Location:Remote
Salary:£60,000 - £70,000
About us
At Arbor, we’re on a mission to transform the way schools work for the better.
We believe in a future of work in schools where being challenged doesn’t mean being burnt out and overworked. Where data guides progress without overwhelming staff. And where everyone working in a school is reminded why they got into education every day.
Our MIS and school management tools are already making a difference in over 7,000 schools and trusts. Giving time and power back to staff, turning data into clear, actionable insights, and supporting happier working days.
At the heart of our brand is a recognition that the challenges schools face today aren’t just about efficiency, outputs and productivity - but about creating happier working lives for the people who drive education everyday: the staff. We want to make schools more joyful places to work, as well as learn.
About the role
We are looking for an experienced and communicative Technical Lead to join our Engineering function and help us guide the team towards technical excellence, ensuring the successful delivery of projects, and contributing to the overall strategic vision of the technology landscape. The remit and focus of the role is to take ownership of software architecture decisions and provide leadership in mentoring and technical development. It’s a broad and exciting role, so we’re looking for someone up for a challenge - if you’re a highly technical Engineer and a strong leader, this is the role for you.
Core responsibilities
- Collaborate closely with other Tech Leads within ATLAS chapter, fostering a cohesive and high-performing engineering organisation.
- Take a leadership role in solutionising complex feature requests, ensuring alignment with the team's architectural decisions and contributing to wider team responsibilities.
- Drive the creation of detailed and strategic documentation for new feature developments, emphasising architectural considerations and alignment with the overall technology strategy.
- Lead and actively participate in advanced testing practices, ensuring that the team maintains a high standard of test coverage and reliability.
- Produce well-architected, efficient, and scalable code, serving as a role model for engineering best practices.
Requirements
About you
- Extensive and demonstrated experience with PHP and Object Oriented Programming principles
- Advanced understanding and application of software engineering principles, including SOLID, DRY, etc.
- Expertise in relational database technologies, data architecture, and data management.
- Proven experience in designing and implementing APIs and services within a service-oriented environment.
- Leadership experience, showcasing the ability to guide teams, make architectural decisions, and drive technical excellence.
- A team player, willing to muck in and help others when needed, a driven personality who asks questions and actively participates in discussions.
- Good written and spoken English for effective communication and presentation.
Bonus skills
- Experience with enterprise-level solutions and large-scale system architectures, contributing to high-level decision-making.
- Familiarity with Scrum methodology or other agile development processes.
- Experience with cloud computing.
- Experience with Docker and containerisation.
- Familiarity with software best practices such as Refactoring, Clean Code, Domain-Driven Design, Test-Driven Development, etc.
Benefits
What we offer
The chance to work alongside a team of hard-working, passionate people in a role where you’ll see the impact of your work everyday. We also offer:
- A dedicated wellbeing team who champion initiatives such as mindfulness, lunch n learns, manager training, mental health first aid training and much more!
- 32 days holiday (plus Bank Holidays). This is made up of 25 days annual leave plus 7 extra company wide days given over Easter, Summer & Christmas
- Life Assurance paid out at 3x annual salary
- Comprehensive wellness benefit provided by AIG Smart Health, which provides a 24/7 virtual GP service, Mental health support, Counselling, and personalised Health Checks
- Private Dental Insurance with Bupa
- Salary sacrifice Pension provided by Scottish Widows
- Enhanced maternity and adoption leave (20 weeks full pay) and paternity (6 weeks full pay) pay
- 5 free return to work maternity coaching sessions, helping you adapt to this new exciting time of life!
- Access to services such as Calm and Bippit (financial wellbeing coaching)
- All of our roles champion flexible working and we are happy to discuss what this means to you
- Social committees that plan team, office and company wide events to bring people together and celebrate success
- Dedicated professional development training budget (CPD courses, upskilling resources, professional memberships etc)
- Volunteer with a charity of your choice for a day each year
- Dog friendly offices!
Interview process
- Phone screen
- 1st stage
- 2nd stage
We are committed to a fair and comfortable recruitment process, so if you require any reasonable adjustments during your application or interview process, please reach out to a member of the team at .
Our commitment is also backed by our partnership with Neurodiversity Consultancy, Lexxic who provide us with training, support and advice.
Arbor Education is an equal opportunities organisation
Our goal is for Arbor to be a workplace which represents, celebrates and supports people from all backgrounds, and which gives them the tools they need to thrive - whatever their ambitions may be so we support and promote diversity and equality, and actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.
Refer a friend
Know someone else who would be good for this role? You can refer a friend, family member or colleague, if they are offered a role with Arbor, we will say thank you with a voucher valued up to £200! Simply email:
Please note:We are unable to provide visa sponsorship at this time.
