(RD) Engineering Team Lead (ETL)

The Job in Short

This is a Senior+ Engineer who leads people, not a people manager who used to code. If you cannot open an IDE, spin up an agentic coding session in Cursor or Claude Code, debug a production issue or support a customer implementation alongside our last-mile Services teams, this is not the right role. You are the captain of a single squad: accountable for delivery predictability, engineering quality and the growth of every engineer in your team.
We are looking for technologists who want to stay deep in the technology whilst taking on genuine people leadership and delivery accountability. You will spend roughly half your time on system design, architecture and technical decision-making, with around a fifth of your time in the codebase directly through code reviews, debugging and unblocking. The remaining time is invested in your people: coaching, calibration, hiring and building a team that delivers predictably and sustainably.

Meet the Job

Technical Leadership (circa 70% of the role)
● System Design and Architecture: Lead and participate in design reviews, RFCs and architecture decisions alongside Staff Engineers. Ensure security and scalability are embedded from the start.
● Hands-on Contribution: Maintain your technical credibility through active code reviews, debugging production issues and unblocking your team. You write code, read code and understand the systems your squad owns.
● Quality and Engineering Excellence: Champion modern engineering practices including CI/CD pipelines, test automation, observability and quality gates. Drive production-readiness and robust release management.
● BS Detector: Use your technical depth to spot unrealistic estimates, fragile designs or risk blind spots before they become delivery problems.
● Emergency Response: During critical incidents, jump in technically or coordinate the response. You are comfortable leading under pressure.
● AI-Native Engineering: Lead adoption of agentic tooling, LLM workflows and AI automation within your squad to accelerate the development lifecycle. Experiment with code generation, test automation and AI-assisted productivity tools.

People Leadership (circa 10% of the role)
● Talent Development: Own meaningful 1:1s, performance calibration, and evidence-based career development for your squad of 6 to 9 engineers. Create tailored growth plans and act as a genuine coach.
● Team Health: Build and sustain psychological safety, team resilience and a healthy engineering culture. Detect and resolve friction early. Maintain sustainable pace even under delivery pressure.
● Hiring and Succession: Manage hiring decisions and onboarding to build teams with the right technical competencies and seniority balance. Plan for succession and knowledge continuity.
● Conflict Resolution: Mediate interpersonal or cross-team conflicts early to protect team cohesion and delivery momentum.

Delivery and Execution (circa 20% of the role)
● Delivery Mastery: Optimise the squad's idea-to-production cycle time. Strengthen delivery predictability through empirical measurement, process improvement and proactive blocker removal.
● Stakeholder Partnership: Collaborate closely with Product Managers and Domain Architects to translate business needs into technical outcomes. Push back on unrealistic scope with data, not opinion.
● Continuous Improvement: Drive improvement in delivery capability, operating models and tooling. Promote visibility and transparency through effective tracking and communication.

Current Openings
We are hiring Engineering Team Leads across three value streams. Each position shares the core role described above but brings distinct technical context. Apply to the opening that best matches your background.

1. Identity Value Stream (Backend)
● Core Technologies - Java, Spring Boot
● Agentic Workflow - Already working with Cursor, GitHub Copilot or Claude Code in your daily engineering workflow
● Distinct Advantage - Experience in Identity and Access Management (IAM), authentication flows, authorisation frameworks or security protocols

2. Identity Value Stream (Mobile)
● Core Technologies - iOS (Swift), Android (Kotlin)
● Agentic Workflow - Already working with Gemini, Cursor, GitHub Copilot or Claude Code in your daily engineering workflow
● Distinct Advantage - Experience in Identity and Access Management (IAM), mobile authentication, biometrics or security protocols

3. Digital Assist Value Stream (Full Stack)
● Core Technologies - Java, Spring Boot, JavaScript, Angular
● Agentic Workflow - Already working with Cursor, GitHub Copilot or Claude Code in your daily engineering workflow
● Distinct Advantage - Mobile development experience (iOS or Android) is a distinctive advantage but not a primary requirement

About Backbase
Backbase is the maker of the AI-native Banking OS, the operating system that turns fragmented banking operations into a Unified Frontline. Customers, employees and AI agents work as one across digital channels, front office and operations. Every actor operates from the same truth, every decision carries a full audit trail, and every capability compounds on the same foundation.
We have been building banking software since 2003. Today, 150+ banks run on Backbase, supported by 2,000+ employees globally, 4,000+ certified experts and 16 offices across 5 continents. 50% of our team works in R&D, which means engineering is not a support function here; it is the core of what we do.
Our platform powers Elastic Operations across retail banking, small business banking, commercial banking, private banking and wealth management. We help banks modernise progressively, one domain at a time, with no rip-and-replace and no big-bang migration.

The Backbase Code
Seven values define who we are. They guide every decision, every action and every conversation:
1.Put customers first 2.Start with the why 3.Collaborate as one 4.Keep it simple 5.Bias for action 6.Raise the bar 7.Tell it like it is

What We Offer
● A mission-driven R&D culture where engineering quality matters and 50% of the company works alongside you in product and technology.
● Genuine influence over your squad's technical direction, delivery approach and team culture.
● A front-row seat in building the AI-native Banking OS, working with agentic tooling, LLM workflows and AI automation at scale.
● Hybrid working from our Cardiff office with flexibility built into the model.
● Competitive salary, benefits package and career progression along both technical (Staff Engineer) and management (Engineering Team Lead) tracks.

Location
This role is based in our Cardiff office, Wales, United Kingdom. Cardiff is one of four main R&D Backbase hubs alongside Amsterdam HQ, India, Poland and Vietnam. We operate a hybrid working model with regular time in the office to maintain team cohesion and collaborative engineering culture.
Please note: You must have the right to work in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position.

How to Apply
If you are a technologist who wants to lead people without leaving the codebase behind, we would love to hear from you. Apply now and tell us about a technical decision you led and how it shaped your team's delivery.

How about you

Technical Depth
● 5+ years of hands-on software engineering experience with recent production code contributions.
● Strong grounding in system design, architecture patterns and modern engineering tooling.
● T-shaped profile: deep expertise in at least one area with broad competence across the full stack.
● Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, test automation, observability and quality-focused development practices.
● Enthusiasm for AI tooling and a willingness to lead its adoption within your team.

People and Leadership
● An explicit desire to lead people whilst remaining an active technical contributor.
● High emotional intelligence and resilience under pressure.
● Experience coaching engineers, running effective 1:1s and providing constructive feedback.
● Ability to create inclusive, engaging team environments with a strong engineering culture.
● Comfortable addressing underperformance constructively when needed.

Delivery and Communication
● Skilled in Agile delivery methods (Scrum, Kanban) with experience managing delivery risk and stakeholder expectations.
● A strong unblocker who translates and synthesises rather than simply relaying messages.
● Confident communicator who adjusts style for different audiences and fosters open dialogue.
● Track record of building and scaling teams, processes and delivery capability.

Skills and Competencies
● System Design: Leads design reviews and architecture decisions. Contributes to RFCs with Staff Engineers. Ensures security and scalability from the start.
● Active Contribution: Maintains hands-on coding credibility. Regular code reviews, debugging and unblocking. The team sees you as technically strong.
● Delivery Management: Optimises cycle time, removes process friction, drives predictable delivery through empirical measurement.
● Stakeholder Management: Trusted product partner. Manages expectations proactively. Pushes back on unrealistic scope with data.
● People Development: Meaningful 1:1s with development goals. Evidence-based calibration. Engineers visibly grow under your leadership.
● Team Health: Builds psychological safety and resilience. Addresses conflict proactively. Maintains sustainable pace.
● AI Fluency: Familiarity with the AI tool ecosystem. Drives adoption of agentic tooling and LLM workflows across engineering.
● Problem Solving: Approaches problems systemically and strategically, balancing short-term delivery with long-term technical health.

Qualifications
● BSc or MSc in Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
● 5+ years in software engineering roles with demonstrable technical leadership.
● Experience with Agile delivery, CI/CD pipelines and quality-focused development.
● Previous experience managing or mentoring engineers (formal or informal).
● Exposure to banking, payments, fintech or SaaS platforms is a plus.