Lead Mobile Engineer - Android

About the Company Trade Me is one of New Zealand's largest mobile applications, with one in three Kiwis having it installed on their phones. We pride ourselves on our commitment to providing a seamless user experience and fostering innovation within our teams. About the Role As a Lead Software Engineer, you will play a crucial role in defining the technical and strategic direction of our mobile experience. You will work closely with your Product Owner to advance our organizational objectives, while also collaborating with Engineering Managers to promote the adoption of engineering best practices. Your leadership, technical expertise, and dedication to engineering excellence will be essential for the success of your team. In this role, you will embody the qualities of a skilled engineer and will be expected to mentor others in developing these same qualities. You will provide training, offer advice, and be readily available to support your colleagues. Most importantly, you will help cultivate a culture of trust and collaboration within the team and across the organization to enhance team effectiveness and morale. What You Can Expect from This Role - Take on technical leadership and ownership by advocating for the implementation and success of engineering strategic initiatives, ensuring that your team's solutions are aligned with our overall technical vision and objectives. - Collaborate with relevant technical leaders to articulate complex technical and architectural designs while developing and executing a technical roadmap for your platform. - Contribute to Trade Me’s light-weight governance process by drafting and implementing Guardrails, Guidelines, Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), and Tech Radar. - Work with Development Managers to mentor engineers in their career development, providing constructive feedback on their skills and progress. - Actively participate in engineering and mobile guild meetings to share knowledge and learn from peers, fostering a culture of engineering excellence. - Advocate for and manage Technical Debt within your squad and collaborate with the Product Owner to prioritize remediation plans. - Implement, maintain, and drive the remediation plans of your platform's Service Level Objectives (SLOs). What You Will Bring to Our Team - Extensive experience in designing and building native Android applications, ideally with experience in senior or lead roles. - Strong expertise in Android native development, including Kotlin, Jetpack, and Compose. Familiarity with iOS native development (Swift/SwiftUI) is a plus. - Experience with Agile software development methodologies is preferred but not mandatory. - Proven experience in leading or mentoring other engineers. - Familiarity with CI/CD for mobile, app observability, or backend integration patterns. - A strong track record of shipping and maintaining large-scale consumer applications. - Deep understanding of software development principles, architecture, design patterns, and modern technologies. - Excellent communication and mentoring skills, with experience supporting developers in their technical career growth. Benefits At Trade Me, we believe in providing a supportive and enjoyable work environment. Here are some of the benefits you can expect: - Flexibility: We understand that flexibility means different things to different people. We support you in finding what works best for you, including a home office setup and utilities allowance. We value team connection and meet in person on Mondays and at least one additional day each week. - Leave: We offer generous leave policies, including five days of wellness leave each year and ten days of sick leave from day one. - Social Opportunities: We enjoy coming together to celebrate our successes, with company-paid lunches on payday, regular Friday gatherings, annual Trade Me awards, and more. - Learning and Growth: We are committed to your continuous development, offering on-the-job learning, formal training, and mentoring from day one. Our Commitment to Diversity We strongly believe that diversity drives progress. To address existing inequalities for women in technical leadership roles, we will give preference to women when filling this position. The successful candidate must meet the core criteria of the role, and we will also consider skills, experience, future potential, and the unique contributions you can bring to Trade Me. Trade Me is an INZ accredited employer. We truly value diversity and embrace a flexible workplace where everyone is encouraged to reach their full potential.