Lead Engineer

Lead Android Engineer (Kotlin) Location: Leeds / HybridWe’re looking for an experienced Lead Android Engineer who combines deep hands-on Kotlin expertise with the ability to lead technical direction, influence clients and guide multidisciplinary engineering teams.You’ll be working on complex digital engineering projects where the problems aren’t always straightforward, including applications that need to operate reliably in disconnected, offline or high-latency environments.This is a role for someone who wants to remain close to the technology, but can also step back and see the bigger picture: shaping architecture, leading engineers, influencing technical decisions and helping clients get to the right outcome.What you’ll be doingTaking technical ownership of projects, products or engineering workstreams from discovery and design through to productionLeading and supporting multidisciplinary engineering teams, providing clear technical direction and helping engineers perform at their bestBuilding high-quality applications using Kotlin, with a particular focus on AndroidWorking with Kotlin Multiplatform and Compose Multiplatform to develop shared solutions across platformsDeveloping across Android and desktop, making informed decisions about shared business logic versus platform-specific implementationsDesigning solutions that can operate reliably without consistent connectivity and synchronise effectively when connectivity is restoredSolving challenging engineering problems associated with offline, disconnected and high-latency environmentsLeading technical design and architectural decision-making, balancing technical quality with client and business requirementsWorking directly with clients and senior stakeholders to understand their challenges, shape solutions and communicate technical decisions clearlyChallenging requirements where appropriate and helping clients understand the trade-offs and implications of different approachesWorking closely with Product, Delivery and other technical disciplines to ensure solutions are designed and delivered effectivelyEstablishing and maintaining strong CI/CD pipelines, Gradle configurations and automated testing practicesChampioning engineering standards, good development practices and continuous improvement across teamsMentoring and coaching engineers, supporting their technical development and helping create a strong engineering cultureIdentifying opportunities to add value beyond the immediate project, contributing to the wider client relationship and consultancy offeringWhat we’re looking forYou’ll ideally have:Strong commercial experience developing with KotlinSignificant Android development experienceHands-on experience with Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP)Experience with Compose MultiplatformExperience developing applications across Android and desktop platformsA strong understanding of shared business logic and platform-specific implementationsExperience designing applications that need to work reliably in offline, disconnected or high-latency environmentsStrong knowledge of CI/CD, Gradle and automated testingPrevious experience leading a team, technical workstream, project or significant engineering initiativeStrong experience contributing to and **driving technical architecture and design decisions**Excellent communication skills and confidence working directly with clients and senior technical and non-technical stakeholdersExperience mentoring, coaching and technically guiding other engineersThe ability to provide technical leadership without losing sight of the wider delivery and commercial objectivesA genuine consultancy mindset, with the confidence to operate in ambiguous and complex client environmentsCommercial awareness and an understanding of how engineering decisions can contribute to wider client outcomes and future opportunitiesThe important bit… This isn't simply a Senior Android Engineer with a Lead title.We’re looking for someone who can take ownership of the technical direction, bring engineers with them and act as a trusted technical partner to the client.You might be deep in Kotlin and Compose one minute, solving how an application should synchronise data in a disconnected environment, and the next be working with a client CTO to explain the architectural trade-offs or helping an engineer develop their approach to a complex problem.You’ll be expected to lead from the front, technically credible enough to get into the code when required, but experienced enough to know when the bigger challenge is architecture, communication, delivery or client alignment.We’re looking for someone who can ask:“What is the right solution for the client?” not simply “What have they asked us to build?"If you're an experienced Android Engineer ready to take genuine technical leadership, enjoy solving complex problems and want to work directly with clients and multidisciplinary teams, we’d love to hear from you.