Software Engineering Technical Lead (Front End)

Smartbox is in search of an experienced Software Engineering Front-end Tech Lead to guide our engineering team in delivering cutting-edge solutions in the Online Booking domain. We manage the full range of booking journeys across a massive range of experiences in 10 Countries in Europe.
As a leader in the team, you will shape technical direction, mentor team members, and ensure the scalability and resilience of our domain.  Your expertise in front-end development, leadership, and software architecture will be critical in delivering customer focused, high-performance, high-traffic systems that enhance the experience across all platforms.
We offer you the opportunity to lead innovative initiatives that directly influence the gift experiences of millions of users across Europe. We prioritize growth by empowering you to take charge of critical projects while guiding a diverse and talented team. Our collaborative culture fosters teamwork, innovation, and personal development in a hybrid environment, enabling you to succeed professionally and personally.
Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the Development Team: Provide technical leadership to a team of front-end engineers, driving best practices in software engineering, code quality, and collaboration. Foster a culture of accountability, trust, and knowledge sharing within the team.

• Solutions Design: Design and implement high-availability, high-performance systems. Balance immediate needs with the long-term architectural vision to align with business goals.

• Mentorship & Code Reviews: Actively mentor other engineers, conduct code reviews, and encourage learning and growth within the team. Empower team members by delegating responsibilities and fostering ownership of tasks.

• Ensure Scalability: Identify performance bottlenecks and lead efforts to scale services to handle high volumes of traffic efficiently. Develop scalable and efficient code that supports both synchronous and asynchronous processes.

• Drive Technical Innovation: Stay up to date with industry trends and technologies, driving continuous improvement and integration of new tools. Lead the team in adopting modern tools and approaches to maintain technical excellence.

• Focus on Continuous Improvement: Lead initiatives for continuous improvement in both technical practices (refactoring, automation) and team processes (agile workflows, retrospectives).

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate closely with stakeholders from product, design, and operations to ensure that technical solutions are aligned with broader business goals and work with other tech teams to design end to end solutions.  
Skills & Experience:
Must have:
• 8+ years of experience in software development, including at least 2+ years in a technical leadership or tech lead role.

• Advanced experience with Vue.js (2/3), Tailwind CSS

• Deep understanding of API development (REST/SOAP) and experience integrating with backend (PHP/Symfony) and third-party services.

• Strong experience with relational databases like MySQL.

• Experience with containerization and orchestration tools (Docker, Kubernetes).

• Proficient in CI/CD practices and maintaining continuous delivery pipelines and test automation frameworks (e.g. Cypress)

• Ability to balance both hands-on coding and architectural oversight, ensuring both short-term deliverables and long-term technical direction.

• Strong understanding of Vue/FE Design Patterns.

• Experience in an Agile environment, kanban, and ensuring timely delivery of features.

• Excellent written and spoken English skills, with the ability to communicate complex ideas to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Nice-to-Have Skills:

• Familiarity with monitoring, alerting and logging solutions like Kibana, Grafana, Prometheus, Open Telemetry or New Relic.

• Previous experience in high-traffic industries such as travel, OTAs, e-commerce, or hospitality with strong focus on customer experience.

• Knowledge of ArgoCD, Vault, GitLab

• Experience with multilingual websites
Personal Attributes:

• Leadership: Capable of inspiring, motivating, and coaching a team, creating a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.

• Problem-Solving: Strong analytical skills with a proactive attitude toward identifying and resolving complex issues.

• Adaptability: Willingness to adjust to evolving business needs and technology landscapes.

• Collaborative: A team player who values clear communication and enjoys working in cross-functional teams.