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Team Lead – Core Engineering Role (Cambridge)
Secondmind is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to fair, equitable treatment throughout the recruitment process and beyond. We actively champion applications from all backgrounds because we believe the best work happens when people can bring their authentic, original, and best selves to the team.*
If you require accommodation or assistance throughout the interview process due to a disability, please contact hr@secondmind.ai — we are happy to help.
About Secondmind
Secondmind builds data-efficient Engineering AI software that helps teams make better design and performance optimisation decisions faster.
Our product reduces simulation and testing requirements without compromising quality, accelerating development and enabling more sustainable engineering teams.
Our positive working culture is founded on:
- A collaborative environment that encourages teamwork and innovation
- Open communication and cross-functional collaboration, enabling diverse teams to solve complex challenges
- A flexible workplace plan, supporting hybrid/adaptable schedules for balanced work-life harmony
We prioritise personal and professional growth, offering development opportunities like training and mentorship.
Our Achievements
Founded in 2016, backed by investors such as Mazda Motor Corporation, Amadeus Capital, Atlantic Bridge, and Cambridge Innovation Capital, we have been recognized as:
- Barclays Eagle Labs "Ones to Watch AI:100" (2024)
- Winner: Automotive Testing Technology International – "Alternative Powertrain Test Innovation of the Year" (2024)
- Tech Nation "Future Fifty" scale-up program participant
- Featured by Bloomberg as one of the UK’s 25 Startups to Watch (2024)
About the Role
You’ll play a critical part in our dynamic, agile team, shaping our cloud-based SaaS products through design, implementation, and maintenance.
As the Team Lead (Core Engineering), you’ll combine deep technical expertise with leadership and mentorship, elevating our engineering discipline. This role suits someone who: ✔ Thrives in a fast-paced, collaborative environment ✔ Enjoys building robust, scalable software ✔ Leads with humility and vision to drive engineering excellence
Key Responsibilities
1. People Leadership & Management
- Squad Leadership: Steer cross-functional projects, ensuring smarter workflows and strong team alignment.
- Line Management: Oversee software engineers with 1:1s, performance reviews, and career progression discussions.
- Coaching & Mentoring: Nurture team growth through technical mentorship and skill development.
- Team Culture: Foster a psychologically safe, inclusive, and collaborative environment aligned with Secondmind’s core values.
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2. Discipline Leadership & Engineering Practices
- Modernise Engineering Standards: Champion industry-best practices, including code quality, testing automation, cost efficiency, and cloud security.
- Cloud Architecture Leadership: Guide the design and governance of production-grade GCP-based solutions, ensuring scalability and security.
- Critical Code Ownership: Maintain high standards in production SaaS software, balancing speed, quality, and robustness.
3. Project Delivery & Collaboration
- Hybrid Project Leadership: Deliver complex initiatives while managing sprint deadlines in hybrid office/remote settings.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Part_work closely with Product Management to translate roadmaps into impactful engineering solutions.
- Champion Iteration: Turn ambiguous requirements into deliverable increments without losing sight of core goals.
Experience & Qualifications
Essential
✅ 10+ years’ experience as a software engineer, architect, or discipline lead in a commercial SaaS/cloud environment. ✅ Strong agile leadership, including:
- Line management (mentoring engineers of all levels)
- Team feedback and growth (track records preferred) ✅ Demonstrated ability to:
- Deliver under pressure while upholding sustainable engineering practices
- Balance physics-first validation with fast ML-driven iteration ✅ Proven communication skills: drive technical discussions effectively across disciplines. ✅ Passion for mentorship: inspire teams to raise their bar through actionable, inclusive feedback.
Nice-to-Have
- Experience in automotive/physics simulation domains.
- Metrics-driven product cost optimisation mindset.
Our Technical Stack
We value strong fundamentals, not vanilla tool familiarities:
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Core Tech
- Backend: Python (ML-heavy workloads)
- Frontend/SaaS UI: TypeScript & React
Infrastructure
- Cloud: Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- Containers: Docker, Kubernetes
- CI/CD: Jenkins, GitHub Actions
DevOps/Tooling
- Configuration: Terraform
- Database: PostgreSQL, Google Cloud Storage
Observability
- Metrics & Log Level: ELK Stack, Prometheus, Grafana
What Will Set You Apart?
Technical Intelligence
- Equally comfortable tackling statistical edge cases or diagnosing cross-functional codebases.
- Understand trade-offs between sliced implementations, batch processing, and functional purity.
Leadership Mindset
- Hold proper standards around security, documentation, and cost efficiency—but don’t let perfectionism become procurement.
- Bridge gaps when lightweight solutions could move deadlines up months, if we compromise quality principled gaps.
Our Culture & Values
At Secondmind, our culture is built on collaborative intelligence and trust. We seek leaders who:
- Promote psychological safety by questioning ideas, not people.
- When to say "this is enough" (e.g., solving the core problem before devising the most elegant infeasible implementation).
- Advocate engineering integrity—fighting for maintainable solutions while remaining pragmatic.
Core Values
We stand for:
🔹 Delight every customer (Customers) 🔹 No bar too high (Excellence) 🔹 Give more than take (Sustainability) 🔹 Make the impossible possible (Innovation) 🔹 Celebrate differences, act as one (Inclusion)
Benefits
We value your joy, adaptability, impact, and work-life balance. Our benefits include:
Work-Life Harmony
💼 30 days’ leave (plus 5 public holidays) ⏰ TGIF (The Guidance for Innovation Friday): Half-days monthly
Career & Personal Growth
📚 Boston Career Institute partnership for IT courses 🚀 Stock options (where applicable)
Wellness & Community
🏋️ Free 24/7 on-site gym 🌿 Cambridge Botanic Garden membership 🍕 Team lunches, socials, and gaming� unterstützos 💎 Employee assistance (mental & physical wellness) 💲 Enhanced family leave, life assurance (4x salary)
Interested? We’d love to hear from you! Apply here.
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