POD Lead (Kotlin/Java)

Role Title: POD Lead (Kotlin/Java)
Location: Hybrid 60% office-40% Remote - Sheffield
Duration: 30/11/2026
Rate: £474 Inside

Technologies we use in the role (Required):
Kotlin, Java,
Microservices,
REST APIs,
SQL/Databases,
HTML/JavaScript,
Asynchronous messaging/event-driven architectures (Kafka or similar)
Proactive person who will own the end to end including resolution of blockers and prioritisation of work.
Experience working with standard developer collaboration Tools: Github, Jira, Confluence

About the project:
Provide day-to-day technical leadership for an agile engineering team, supporting the overall Tech lead to deliver outcomes at pace and with quality.
Lead technical input into backlog refinement: break epics/features into well-defined user stories, clarify acceptance criteria, identify dependencies, and ensure work is delivery ready.
Support sprint planning by shaping technical approaches, identifying spikes, and helping the team size work appropriately.
Design, develop and implement primarily Back End features (Kotlin/Java APIs and services), with a small element of UI work using a simple UI framework.
Build and evolve APIs and microservices, applying consistent engineering patterns (error handling, logging, resilience, security-by-design).
Contribute to and support architectural and design decisions with the Tech Lead, documenting key decisions and trade-offs where needed.
Be capable of designing, building and delivering an in-house solution end to end from shaping the initial idea and requirements, through development, testing and ongoing support.
Coach and uplift the team in development best practice: clean code, test driven development, secure coding, and maintainable design.
Drive effective peer reviews and engineering standards, ensuring code quality, readability and attention to detail.
Work in an agile CI/CD environment to deliver rapid iterations at a sustainable velocity, promoting automation and quality gates.
Collaborate with developers, testers and the wider organisation to build, run and improve products.
Proactively engage with customers/users to resolve issues, respond to feature requests, and reduce recurring operational pain.

Skills & experience we require:
Strong Kotlin experience, or significant Java experience with a willingness to learn Kotlin.
Experience leading or acting as a senior engineer within an agile delivery team (squad-level technical leadership).
Proven ability to refine and decompose work (features into implementable stories), manage dependencies, and remove technical blockers.
Strong experience in microservices and API development, and asynchronous messaging technologies such as Kafka or similar event-driven platforms.
Experience in at least two or three of the following: API development, SQL/databases, HTML/JavaScript.
Strong technical and analytical troubleshooting skills, including production support mindset.
Experience with standard developer collaboration tools: GitHub/Bitbucket, Jira, Confluence.
Excellent written and spoken English, with the ability to communicate technical decisions clearly.
Good interpersonal skills and a collaborative approach to working across roles (engineering, testing, product, control owners).