Engineering Team Lead
TLDR
Leads a small, hands-on engineering team to plan, deliver high-quality software, and foster a healthy, productive development culture.
Your Mission
The Engineering Team Lead is responsible for the day-to-day leadership and delivery for a small engineering team, typically 3-6 engineers.
This role exists to ensure that work is planned sensibly, delivered to a high standard, and carried out by a healthy, supported team. The Team Lead is both a people leader and a hands-on engineer, spending the majority of their time contributing directly to the codebase while providing clear direction and support to their team.
While the nature of the work may differ between teams (feature development or issue resolution), the expectations of the role remain the same: clear ownership, steady delivery, and strong engineering practice.
What You'll Bring To The Role
Scope and contextEngineering Team Leads operate within feature-aligned product teams or within a support/ops-aligned engineering team.
- Product-aligned teams focus on delivering new functionality agreed with Product.
- The support/ops-aligned team focuses on resolving escalated product issues and improving system behaviour, but does not operate as a customer support function.
All Team Leads work within the company’s existing technical direction, quality practices, and operational constraints, and collaborate closely with Product, QA, and other engineering teams as appropriate.
Key Responsibilities
Delivery and execution
- Plan and deliver work with the team in line with agreed priorities
- Break down work into achievable increments and ensure progress is visible
- Balance short-term delivery with maintainable, well-tested solutions
- Raise risks and blockers early and work with peers and managers to resolve them
People leadership
- Line manage engineers within the team, providing regular feedback and support
- Create a safe, constructive environment for learning and improvement
- Support engineers’ growth in collaboration with the Director of Engineering or Technical Operations
- Handle day-to-day people matters calmly and fairly
Hands-on engineering
- Contribute directly to the codebase as a senior member of the team
- Lead by example in code quality, testing, and technical decision-making
- Participate in design discussions and code reviews
- Help unblock technical issues without becoming a bottleneck
Collaboration and ways of working
- Work closely with Product (for product teams) or Support and Technical Operations (for the support/ops team) to ensure shared understanding of priorities
- Collaborate with QA to ensure work is testable, tested appropriately, and delivered with confidence
- Engage with the Principal Engineer where architectural guidance or technical alignment is needed
- Encourage pragmatic, lightweight processes that support delivery rather than slow it down
What this role is not
- This is not an architecture ownership role (that sits with the Principal Engineer)
- This is not a QA ownership role (quality strategy and coverage sit with the QA team)
- This is not a support agent role, even in the support/ops-aligned team
- This is not a full-time management position
The Engineering Team Lead succeeds by enabling the team and contributing directly, not by coordinating from the sidelines.
Experience and capabilities
We’re looking for someone who brings most of the following:
- Strong experience as a software engineer in a production SaaS environment
- Experience leading or mentoring other engineers
- Confidence balancing hands-on development with people and delivery responsibilities
- Ability to plan work realistically and adapt when priorities change
- Comfort working within established architectural direction and engineering standards
- Clear, respectful communication, especially when things are under pressure
Personal qualities
- Pragmatic and delivery-focused
- Calm and supportive as a people leader
- Comfortable switching between code and coordination
- Open to feedback and continuous improvement
- Respected by peers through competence and fairness
Why this role matters
Engineering Team Leads are the keystone between strategy and execution.
Done well, this role:
- Keeps teams focused and moving forward
- Reduces friction and confusion day-to-day
- Supports engineers to do their best work
- Helps the organisation deliver consistently without burning people out
Why us?
Perks & Benefits
Private medical insurance with respected service providers.
Remote + flexible working & team-building initiatives.
A work laptop & a Work from Home stipend of 500€ to set up your Home Office.
Wellbeing Support - access to mental health counseling & therapy, financial & legal counseling + free subscription to Headspace, a meditation app.
An extra week of vacation on top of your annual leave count + fully compensated Volunteer Days & Experience Days.
Challenging projects, inspiring colleagues and the opportunity to learn, grow & develop within and with the company.
Benefits
Health Insurance
Private medical insurance with respected service providers.
Home Office Stipend
A work laptop & a Work from Home stipend of 500€ to set up your Home Office.
Learning Budget
Challenging projects, inspiring colleagues and the opportunity to learn, grow & develop within and with the company.
Paid Time Off
An extra week of vacation on top of your annual leave count + fully compensated Volunteer Days & Experience Days.
Remote-Friendly
Remote + flexible working & team-building initiatives.
Wellness Stipend
Wellbeing Support - access to mental health counseling & therapy, financial & legal counseling + free subscription to Headspace, a meditation app.
Linnworks builds a powerful eCommerce automation platform that allows brands and retailers to seamlessly manage their retail, inventory, and shipping processes across various online marketplaces. With a focus on giving clients back their time, Linnworks empowers businesses to scale efficiently and effectively in the ever-evolving digital marketplace.