Engineering Lead (Application Engineering)

Machete is a fast-growing organisation operating within the online gaming and digital entertainment sector. We are driven by innovation operational excellence and a commitment to delivering safe compliant and enjoyable gaming experiences. As we continue to scale across multiple jurisdictions we are strengthening our internal teams to ensure we remain at the forefront of industry standards and regulatory expectations.

The Engineering Lead Application Engineering is responsible for leading the Application Engineering team overseeing the delivery of customer-facing applications websites and game experiences whilst ensuring high engineering standards predictable delivery and exceptional software quality. Working closely with the Director of Engineering Head of Product and Engineering Lead Platform Engineering this role provides technical leadership people management and delivery oversight ensuring business requirements are transformed into high-quality software solutions.

Tasks

Technical Leadership

• Lead mentor and develop the Application Engineering team.
• Provide technical direction across frontend web and game development.
• Review solution designs code quality and implementation approaches.
• Evaluate technical trade-offs and ensure engineering best practices are consistently applied.
• Act as the senior technical point of contact for customer-facing applications.

Requirements & Stakeholder Management

• Partner with the Head of Product and Product Owners to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
• Refine business requirements into technically deliverable user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Bridge communication between business stakeholders and engineering teams.
• Provide technical guidance during product planning and delivery.

Technical Collaboration

• Work closely with Platform Engineering to design integrated technical solutions.
• Review solution designs and implementation approaches across frontend applications.
• Support engineers in solving complex technical challenges.
• Encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing across engineering teams.

Agile Delivery

• Lead technical planning across sprint planning backlog refinement and release planning.
• Facilitate technical estimation and dependency planning.
• Support Product Owners with technical input into backlog prioritisation using frameworks such as MoSCoW or WSJF.
• Participate in daily stand-ups and Agile ceremonies.
• Identify delivery risks and remove technical blockers.
• Ensure predictable delivery of sprint commitments.

Application Engineering

• Lead the development of customer-facing applications websites and game experiences.
• Promote high-quality maintainable and reusable application architecture.
• Ensure engineering standards are consistently applied across all application development.
• Drive continuous improvement across engineering processes.

Technical Debt

• Embed technical debt management into the teams backlog.
• Balance feature delivery with long-term maintainability and application quality.
• Continuously improve engineering standards and code quality.

Security & Compliance

• Promote secure software development practices.
• Ensure security requirements are incorporated into user stories acceptance criteria and Definition of Done.
• Support secure release processes and compliance initiatives.
• Work closely with Platform Engineering to maintain application security.

Quality Assurance

• Work closely with QA Engineers to define test scenarios and acceptance criteria.
• Ensure requirements are testable before development begins.
• Promote automated testing and quality-first engineering practices.
• Ensure sufficient test coverage across all customer-facing applications.
• Support defect management and continuous improvement of release quality.

Technical Strategy

• Contribute to the engineering roadmap and technical strategy.
• Align engineering decisions with business objectives and product priorities.
• Identify opportunities to improve application performance usability and developer productivity.
• Communicate technical strategy to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

AI & Innovation

• Leverage AI tools to improve software development documentation and engineering productivity.
• Build lightweight prototypes to validate product ideas before development.
• Encourage responsible adoption of AI-assisted development practices.
• Evaluate emerging technologies that improve application delivery.

People Leadership

• Conduct regular one-to-one meetings and performance reviews.
• Support recruitment onboarding and succession planning.
• Coach engineers and promote continuous professional development.
• Foster a collaborative innovative and high-performing engineering culture.

Requirements

• Significant experience in software engineering with frontend web or full-stack expertise.
• Previous experience leading software engineering teams.
• Strong understanding of modern frontend frameworks and application architecture.
• Experience working within Agile delivery environments.
• Excellent communication analytical thinking and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience collaborating with QA and Product teams.
• Experience using Jira Azure DevOps or similar delivery platforms.
• Proven ability to mentor and develop engineering teams.

Desirable

• Experience within gaming digital entertainment or SaaS environments.
• Experience with game development workflows.
• Knowledge of cloud-based application architectures.
• AI-assisted software development.

Benefits

• Health Insurance After Probation
• A competitive and attractive salary
• Annual wellbeing allowance to support your physical and mental health
• Regular social events to foster strong team connections
• Daily lunch allowance when working from the office
• Birthday Gift