Lead Developer

As Lead Developer you will retain day-to-day development responsibilities, but also be involved in the recruitment, management and mentoring of a team of software developers, actively pushing the team to ensure continuous improvement and learning. Through best utilising the talents of the team you shall own and drive technical projects from specification through to commercial deployment. It is intended that the role should foster a culture of organic growth that will be measured in terms of the skills and talent of the team and thereby build a pipeline of resources to meet the future demands for development in the Company.

This is a hands-on role where you will be expected to lead from the front and be responsible for the timely delivery of various high profile projects crucial to the company’s success. Ultimately, this is a senior development position within Common, one which we expect will grow into an even more significant part of defining, managing and producing our technical deliverables in the future.

An exciting opportunity for you to join a growing, profitable company who are working with some amazing clients across a wide range of market sectors. You will have the chance to positively impact the business and shape the future.

Key skills

The role requires the ability to work on various tasks across multiple projects. The key skills that we are looking for you to possess are:

  • Extensive experience in object orientated development.
  • Objective C and complimentary technologies/languages.
  • Fluent with X-Code and/or Eclipse, and related tools and processes.
  • Demonstrable iOS iPhone and iPad experience, with apps published to the app store.
  • Clear and structured use of suitable project/process tools such as code repositories, time tracking, etc.
  • Exceptional analytical aptitude and inherent attention to detail.
  • Ability to learn on the job, continually learning new approaches in developing and implementing app solutions.
  • Excellent self-management and organisational skills to enable productive team-working.
  • Outstanding communication and client facing skills.
  • Past experience in team and project management.
  • Ability to demonstrate a wider involvement and passion for app development and related technologies, and therefore be able to introduce new ideas, approaches and information to Common and the Company’s projects.

Key activities

  • As the Lead Developer, to play a senior role in project delivery, taking responsibility for ensuring apps are delivered to a suitably high standard, to an agreed project timeline and within a defined project process. This is of crucial importance not just to project delivery, but also to ensure continued personal progress and also to lead by example.
  • Act as an Ambassador and represent Common in technical orientated communications and meetings with existing Clients and potential new Clients.
  • Take Lead Developer responsibility for projects which are assigned to junior developers, assisting wherever needed to ensure junior developers are working efficiently and productively on commercial project activity.
  • Assist the Directors of Common in initial recruitment and then take ownership to initiate, motivate, mentor and lead the best junior app engineering talent ["junior" might mean graduate, apprentice, platform-switchers, etc], in both their day-to-day coding practice and in their efficiency of project-delivery working in a development team.
  • Cultivate relationships with appropriate third-party organisations such as higher education, apprenticeship and training bodies, and subsequently to play a role in managing new training opportunities for junior developers.
  • Play a significant role in advancing Common’s development methodology [e.g. systems used, coding practice, etc].
  • Lead the team to work iteratively and using a prototyping approach to progress from design through to fully tested and delivered live systems, working from detailed design assets and documentation to produce robust and technically savvy systems.
  • Develop and document formal testing and evaluation procedures to ensure a culture of ‘Best Practice as Standard’.

Suggested package

The specifics of the package will be discussed with individual candidates and the final terms shall be dependent on the successful candidates experience. However, the following is an indication of the rewards for the role.

  • Competitive Salary.
  • 22 days paid holiday plus statutory bank holidays.
  • £500 per annum personal development allowance for the purchase of personal development materials [e.g. text books, media subscriptions, training seminars etc.]
  • £250 per annum mobile phone allowance.
  • Provision of Apple Mac Book and iPad hardware required for delivery of the role.

Interested?

If you’re interested in what you’ve read and think we’d be interested in you, then stop thinking and get in touch. Send us an email to jobs@commonagency.com.

  • Why work at Common?

    We live and breathe mobile apps. If you want to be involved in the technology which is at the forefront of the technical revolution, don’t just go to a digital agency, come to a mobile specialist.

    We have agency in our domain name but we’re not a standard agency. Mobile is about a journey through the lifetime of a digital product. We establish great relationships with our clients and go on the journey with them.

    We’re bound to say this but we think it’s true… we’re a nice bunch to work with. Of course we have deadlines, of course we have client demands and all that other ‘delivery’ stuff too, but we’re a small focussed team and we get the job done together.

    We’re not perfect… but that’s an opportunity for the right people to have a big impact. If you want room to be someone in a team rather than no-one then step up.