Lead Product Engineer required for a growing international SaaS business, with remote-first working, paying up to circa £80,000 + Benefits.

*This is a deliberate job title where you are essentially more Product Engineer than Software Engineer; please read on for more insight to seeLead Product Engineer | High Quality SaaS Platforms | Remote First | Up to circa £80,000 + Benefits

We're recruiting for a Lead Product Engineer to join a growing SaaS business building large-scale, international software platforms used by customers across multiple markets.

This is a business that is fully embracing the next generation of software delivery, and likely already ahead of many: AI is becoming part of how products are designed, built and delivered.

As a result, we're looking for someone whose strengths go beyond writing great code.

As Lead Product Engineer you'll need strong technical capability across PHP, Laravel and Digital Ocean, however this role is much more about product thinking, customer empathy and using modern engineering approaches to solve real customer problems.

What makes this role different?

The business has already evolved towards being an AI-first engineering model, with tools such as Cursor becoming embedded within the development workflow.

The expectation isn't that you're an AI expert or prompt engineer. What matters is your ability to understand customer challenges, define the right solution and effectively leverage AI-assisted engineering tools to accelerate delivery whilst maintaining quality.

The strongest people in this environment won't necessarily be those who can write every line of code themselves. They'll be the people who can understand a problem deeply, break it down effectively, create clear specifications and use AI-powered tooling to help deliver solutions faster and better.

It's a role for someone who enjoys solving problems rather than simply building features.

A big part of the role involves understanding customer pain points, translating those into clear requirements and working with modern AI-assisted development workflows to deliver robust, scalable solutions.

The engineering culture places a strong emphasis on quality. Building it right the first time is far more important than rushing out features and creating technical debt that needs fixing later.

We're particularly interested in people who have experience with:
AI-assisted software delivery tools such as Cursor
Product-led engineering and customer-focused problem solving
Creating clear technical specifications and development plans
PHP, Laravel and Digital Ocean development
Strong software design patterns and architecture principles
Building high-quality, well-tested solutions
Leading technical discussions and helping shape engineering direction
The type of person who will thrive here

You'll probably enjoy speaking with customers and stakeholders and working out solutions and answers - defining the on-going product

You'll understand that technology is ultimately there to serve the product and the customer, not the other way around.

You'll also be excited by where software engineering is heading and keen to experiment with new ways of working that increase productivity and improve outcomes.

The team and culture

Having partnered with them many times over the years; this is a genuinely collaborative, supportive and forward-thinking business.

The engineering team is ambitious, highly engaged and embracing new technology in a practical way. There are no silos here, plenty of opportunity to influence how things are done and a real appetite to evolve.

Remote working and meet-ups

This is a remote-first team - they don't even have an office

The team gets together approximately every 6 weeks for collaboration sessions, planning and team engagement. In addition, there are occasional wider company meet-ups throughout the year.

There isn't a fixed office location, so meeting venues are chosen to best suit the team, and all travel expenses are covered.

We're looking for people who enjoy the flexibility of remote working but also value spending time with colleagues in person when it matters.

To find out more, click Apply and we'll be happy to share further details. if this suits you and your ways of working.

This is a UK remote role, with regular team or company meet ups approximately every 6 weeks across the UK.

We're looking for an experienced Lead Product Engineer who combines excellent software engineering skills with genuine product ownership, commercial awareness and the confidence to make independent product decisions.

This is an opportunity to join a growing, AI-first SaaS business where engineering and product development are closely aligned, and where you'll have a significant influence over both what gets built and how it's delivered.

What makes this role different?

We're not really looking for someone who can take a set of requirements and turn them into excellent software. We need someone who understands the bigger picture. Someone who can look at a product, understand its customers, the problems it solves and the value it delivers, and use that understanding to make informed decisions about what should be built, improved or prioritised.

You'll be comfortable challenging requirements, identifying opportunities, making commercial and technical trade-offs, and taking genuine ownership of the product decisions you make.

You'll see good software as more than just about clean code, elegant architecture or technical quality; it's about delivering something customers genuinely need, enjoy using and that creates measurable value for the business.

You'll combine that product judgement with the technical ability to lead development and deliver high-quality, scalable solutions.

What we're looking for

Proven background in software engineering; ideally PHP, Laravel and Digital Ocean, however this is not hugely important do to a well polished agentic AI delivery workflow; we're more interested in a Product Mindset.
Genuine product ownership experience, with examples of personally influencing product direction, prioritisation and functionality.
Strong commercial awareness, understanding how software delivers value to customers and contributes to the success of a business.
Experience identifying customer problems, exploring potential solutions and deciding what should be built, rather than simply implementing predefined requirements.
The confidence to exercise independent product judgement, challenge assumptions and make decisions balancing customer needs, commercial priorities and technical considerations.
Experience taking ownership from initial problem discovery and product decisions through to development, delivery and ongoing improvement.
A strong understanding of software quality, architecture, testing and maintainability, without losing sight of the customer experience.
An interest in AI-assisted engineering, using tools such as Cursor and Claude Code to improve the speed and quality of delivery.

The type of person who will thrive here

You'll probably already be working in a product-led software business, ideally SaaS, where you've had meaningful responsibility for how a product develops and evolves.

You may be a Lead Engineer, Senior Product Engineer, Technical Lead or someone who has worked in a smaller business where product and engineering responsibilities naturally overlap.

You don't necessarily need to have held the formal title of Product Manager, but you must have genuine experience making product decisions, understanding customer needs and taking responsibility for the outcomes.

You'll be naturally curious about the business you're working in. You'll want to understand why customers use the product, what challenges they face, what they're willing to pay for and where the biggest opportunities lie.

You'll also be someone who enjoys remaining hands-on with engineering, rather than moving away from development into a purely management-focused position.

The team and culture

You'll be joining a growing SaaS business with a modern, AI-first approach to software engineering.

The emphasis is on small, highly capable teams, individual ownership, independent thinking and using modern AI-assisted development tools to work more effectively. There's a real focus on product quality, customer experience and delivering meaningful outcomes, with the freedom and responsibility to challenge ideas and influence decisions.

If you're an experienced engineer who genuinely enjoys owning product decisions as much as delivering excellent software, this could be a really interesting opportunity.

To find out more, click Apply and I'll be in touch to discuss the opportunity in more detail.