Lead Backend Engineer (Routing Squad)

Role Overview We are looking for a Lead Engineer to take ownership of one of HIVED's highest-impact technical domains: the planning pipeline that powers supply-demand matching, parcel distribution, and routing optimisation. As part of HIVED's Routing Squad, you'll lead the team tackling some of the most complex and intellectually demanding problems in computer science - building systems that decide how parcels move through the city efficiently, reliably, and at scale. This is a rare opportunity to combine deep engineering expertise, optimisation thinking, and real-world domain understanding to shape a core strategic advantage for HIVED. You'll own the technical direction of the squad, set a high bar for engineering quality, and lead a team of engineers working closely with data scientists, analysts, product, and operations. Your work will have a direct and visible impact: better routing, stronger planning capabilities, more efficient operations, and a delivery network you can see improving in the city around you. What You'll Be Doing

• Lead the Routing Squad across technical strategy, delivery, team leadership, and execution of squad goals.
• Own the technical direction for systems supporting routing optimisation, supply-demand matching, parcel distribution, forecasting, and planning.
• Translate business priorities and operational needs into clear technical strategy, measurable outcomes, and pragmatic execution plans.
• Guide architecture and system design for scalable, reliable, production-grade optimisation and planning systems.
• Work closely with optimisation engineers, backend engineers, data scientists, analysts, product, and operational stakeholders to turn complex problems into shipped solutions.
• Lead the exploration and evaluation of new approaches across routing, scheduling, optimisation, forecasting, and distributed systems.
• Set and uphold a high engineering bar through technical reviews, architectural guidance, mentoring, and accountability for maintainable software.
• Manage, coach, and develop engineers in the squad, including hiring, performance management, development planning, and resourcing.
• Foster a culture of curiosity, ownership, high performance, and continuous learning within the team.
What We're Looking For
• 5+ years of software engineering experience, including backend or distributed systems development.
• Experience leading engineers, either as a people manager or as a senior technical leader with meaningful ownership over team delivery.
• Proven ability to translate complex, ambiguous business or operational problems into robust technical solutions.
• Strong system design and architectural skills in distributed, production-grade environments.
• An appetite for hard optimisation problems - especially routing, scheduling, forecasting, supply-demand matching, or other constraint-heavy domains.
• Strong analytical thinking and the ability to combine technical depth with practical judgement.
• A track record of setting high engineering standards and helping teams consistently meet them.
• Experience working cross-functionally with product, operations, data scientists, analysts, and senior leadership.
• Strong ownership mindset: you care about the strategy, the system, the team, and the real-world outcome.
Nice to Have
• Experience with routing, scheduling, optimisation, forecasting, logistics, mobility, or marketplace systems.
• Experience productionising algorithms, solvers, models, or data-heavy decision systems.
• Familiarity with optimisation techniques such as linear/integer programming, constraint programming, heuristics, or solver-based approaches.
• Experience working in a fast-scaling operational environment where software has a direct physical-world impact.
Technologies We Use
• Backend languages: Python, Go
• Tech infrastructure: AWS, CDK TypeScript, Lambda, SQS, EventBridge, RDS, DynamoDB
• Data tooling: GCP, BigQuery, Looker, Looker Studio
• Observability: Loki, Tempo, Grafana, Prometheus
• Event-driven architecture and domain-driven design
Benefits
• Dynamic hybrid working environment with a diverse and driven team
• Huge opportunity for learning in a high growth environment, with progression opportunities based on success in the role
• 25 days of holiday allowance plus public holidays
• 1 Birthday Day Off + 2 Tenure-Based Additional Days Off
• Subsidised Private Medical Insurance including dental, vision & mental health therapy
• Bi-annual performance reviews and tailored development plans
• Competitive salary + EMI options scheme
• Annual compensation review
• Team lunch provided once a week
• Quarterly team socials and annual sports day
• Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption policy as day 1 right
• Community volunteer daysCycle to work scheme
• Dog friendly office and depots
• MacBook Air or Windows Laptop (depending on your preference)
  
  5+ years of software engineering experience, including backend or distributed systems development.
• Experience leading engineers, either as a people manager or as a senior technical leader with meaningful ownership over team delivery.
• Proven ability to translate complex, ambiguous business or operational problems into robust technical solutions.
• Strong system design and architectural skills in distributed, production-grade environments.
• An appetite for hard optimisation problems - especially routing, scheduling, forecasting, supply-demand matching, or other constraint-heavy domains.
• Strong analytical thinking and the ability to combine technical depth with practical judgement.
• A track record of setting high engineering standards and helping teams consistently meet them.
• Experience working cross-functionally with product, operations, data scientists, analysts, and senior leadership.
• Strong ownership mindset: you care about the strategy, the system, the team, and the real-world outcome., Experience with routing, scheduling, optimisation, forecasting, logistics, mobility, or marketplace systems.
• Experience productionising algorithms, solvers, models, or data-heavy decision systems.
• Familiarity with optimisation techniques such as linear/integer programming, constraint programming, heuristics, or solver-based approaches.
• Experience working in a fast-scaling operational environment where software has a direct physical-world impact., Backend languages: Python, Go
• Tech infrastructure: AWS, CDK TypeScript, Lambda, SQS, EventBridge, RDS, DynamoDB
• Data tooling: GCP, BigQuery, Looker, Looker Studio
• Observability: Loki, Tempo, Grafana, Prometheus
• Event-driven architecture and domain-driven design
  
  Dynamic hybrid working environment with a diverse and driven team
• Huge opportunity for learning in a high growth environment, with progression opportunities based on success in the role
• 25 days of holiday allowance plus public holidays
• 1 Birthday Day Off + 2 Tenure-Based Additional Days Off
• Subsidised Private Medical Insurance including dental, vision & mental health therapy
• Bi-annual performance reviews and tailored development plans
• Competitive salary + EMI options scheme
• Annual compensation review
• Team lunch provided once a week
• Quarterly team socials and annual sports day
• Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption policy as day 1 right
• Community volunteer daysCycle to work scheme
• Dog friendly office and depots
• MacBook Air or Windows Laptop (depending on your preference)