Engineering Lead (Client Facing) - Utilities
London, UK
Kraken Technologies UK 🦑 – Software Engineering /
Full-time /
Hybrid
Kraken powers some of the most innovative global developments in energy.
We’re a technology company focused on creating a smart, sustainable energy system. From optimising renewable generation, creating a more intelligent grid and enabling utilities to provide excellent customer experiences, our operating system for energy is transforming the industry around the world in a way that benefits everyone.
It’s a really exciting time in energy. Help us make a real impact on shaping a better, more sustainable future.
Our team
All technology is written and maintained by a multi-discipline engineering team of around 700 people globally. Our engineers work in ‘super teams’ which are focused on key areas of our platform as well as other innovative products. This also includes server-side, client-side and mobile engineers working closely with UX experts, copywriters and designers.
Teams are empowered to choose a way of working that works for them, often opting for a Kanban-like approach. Notion and Asana are then used to specify and manage work; Github, CircleCI and Terraform Enterprise as part of an immutable-infrastructure, continuous delivery pipeline; and Datadog, Sentry and Cloudwatch to measure performance and monitor production.
We’re now charging our Kraken platform to power utilities beyond just energy (think water, broadband,..) and have created a new business area Kraken Utilities. Over the last year we have built this team from scratch to re-architect, design, and develop our Kraken software platform to solve complex industry wide problems within the water and broadband sectors (customer experience, water leak detection software).
The Kraken Utilities team have already signed 4 clients (Portsmouth Water, Severn Trent, Leep, and Cuckoo Broadband), and are currently in the exciting design and build phase of the software. Together with the rest of the team, you will bring the same revolutionary customer experience, operational excellence and speed of innovation that Kraken is powering across energy retailers to other sectors.
The Role
We’re looking to bring on an Engineering Lead to work with potential users/clients to understand their technical requirements and map those to Kraken’s technology. As an Engineering Lead, you will build deep relationships with our largest, most complex clients, solving their biggest challenges.
You will be an experienced technologist with a blend of technical depth and strong business consulting skills. You will be able to write code and have prior hands-on experience, but prefer to spend your time working with clients to create Kraken solutions to support business objectives within the water and broadband domains. This will involve working in complex, fast paced, and challenging environments. We’re looking for someone who can think strategically about what is possible for the client’s business, and will be able to clearly communicate that in a way that informs and builds confidence in Kraken’s product.
You should be able to engage and motivate teams both internally and externally with our client’s from C suite level to engineering. We’re looking for someone with a track-record of delivering exceptional customer service, who has the technical expertise to back up their statements and perspectives.
Our technology
On the server-side, we mainly use Python. Most of our websites are powered by Django, Django-REST-framework and GraphQL (Graphene).
We use AWS heavily as part of a continuous deployment pipeline. See, for example, Django, ELB health checks and continuous delivery.
Client-side, we use React, htmx and SASS; our mobile apps are built using native code or React Native.
What you'll do:
- Be a technical expert who is comfortable discussing complex technical topics with clients and non technical individuals.
- Be a technical point of contact for internal and external engineering stakeholders.
- Embed a great engineering, problem solving and customer-first culture.
- Lead the team to continuously develop the platform and to implement it at our clients
- Work closely with the existing Kraken team to help build a consistent platform
- You will work very closely with the implementation, product and strategy teams.
- Run workshops with client’s engineering leaders/solution architects to drive engineering solutions on how Kraken works with the rest of the utility tech estate.
What you'll need:
- Experience being client facing and handling technical discussions with stakeholders.
- Experience in a mixture of roles which may include; pre-sales, technical architecture, product engineering, technical consulting, application delivery.
- Structured problem solving skills to decompose and solve ambiguous problems
- Ability to hack a quick prototype and to properly architect a system design (and the ability/pragmatism to decide when to do what)
- Inspirational leadership style and entrepreneurial energy
- Experienced with large scale clients.
- Comfortable talking about technical concepts and explaining them to tech and non technical individuals.
- Scaling up platforms serving a few geographies and 10X millions customers to multi geography multi entity 100X million customers would be ideal
- Deep experience with key technology components underpinning Kraken’s stack ie Python, django, AWS, kubernetes, terraform, react and graphQL, is required.
Why you'll love it here:
- Wondering what the salary for this role is? Just ask us! On a call with one of our recruiters it's something we always cover as we genuinely want to match your experience with the correct salary. The reason why we don't advertise is because we honestly have a degree of flexibility and would never want salary to be a reason why someone doesn't apply to Octopus - what's more important to us is finding the right octofit!
- Octopus Energy is a unique culture. An organisation where people learn, decide, and build quicker. Where people work with autonomy, alongside a wide range of amazing co-owners, on projects that break new ground. We want your hard work to be rewarded with perks you actually care about! We won best company to work for in 2022, on Glassdoor we we're voted 50 best places to work in 2022 and our Group CEO, Greg has recorded a podcast about our culture and how we empower our people
- Visit our perks hub - Octopus Employee Benefits
This team will require candidates to work on a hybrid remote basis, coming into our office in Oxford Circus 1-2 days a week. You do also need to be able to work in the UK.
We're very excited to be growing our team. We're looking for skills and experience to help shape and define the future of not only our team, but the wider business at a global scale. If you're reading this and grinning, please apply! There are huge challenges to tackle, and we need amazing people who are keen to get stuck in.
If this sounds like you then we'd love to hear from you.
Are you ready for a career with us? We want to ensure you have all the tools and environment you need to unleash your potential. Need any specific accommodations? Whether you require specific accommodations or have a unique preference, let us know, and we'll do what we can to customise your interview process for comfort and maximum magic!
Studies have shown that some groups of people, like women, are less likely to apply to a role unless they meet 100% of the job requirements. Whoever you are, if you like one of our jobs, we encourage you to apply as you might just be the candidate we hire. Across Octopus, we're looking for genuinely decent people who are honest and empathetic. Our people are our strongest asset and the unique skills and perspectives people bring to the team are the driving force of our success. As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute. Our commitment is to provide equal opportunities, an inclusive work environment, and fairness for everyone.
