Rocketeer Orbit
Senior Technical Lead
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Senior Backend Engineer & Founding Team Member (PHP, Python, AI & Mobile), Rocketeer Orbit
📍 Location
Hybrid: Stafford HQ (1–2 days/week), remote for the rest.
💰 Compensation
- Base salary: £40k–£55k (depending on experience)
- EMI share options (equity)
🏢 About Us
We are Rocketeer Orbit, and we build genuinely useful technology.
Instead of clunky chatbots pretending to help, we deliver automated workflows that take administrative burdens off business owners—letting them focus on growth.
Our Orbit platform is live. Clients are paying. The demand is growing faster than we can keep up, which is why we’re hiring.
🚀 About the Role
You’ll be a senior engineer at the core of our custom client builds, the Orbit platform, and internal tools.
When a project hits a wall, you’ll be the one leading the way through. When new features land, you’ll collaborate with leadership to define why and how it should work.
As a founding-team member, you’ll:
- Shape infrastructure and architecture, not just execute tasks.
- Work across dynamic projects where every solution requires innovation and purpose.
- Choose the best language and tools for the job—and justify why.
👨💻 What You’ll Do
🔧 Core Responsibilities
- Architect & build backend systems for bespoke client work (design to delivery).
- Help design & develop the Orbit platform, our AI-driven automation core.
- Build internal tools to streamline workflows and ensure consistency.
- Engineer production-grade AI systems (Claude, OpenAI APIs, vector databases, retrieval augmentation, human oversight loops)—not just prompt playdough.
- Take AI prototypes to production, enforcing testing rigor and client-ready security.
- Build & ship mobile apps (iOS/Android) through App Store & Google Play approvals.
- Design secure AI walled gardens using Claude for Platforms and Claude Code for rapid development.
- Integrate AI agents with client tools (email, CRM, Slack, etc.).
- Manage Stripe payments and monitor transactions via the Stripe dashboard.
- Run infrastructure on:
- Cloudflare (DNS, security, Turnstile, R2, domains, TLS, SSL).
- AWS (Lightsail, SES for transactional emails).
- Twilio for messaging.
- Enforce data security & GDPR compliance (UK GDPR, encryption, access controls).
- Maintain code integrity & deployments via Git (GitHub).
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🎯 Requirements
We hire for logic, problem-solving, and business impact in code. Depth and breadth matter.
✅ Must-Haves
- Experience shipping & owning complex backend systems in production.
- Fluency in at least one modern backend stack (databases, APIs, queues, testing, deployment).
- AI engineering experience:
- Built production systems using LLMs.
- Knowledge of prompt design, retrieval augmentation, failure modes, and client-facing reliability.
- Breadth of judgment:
- Ability to ** Navigate multiple languages** and advocate for the right tool.
- Push back with technical rationale when decisions (including ours) may be flawed.
- Translation skills:
- Explain automated workflows in plain terms to non-technical stakeholders.
- Founding mindset:
- Not just execution—you want to partner in shaping the future.
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🏗️ The Stack (Must Know)
- Languages: PHP/MySQL, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python.
- Mobile: Swift (iOS), React Native (TypeScript) for cross-platform, App Store & Google Play submissions.
- AI/LLM Tech: Claude for Platforms, Claude Code, OpenAI API, ElevenLabs, vector databases.
- Infrastructure: AWS (Lightsail, SES), Cloudflare (DNS, security, R2), Twilio (messaging).
- Payments: Stripe.
- Security & Compliance: UK GDPR, encryption, data protection.
- Tooling: Git/GitHub.
🔥 Bonus (Nice to Haves)
✔️ Workflow automation (n8n, Make/Integromat/Zapier). ✔️ Enterprise WordPress (custom themes/plugins). ✔️ WooCommerce ecommerce builds. ✔️ Sentry.io for error monitoring. ✔️ SEO fundamentals (a welcome discovery).
🌟 Why Join?
- Impact: Your code powers real business operations for clients in manufacturing & engineering.
- Equity: Share in our growth via EMI options.
- Balance: Stafford HQ 1–2 days/week, work from home the rest.
📩 How to Apply
Skip the generic CV. Show us you build things.
Your cover letter must include:
- Specific projects or workflows you’ve solved.
- How you selected the approach (tools, trade-offs, etc.).
Submit your CV and cover letter through the platform: [Link here]
🤝 Equal Opportunities & AI Transparency
- We are an equal-opportunity employer. What matters is what you can build, not where you came from.
- AI Tool Usage (we use AI to organize reviews, but all hiring decisions are human-led). Prefer no AI review? Just notify us when applying—we’ll handle it manually.
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