Senior Lead Software Engineer

• Tech Lead fof 4-6 engineers delivering full stack web platforms that power UGVs
• Own sprint delivery, technical direction & code quality.
• Influence UI/UX standards across UGV web platforms to ensure consistancy.

We are delighted to work exclusively with this client on this role!

The Company:
Our client is a New Zealand technology company developing advanced robotics, automation and sensing technologies designed to improve productivity across global food and fibre industries.

Their engineering teams bring together software, robotics, mechatronics and product engineering to develop intelligent systems used in real world operational environments. As the organisation continues to grow and scale its product capability, they are now seeking a Senior Lead Software Engineer - Web to provide technical leadership across the web platform engineering capability.

The Role & Requirements:
This role sits within the Web Engineering team and carries responsibility for the technical leadership of a team of approximately 4-6 software engineers responsible for front end and full stack development across the organisation's web based product platforms.

Reporting to the Practice Lead, this role will be supported in the leadership and running of planning sessions.

This role is not a traditional people leadership role, however it carries strong accountability for technical direction, delivery quality, mentoring and day to day work management within the team.

The systems being developed are not static websites. They are web based operator consoles and platform interfaces used to monitor, manage and control Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) operating in real world environments.

While the role includes responsibility for UI and UX standards, it is also a full stack engineering role where the team builds the complete web platform including the underlying services, integrations and data flows that support operational systems and feed into broader data insight and analytics platforms.

Operating within an Agile product development environment, the role works across two weekly sprint cycles, forward planning horizons and quarterly development roadmaps.

Core responsibilities include:

• Running sprint planning sessions and stand ups
• Breaking down features into structured engineering tasks
• Delegating work across engineers based on capability and priorities
• Managing delivery timelines and engineering dependencies
• Driving constructive code reviews and technical coaching
• Maintaining visibility of delivery progress, risks and blockers

A strong delivery mindset is essential. This person must be comfortable breaking larger platform features into smaller releases, delivering iteratively while maintaining engineering quality and product stability.

What we are looking for:
We are seeking a pragmatic Senior Software Engineer with strong technical leadership capability who has built their career within product development environments.

Ideally this experience will come from technology companies developing real products where software interacts with hardware systems, robotics, automation platforms or complex operational environments, rather than purely marketing or static website development.

Key technical experience should include:

Full Stack Web Engineering

• JavaScript and TypeScript
• NodeJS or NextJS
• React framework
• Strong API architecture and systems integration experience
• Relational databases such as PostgreSQL
• Experience designing and managing data flows across application platforms and data insight systems

Infrastructure, DevOps and Engineering Environment

• Docker and Docker Compose
• Containerisation and container based development environments
• Test Driven Development experience.
• CI driven development and deployment workflows
• Git based source control and engineering practices
• Linux based development and deployment environments

Cloud and Platform Engineering

• Experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS or GCP
• Infrastructure tooling such as Terraform, CloudFormation or similar
• Working within automated build, deployment and configuration pipelines

Security and Engineering Standards

• Understanding of secure software engineering practices
• Data protection and security aware architecture
• Working knowledge of encryption, SSH, VPN and key management
• Secure API design and integration practices

Beyond technical expertise, we are looking for someone who brings strong engineering judgement and leadership behaviours.

The successful person will:

• Provide constructive and direct feedback through code reviews
• Mentor and develop engineers technically and professionally
• Establish practical UX and UI standards across UGV web platforms
• Communicate clearly with engineering leadership and product stakeholders
• Maintain strong visibility of engineering progress and delivery priorities
• Experience working in robotics, AgTech, autonomous systems or vehicle based technology platforms would be highly beneficial.

What's on offer:
This role offers the opportunity to work on technology where software directly powers Unmanned Ground Vehicles operating in real world environments.
Benefits include:

• A very attractive base salary plus kiwisaver and additional benefits.
• Technical leadership within a high performing engineering team
• Exposure to robotics, automation and advanced sensing technologies
• Opportunity to influence web architecture, data flows and UX standards across UGV platforms
• Working within a multidisciplinary engineering environment combining software, robotics and product engineering

Next Steps:
If you feel this role aligns to your career and you feel confident you meet the requirements as described, please send in a letter of introduction explaining why you align to this opportunity AND please send in a customised resume showcasing your skills and experience and career journey thus far.

PLEASE NO CHATGPT OR AI Generated LETTERS OR RESUMES!

Should you have any questions at all, by all means call Barry Hardy on 0276544653 for a confidential conversation.