Lead Back-end Engineer

We Are Redefining How People Approach Their Health

ZOE is the science and nutrition company leading a movement to transform the health of millions.

We exist because the food we eat is making us sick. Most of what we are taught about food is wrong.

ZOE runs the world’s largest nutrition science study to find scientifically proven solutions.

Our randomised controlled trial of ZOE proves that if you eat the right food for your body, you can feel healthier in weeks and be on track for more healthy years.

ZOE can change the way you eat, feel, and live. We host world-leading scientists on our podcast and bring proven science to your plate with Daily30+, our 30+ plant supplement.

Over 100,000 people rely on ZOE Membership, our personalised nutrition program, to make smarter food choices. ZOE Membership turns complex science into clear step-by-step actions, helping you improve your health with every meal.

ZOE means life — and you can change your life with food.

Visit our career page and become a ZOEntist 🚀

🚀 The Role

As a Lead Back-end Engineer, you’ll be part of a dynamic, distributed team of six software engineers led by a Senior Engineering Manager. This is an individual contributor role, where you’ll take on technical leadership within our cross-functional team.

You’ll collaborate closely with product managers, designers, data scientists, and marketing experts to shape the future of our product. Your focus will be on designing and building systems in critical areas such as data collection, account management, and permission management. By solving complex problems and delivering impactful solutions quickly, you’ll play a key role in advancing our mission.

📚 Our Cutting-Edge Stack:

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

- Frontend: TypeScript, React Native, Next.js

- CI/CD: ArgoCD, GitHub Actions

- Infrastructure: GCP, Kubernetes, Terraform

- Data: dbt, BigQuery, Airflow

🎯 What You’ll Be Doing

• Collaborate with product managers, designers, and marketing teams to deliver meaningful solutions.
• Design and run experiments to quickly validate ideas using real user feedback.
• Break down complex, ambiguous problems into simpler parts, enabling the team to deliver incrementally and drive fast impact.
• Balance speed and quality by prioritising solutions that provide immediate value while ensuring long-term scalability.
• Build maintainable, extensible, and testable solutions that follow engineering best practices.
• Mentor and support teammates, helping them grow their skills while positively shaping team processes and impact.
• Solve backend challenges in close collaboration with product managers and UX designers to deliver a best-in-class customer experience.
• Write high-quality code across our microservices and data pipelines.
• Ship to production frequently, aiming for daily releases or faster.

🌟 We think you would be great if you…

• 7+ years of hands-on back-end development experience, including leading technical decisions, mentoring engineers, and improving system architecture.
• Pragmatic mindset, championing simple and elegant solutions over unnecessary complexity, and knowing when to evolve designs for the future.
• High standards for technical quality and developer experience, enabling the team to move quickly without compromising on excellence.
• Adaptable in fast-paced environments, comfortable navigating challenges and driving progress under changing conditions.
• Confident working with ambiguity, building iteratively in short feedback loops to reach the best outcomes.
• Positive and collaborative, bringing energy, joy, and strong relationships to the team while contributing to meaningful work.

✨ Our Hiring Journey

• 👋 Stage 1: Talent Acquisition Interview | 45 mins

A friendly conversation with a member of our Talent team to learn about your background, career goals, and motivations for joining ZOE. This is also a great chance to ask questions about the role, team, or culture.

• 🧠 Stage 2: Hiring Manager Interview | 45 mins

A focused discussion with the Hiring Manager where we’ll explore your experience as a senior individual contributor, the impact you’ve made on technical decisions, and how you’ve influenced teams and projects in the past.

• 🧪 Stage 3: Final Interview Loop

The final stage includes three sessions designed to assess your coding skills, system design expertise, and how you collaborate and embody ZOE’s values. These are typically spread over 2–3 days, but we’re happy to combine them depending on scheduling needs.

You’ll need to progress successfully through each step to move forward. We’ll keep you updated at every stage.

💻 Coding Interview | 60 mins

You’ll work through a technical problem in a collaborative setting. We’re looking to understand your coding ability, problem-solving approach, and how you write clean, maintainable, and efficient code.

🛠️ System Design Interview | 60 mins

We’ll present a high-level problem and ask you to design a scalable, maintainable, and efficient system. This session explores your architectural thinking, technical depth, and ability to make trade-offs in real-world scenarios.

💬 Values & Collaboration Interview | 45 mins

A conversation focused on how you collaborate with cross-functional partners, influence technical direction, and embody ZOE’s values. We’ll explore how you contribute to building an inclusive, high-performing team culture as a senior IC.

• 🎉 Offer Stage

If everything aligns, we’ll move quickly to extend an offer and support you through your decision-making process.

The experience, skills, and attributes listed above reflect what we believe will contribute to success in this role. If you're passionate about ZOE and the opportunity, but don't meet 100% of the criteria, we still encourage you to apply. We are committed to supporting growth and are happy to offer up-skilling opportunities where possible.

Remote Philosophy

ZOE is a remote-first company, meaning remote work isn’t just an option — it’s how we work best. We are intentional about building a distributed, high-performing team where collaboration, trust, and flexibility thrive.

We design our workflows around asynchronous communication and shared documentation to support autonomy, focus, and cross-timezone collaboration. While our teams work independently, connection and teamwork remain central to how we operate — through regular rituals, meaningful virtual interactions, and in-person gatherings every quarter. These include team offsites and a yearly company-wide retreat to build relationships, spark creativity, and have fun together.

Being remote-first also means we value outcomes over hours and trust our team members to manage their work in a way that suits their unique rhythm and responsibilities. This approach allows us to support a truly flexible work environment, while staying aligned with our mission and values.

At ZOE, working remotely doesn’t mean working alone — it means being empowered, supported, and connected, wherever you are.

Compensation Philosophy

We are committed to offering competitive and equitable compensation that reflects the value of each role and aligns with regional labor market standards. Our approach to compensation goes beyond just base salary — we offer a comprehensive package that includes base pay and stock options, ensuring that every team member is rewarded for their contributions to the company’s growth and success.

We believe that building a thriving team requires not only providing fair and competitive compensation but also fostering an environment where success is shared collectively. Our total compensation package is designed to support the well-being of our employees, recognise their individual contributions, and empower them to grow alongside ZOE.

Benefits & Perks

We understand the significant role our benefits play in motivating, inspiring and safeguarding our employees' well-being. Our benefits strategy is thoughtfully designed to echo our mission and values, recognising the diverse needs arising from different life stages of our ZOEntists.

Our approach to benefits takes an inclusive and flexible view of both personal and professional growth. From competitive health insurance and wellness packages to inclusive parental policies, building connection, and tailored professional development programs, we've got you covered.

At ZOE, we continue to build a benefits package that invests in our team members’ long-term personal and professional growth and wellbeing, adding to this list as it evolves.

Equal opportunities

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive team where every individual can bring their authentic self to work. We believe that this is key to our success and are dedicated to positively impacting the tech industry. As part of our commitment to equal opportunities, we encourage candidates from underrepresented backgrounds to apply. We ensure a respectful and inclusive environment for all and do not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, marital status, disability, or age. If you require any accommodations during the interview process, please feel free to inform us, and we will make every effort to support your needs.