Technical Lead - Full Stack Applications

We're seeking an active Technical Lead to guide a small, high-impact engineering team supporting a fast growing and dynamic Wickes Solar business. In this role, you will dedicate most of your time to designing and writing code, while simultaneously taking ownership of the team's technical strategy, delivery milestones, and daily interactions with partners and stakeholders.

You will be part of a larger Wickes technology team, driving standard technology practices while leading the progressive transition of the Wickes Solar tech estate into the broader Wickes tech ecosystem at the right strategic milestones.

You'll be based out of Watford with a blend of home working and also with regular travel to Castleford (anticipated to be 2-3 days a week).

What you'll be doing: 

Technical Leadership & Hands-On Development

• Own the technical direction of our applications, making practical design decisions appropriate for the scope and size of the business.

• Evaluate and develop the migration path for the Wickes Solar tech stack, ensuring a seamless integration into the core Wickes tech ecosystem without disrupting ongoing business operations.

• Remain hands-on: design, develop, and maintain scalable, high-performance full-stack applications using .NET (C#, ASP.NET, .NET Core) and modern JavaScript frameworks.

• Manage and optimise cloud services (deployment, monitoring, scaling, cost, and security) to ensure reliability and performance.

• Own the optimisation and design of database schema, servers, pipelines and transformations.

• Lead troubleshooting and resolution of production issues, including incident communication with affected partners.

• Champion the effective use of AI-assisted development tools to accelerate delivery without compromising quality.

Team Leadership

• Lead and grow a small team of engineers through code reviews, pairing, and technical coaching.

• Plan and prioritise the team's work; break down roadmap items into well-scoped, deliverable increments.

• Balance speed of delivery against technical debt, and make (and defend) the trade-off decisions.

• Foster a culture of ownership, partnership, experimentation, and engineering excellence within the team.

Stakeholder Management

• Act as the primary technical point of contact for our enterprise partners.

• Partner with group technology leadership to align platform architecture, governance and delivery pipelines, ensuring readiness for ecosystem convergence when appropriate.

• Manage stakeholder expectations: communicate progress, risks, dependencies, and delays early and clearly.

• Translate partner requirements into technical roadmaps and collaborate on scope and timeline commitments.

• Own delivery commitments end-to-end and be accountable for meeting them.

What we're looking for: 

To be successful in the role, we'd expect that you'll have 7+ years of software development experience, with a demonstrated experience of leading software development. As well as this you'll have:

• Hands-on experience in platform integration, system consolidation or migrating standalone software estates into larger enterprise technology environments.

• Proficiency in the .NET ecosystem: C#, .NET Core, ASP.NET.

• Strong front-end skills: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and at least one modern framework (React, Angular, or Vue.js).

• Experience designing, deploying, and operating applications on Microsoft Azure.

• Solid experience with relational databases (SQL Server, MySQL/PostgreSQL), including schema design and performance tuning.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain technical topics to non-technical stakeholders.

• Strong problem-solving skills and a track record of delivering reliable, scalable software.

Nice to Have

• Prior experience managing platform transitions or technical convergence following business unit expansion or acquisition.

• Working knowledge of Python, particularly for scripting, automation, or AI/ML-related work.

• Practical use of AI-assisted development tools, and informed opinions on how to use them well in a team setting.

• Familiarity with other cloud platforms such as AWS or GCP, especially in multi-cloud or partner-integration scenarios.

• Knowledge of retail business processes and domain concepts (e.g., inventory, order management, or supply chain).

• Experience integrating LLM APIs (Azure OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) into production applications.

• Prior experience in a small team or startup environment where you wore multiple hats.

• Familiarity with enterprise environments: security reviews, compliance requirements, SLAs, and formal change management.

What's in it for you?

We’re a team. And teams work best together when they know and respect one another. Listen and learn from one another. So we offer a hybrid working model. Giving you the support you need to do well at work, and the flexibility to make life work for you. 

We’ll also equip you with a benefits package that includes:

A competitive package which includes an annual bonus and car allowance

25 Days holiday plus bank holidays

Enhanced contributory Pension and Life Assurance

We offer hybrid flexible working

Save-as-you-earn scheme

Colleague discount 

Discount platform including savings and cash back at numerous retailers, savings on gym membership, cycle to work scheme

Our widely recognised wellbeing strategy is something we’re proud of at Wickes. As part of this, we offer a range of health and wellbeing benefits and support, including an Employee Assistance Programme, financial education & loans, and access to parental, menopause, and fertility support.

About Us: 

We are a multi-channel retailer operating in the home improvement market. With 40 years in industry, we now generate revenue in excess of £1.6Bn across 229 stores delivered by 8,000+ colleagues.

We care for our people - and we look out for one another. Everyone has a voice. We’re ambitious, but we’re inclusive, supportive and down-to-earth with it. Anyone can build on their talent and expect our support to get on.