Senior Full Stack Engineer

👥 About the Engineering Team

At ZOE, we use advanced science and technology to transform health—and our Engineering team sits at the heart of that mission. We are a distributed team of around 40 engineers across the UK and EU who thrive on solving complex challenges together.

We are a highly cross-functional group, bringing together front-end, back-end, mobile, machine learning, and data expertise. We partner closely with Product, Design, and Science to build truly impactful member experiences.

We value curiosity, openness, and empowerment
. We encourage continuous learning, sharing ideas, and shaping how we work—whether through experimenting with new technology or improving team efficiency.

We’re proud of our team’s diversity (40% female, 60% male) and believe that varied backgrounds, cultures, and lived experiences make us stronger, more creative, and better equipped to serve our global community.

We’re looking for a Product-First Engineer who has mastered the backend but is hungry to own the entire user journey:

• Full-Stack Agency: While your core strength might be in Kotlin or Python
  , you’re a "problem solver first." You’ll move across the stack into our React Native codebase whenever it’s the shortest path to delivering user value.

• Ship Fast, Learn Faster: You’ll join a team that prizes high technical velocity. We ship small changes often (several times a day) and use short feedback loops to keep us on track.

• Scale with
  
  Purpose:
  
  From architecting robust microservices on GCP to leveraging AI-augmented tools, your work directly impacts the health of millions. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a rising senior, you’ll find an environment that rewards initiative and prioritises the perfect user experience over perfect code.

• Backend: Kotlin / Spring Boot, Python / FastAPI & Django

• Frontend: React Native

• Data & Infrastructure: GCP, Kubernetes, Terraform, dbt, Big Query, Airflow

• Tools: Google Pub/Sub, Grafana, Firebase Auth

• CI/CD: ArgoCD, Git Hub Actions

• Own the Outcome: Take initiative to lead features end-to-end and improve the user experience by transcending code boundaries. You move with purpose across the stack to ensure the right problem is solved, regardless of who "owns" the repository.

• Put the User Experience First: Relentlessly optimise for user experience to reduce their friction, focusing on the bottlenecks they actually feel over perfect code and championing the non-functional requirements. Attention to detail in perceived performance, protecting user privacy, and reliable data accuracy compound into an exceptional user experience.

• Champion KISS: Fight complexity by favouring concrete, simple implementations today (YAGNI). Aggressively delete deprecated code and resist bespoke builds when off-the-shelf solutions suffice.

• Ship Small & Often: Maintain momentum by releasing several times a day. Use short feedback loops and feature flags to surface integration issues early and avoid the risk of long-lived branches.

• Partner on the "Why": Collaborate with Product and Science to break down complex problems. Question specifications that don't serve the outcome and participate in PRDs to ensure our systems stay easy to change.

• A Product-Minded Engineer: You have deep empathy for the user and the curiosity to ask "should we build this?" before "how?" You prioritise user value over technical perfection.

• A Boundary-Crosser: You are a backend expert (Kotlin, Python, or Java) who isn't afraid to dive into React Native or data pipelines to get a feature over the line. "Not my domain" isn't in your vocabulary.

• Pragmatic & Simple: You have an allergic reaction to over-engineering. You favour simple, maintainable solutions and treat code deletion as a badge of honour.

• An Autonomous Builder: You thrive in ambiguity and move with purpose. You don't wait for a paved path; you build it, favouring concrete implementation over presumed requirements (YAGNI).

• A High-Craft Collaborator: You lead through RFCs and mentorship, elevating the team’s technical bar while obsessively automating the "busywork" to stay focused on…