Senior Full Stack Developer / Head of Engineering
Job description
Original text imported from Reed
Location: Edinburgh (Office-based preferred, hybrid considered)
Employment Type: Full Time
Salary:£120,000 per annum
Department: Technology / Systems Development
Reports To: Director
Role Overview
We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Full Stack Developer / Head of Engineering to lead the design, development, and long-term management of our technology platforms. This role will take primary responsibility for the ongoing build and operation of our client portal, which is being developed in Java, alongside the supporting infrastructure that underpins our operations.
This is the most senior technical role within the organisation. The successful candidate will be responsible not only for hands-on development, but also for defining system architecture, establishing development standards, and building the wider technology team over time, including DevOps and QA functions.
The position carries significant ownership and influence. Systems developed in this role will directly support core business operations including customer account management, reporting, warehouse operations, billing, and integration across multiple internal and third-party platforms.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership & Team Development
- Act as the senior technical authority within the organisation
- Define and implement the long-term technology architecture
- Recruit, build, and manage the technology team, including:
- DevOps engineers
- QA / testing specialists
- Additional developers as required
- Establish development standards, workflows, and best practices
- Oversee system reliability, security, and scalability
- Provide technical leadership to support business growth
Core Development
- Lead the design and development of the company’s client portal using Java
- Build secure, scalable backend systems and APIs
- Develop and maintain front-end interfaces for customers and internal teams
- Write high-quality, production-grade code
- Troubleshoot and resolve complex system issues
- Ensure systems are robust, maintainable, and scalable
Systems Integration
- Integrate the client portal with key operational systems, including:
- Warehouse management systems (e.g. Vapour)
- Accounting platforms (e.g. Xero)
- CRM systems (e.g. HubSpot)
- Billing and payment systems
- Reporting and analytics tools
- Design and maintain data pipelines across systems
- Ensure data accuracy, reliability, and consistency
Infrastructure & Platform Ownership
- Design and manage system infrastructure
- Implement monitoring, logging, and performance optimisation
- Establish CI/CD pipelines and deployment processes
- Manage cloud or server environments
- Ensure system security and access controls
- Plan for scalability as the business grows
Automation & Operational Efficiency
- Identify and implement opportunities to automate manual workflows
- Improve operational efficiency through software solutions
- Build internal tools to support staff and customers
- Support the transition from spreadsheet-based workflows to integrated systems
Required Technical Skills
Core Languages
- JavaScript
- SQL
- HTML / CSS
Frameworks & Technologies
- Spring Boot (or equivalent Java framework)
- REST API development
- Front-end frameworks (React, Angular, or Vue)
- Database systems (PostgreSQL, MySQL, or similar)
- Version control (Git)
Infrastructure
- Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or similar)
- Containerisation tools (Docker or similar)
- CI/CD pipelines
- Linux server environments
Desirable Experience
- Experience building large-scale client portals or SaaS platforms
- Experience designing system architecture from the ground up
- Experience hiring and managing engineering teams
- Experience integrating multiple business systems
- Experience working with financial, logistics, inventory, or asset management systems
- Experience handling large operational datasets
- Experience in high-growth or scaling businesses
Personal Attributes
- Strong leadership capability
- High ownership mindset
- Commercial awareness
- Structured and methodical approach to problem solving
- Calm under operational pressure
- Able to balance technical quality with delivery speed
- Comfortable working directly with senior management
Typical Projects in This Role
Examples of work the successful candidate will be responsible for:
- Leading the full development of the client portal
- Designing the long-term system architecture
- Building automated billing and invoicing workflows
- Integrating warehouse and inventory systems into the portal
- Creating reporting dashboards for customers
- Establishing secure authentication and access controls
- Scaling systems to support business growth
- Recruiting and building the internal technology team
Strategic Importance of the Role
This role is central to the company’s long-term operational capability. The systems developed will support:
- Thousands of customer accounts
- Warehouse and inventory management
- Billing and invoicing
- Portfolio reporting
- Operational automation
- Data integration across multiple businesses
The successful candidate will play a key role in building the technical infrastructure required to support the next phase of business growth.
Key skills
AI-extracted from the job advert
Application advice
5 AI-generated recommendations to maximise your chances.
⭐ Position your Java expertise prominently as this is the core technology for their client portal development
🏗️ Emphasise your system architecture experience, particularly with enterprise integrations (Xero, HubSpot, warehouse systems)
👥 Highlight your team building and technical leadership experience as you'll be recruiting DevOps and QA specialists
🔧 Showcase specific examples of CI/CD pipeline implementation and infrastructure management
📊 Quantify your impact: 'Led 8-person dev team, reduced deployment time by 60%, integrated 5 third-party systems'
Suggested CV bullets
3 bullets our AI drafted for this specific advert, mirroring its ATS keywords.
Add these 3 bullets under your most recent experience:
- •Architected Java-based client portal serving 2,400+ users, integrating Xero accounting and HubSpot CRM with 99.8% uptime
- •Built and led 6-person engineering team including 2 DevOps specialists, reducing deployment time from 4 hours to 15 minutes via CI/CD automation
- •Designed data pipeline architecture connecting 5 third-party systems, eliminating 80% of manual spreadsheet workflows and improving data accuracy to 99.2%
Free to copy — tailoring requires a 30-sec CV upload.
Your cover letter is ready
We've drafted a cover letter for Volpe & Castello. Preview the opening, then unlock the full personalised version.
Letter preview — tailored to Volpe & Castello
Dear Hiring Manager,
Volpe & Castello's Head of Engineering position represents exactly the technical leadership challenge I'm seeking — building Java-based client portals whilst establishing enterprise integrations with Xero, HubSpot, and warehouse management systems. My background combines hands-on full stack development with proven experience recruiting and leading DevOps and QA teams.
My background in system architecture and team building has prepared me to take ownership of your technology transformation, from establishing CI/CD pipelines to designing scalable data integration across multiple platforms. I'm particularly drawn to the opportunity to transition operations from spreadsheet-based workflows to integrated systems.
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Interview questions
10 questions generated from this advert.
Technical
- ›How would you architect a client portal that integrates with Xero, HubSpot, and warehouse management systems?
- ›Describe your approach to building CI/CD pipelines for a Java-based application
- ›How would you design data pipelines to ensure consistency across multiple integrated systems?
- ›What monitoring and logging strategies would you implement for a business-critical client portal?
- ›How would you approach migrating from spreadsheet-based workflows to integrated systems?
Behavioural
- ›Tell me about a time you had to build a technology team from scratch
- ›Describe a situation where you had to make critical architectural decisions under pressure
- ›How have you handled conflicting priorities between development speed and system reliability?
- ›Tell me about a time you had to influence stakeholders on technical decisions
- ›Describe your experience mentoring junior developers and establishing coding standards
STAR answer examples
Model answers using the Situation-Task-Action-Result framework. Adapt to your own experience.
Tell me about a time you had to build a technology team from scratch
Describe a situation where you had to make critical architectural decisions under pressure