Tech Lead - Full Stack Engineering - Native Development

I'm partnering with an exciting, early-stage FinTech business, backed by an established financial services group, looking for a hands-on Tech Lead to help build a brand-new digital banking platform. Working with TypeScript, Node.js and AI-assisted development tools, you'll play a key role in shaping the architecture, mentoring engineers and driving technical decisions. A fantastic opportunity to join early, influence the product and build something from the ground up! Tech Lead - Full Stack Engineering | FinTech Salary: £80,000 - £95,000 DOE Location: Manchester (Hybrid/flexible Working) Tech Stack: TypeScript, Node.js, REST/GraphQL APIs, AI Coding Tools The Opportunity I'm partnering with an exciting, early-stage FinTech business, backed by an established financial services group, looking for a hands-on Tech Lead to help build a brand-new digital banking platform. This is a genuine greenfield opportunity to join as one of the first engineers, with significant influence over the architecture, technology decisions, engineering standards and future direction of the product. Reporting directly to the CTO, you'll combine hands-on full stack development with technical leadership, mentoring and ownership of key engineering decisions. The business operates in an AI-native environment, using AI coding tools to accelerate development while maintaining high standards of quality, testing and security. The Role You'll play a pivotal role in designing, developing and delivering a secure, scalable platform that supports modern digital financial services. Key responsibilities:

• Lead the design and development of the core platform, remaining hands-on across the full stack.
• Mentor engineers, review code and provide technical guidance.
• Influence architecture, technology choices and engineering standards.
• Build scalable applications using Node.js, TypeScript and modern development practices.
• Design and integrate REST/GraphQL APIs with third-party financial systems.
• Use AI coding tools to accelerate delivery and support the wider team's adoption of AI-assisted development.
• Develop AI-powered features, including assistants, automation and document processing.
• Collaborate with platform engineers to build efficient CI/CD pipelines.
• Champion automated testing, security, performance and code quality.
• Work closely with product, design and engineering teams to deliver new functionality.
• Take ownership of features from initial design through to deployment and ongoing support. What We're Looking For We're looking for an experienced, hands-on engineer who enjoys solving technical challenges, building products and supporting other developers. Essential experience:
• Strong full stack development experience, ideally with Node.js and TypeScript, although similar stacks will be considered.
• Experience mentoring or technically leading small engineering teams.
• Strong database knowledge, including PostgreSQL, MySQL or SQL Server.
• Experience designing scalable applications and integrating third-party services.
• Practical experience using AI coding tools within the software development lifecycle.
• Strong understanding of REST APIs, testing, CI/CD and secure coding practices.
• Confidence making architectural decisions and taking technical ownership.
• Comfortable working in an early-stage environment with significant autonomy. Desirable experience:
• Building greenfield platforms or products from scratch.
• FinTech, banking, payments or other regulated industries.
• Delivering AI/LLM-powered features into production.
• AWS, Azure or GCP.
• Containers and infrastructure-as-code.
• Establishing engineering standards and mentoring teams. What's On Offer?
• £80,000 - £95,000 salary, depending on experience.
• 30 days' annual leave plus Bank Holidays.
• Hybrid working from Manchester.
• Company pension scheme.
• Direct collaboration with the CTO.
• Significant influence over the product and technical architecture.
• Opportunity to work with modern technologies in an AI-native engineering environment.
• Structured career development and ongoing learning opportunities.
• The autonomy of a startup with the backing of an established financial services group. Why Apply? This isn't a typical Tech Lead role focused on maintaining legacy systems. You'll be joining at the beginning of an ambitious engineering journey, helping to build a modern financial technology platform from the ground up. It's an opportunity to remain genuinely hands-on, shape technical decisions, establish engineering best practices and play a key role in developing the future engineering team. Interested? Apply now or get in touch for a confidential conversation. Desired Skills and Experience TypeScript Node.js React.js Full-Stack Development Technical Leadership Software Architecture REST APIs PostgreSQL Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Robert Walters Operations Limited is an employment business and employment agency and welcomes applications from all candidates