Lead Software Engineer

About ZURU

ZURU is dedicated to revolutionising industries by pushing the boundaries of innovation and automation. Operating through three main pillars—ZURU Toys, ZURU Tech, and ZURU Edge—the company creates globally recognised and award-winning brands in toys and consumer goods. Founded in 2003 by entrepreneurial brothers Nick and Mat Mowbray, ZURU has expanded to over 5000 team members across more than 30 countries.

Position Overview

The Lead Software Engineer will be responsible for shaping the way ZURU develops internal software platforms and applications. This role involves establishing the engineering function for the group’s internal tools, including the developer platform, forward deployed engineering teams, and reliability & cloud infrastructure. The lead ensures both the foundation (the "road") and the usage (the "traffic") are aligned, creating an environment where internal teams confidently adopt and build upon the provided platforms.

Responsibilities

• Deliver the "Paved Path" by shipping CI/CD pipelines, deployment scaffolding, observability tools, and guardrails as a product within repositories rather than just documentation, focusing on adoption across teams.
• Establish and run forward deployed engineering teams embedded within business units who validate, build, and maintain features from conception through graduation.
• Manage the internal application portfolio by deciding which applications should be supported, integrated into the packaged estate, or retired, with clear ownership and retirement plans for each.
• Oversee reliability and cloud operations including foundational runtime systems, monitoring layers, and on-call rotations to support ongoing maintenance beyond initial developers.
• Integrate automated standards and compliance checks directly into workflows to ensure rules are enforced and verifiable on every code change.
• Serve as a liaison between the engineering groups building applications and the enterprise technology teams operating the production environment, ensuring smooth handoffs and collaboration.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is an experienced engineering leader with a track record of building internal software tools widely adopted by employees, managing developer experience platforms, and establishing engineering teams from scratch. They should emphasize quality output over velocity and have experience owning production reliability for systems they did not originally create.

Life at ZURU

ZURU fosters a high-performance culture committed to excellence and continuous learning, surrounded by ambitious and talented colleagues. The company offers a dynamic environment with significant growth opportunities and encourages employees to own their career development while enjoying a collaborative and fun workplace.

What We Offer

• A growth-oriented culture
• Inclusive health benefits
• Opportunities to work globally
• A team of top-tier professionals
• Attractive compensation packages
• Complimentary fresh fruit, coffee, and snacks