation: Cypress (E2E), Postman (API), Jest (frontend unit), PHPUnit (backend unit), JUnit (Android), XCTest (iOS).

WHAT WE OFFER YOU

• A front-row seat in a fast scaling, early stage startup.
• Working on cutting edge problems with brand new technologies.
• Join a passionate and fun team that is quickly expanding in Belfast and beyond.
• We embrace hybrid working - collaborate from home or make use of our sleek office in the heart of Belfast city centre with access to a rooftop terrace, private member coffee lounge and regular wellbeing events.
• Regular company socials including an annual offsite to get to socialise with your colleagues in person.
• 5 weeks vacation per annum (plus public holidays), flexible work/life balance.
• Competitive salary and stock options.
• Private healthcare and company pension.
• Cycle2work scheme.

HEAR FROM OUR CEO