Lead Engineer

Lead Engineer (AI) Remote-first with occasional visits to Hemel Hempstead or on Park Permanent | Full Time Competitive salary + bonus and benefits About the role Are you an experienced software engineering leader passionate about AI-enabled ways of working? If so, we want to hear from you! Haven is looking for a Lead Engineer to join our growing Technology team, taking joint ownership of the direction and output of a delivery squad alongside a Product Manager and UX Designer. You'll set the technical direction, define the architecture, and be the key technical contact for squad stakeholders and the wider business. You'll shape how the squad adopts and continually improves AI-enabled engineering practices, ensuring work is well-structured, appropriately supported, and delivered to a high standard of quality, security, reliability, and maintainability. This is a strongly hands-on role suited to a technical leader who thrives on building capable teams, coaching engineers, and staying close to the code. Typically you'll spend around 80% of your time hands-on in smaller teams (and 60% in larger ones), balancing leadership, mentoring, and stakeholder engagement across the software delivery lifecycle. You will also commit to being part of our Engineering Lead community, actively contributing to developing the overall engineering standards across Haven, discussing and solving architectural challenges and providing peer support as appropriate. Your Opportunity

• Set the technical direction and architecture for your squad
• Define and evolve the squad's backlog alongside the Product Manager and UX Designer, ensuring work is well understood and structured
• Lead by example in the design and implementation of high-quality solutions
• Own the squad's engineering practice, embedding effective, sustainable, AI-enabled ways of working
• Communicate progress, risks, difficulties, ideas, and decisions clearly to technical and non-technical audiences
• Coach, mentor, and support the professional development of squad engineers
• Collaborate with and support other squads, driving continual improvement across the wider engineering team
• Act as the initial point of contact for issues affecting engineers' ability to deliver (access, tooling, third-party engagement)
• Contribute to the simplification of Haven's digital estate
• Continue to develop your own software engineering capability What we'd like you to bring
• Extensive experience as a software engineer in a similar environment, using relevant technology
• Proven experience in a Lead Engineer role, demonstrating the ability to foster a strong, collaborative and highly productive team.
• Excellent working knowledge of AI-enabled software engineering, including AI tooling, context management, prompting, agentic workflows, appropriate human validation, and common limitations
• Excellent working knowledge of one of C#, Dart, or TypeScript, paired with one of .Net, Flutter, React, or Node.js
• Strong grounding in software design principles (SOLID, Clean Code), TDD, and other testing practices
• Excellent solution architecture skills across discovery, domain modelling, tool selection, systems architecture, and solution definition
• Solid working knowledge of Agile, Lean, and OKRs practices and principles
• Good working knowledge of DevOps and SRE (CI/CD, logging, monitoring, alerting), plus AWS or Azure
• Good working knowledge of relevant security concerns (e.g. OWASP Top 10)
• Strong coaching, communication, and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to work autonomously, manage your time well, and switch context frequently in a remote setting Company Benefits
• 25 Days holiday + bank holidays
• Holiday buy scheme
• Discretionary annual bonus
• 20% discount on both Haven and Warner Hotels holiday for you, family and friends
• One 4-night Haven break discounted 75%, per year
• Comprehensive well-being support
• Health cash plan
• Exclusive discounts with corporate partners
• Exciting career pathways, including Learning and Development opportunities such as Apprenticeships and Degrees
• Enhanced family friendly policies and pay (eligibility criteria applied) Interview Process
• Screening call with recruiter
• 1st Stage Teams interview with Head of Engineering
• 2nd Stage Pair Programming session with senior engineers
• Optional 3rd - Meet the team