Technical Lead

Who We Are:

At VML, we are a beacon of innovation and growth in an ever-evolving world. Our heritage is built upon a century of combined expertise, where creativity meets technology, and diverse perspectives ignite inspiration. With the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, we have forged a new path as a growth partner that is part creative agency, part consultancy, and part technology powerhouse. 

Our global family now encompasses over 30,000 employees across 150+ offices in 64 markets, each contributing to a culture that values connection, belonging, and the power of differences.  Our expertise spans the entire customer journey, offering deep insights in communications, commerce, consultancy, CRM, CX, data, production, and technology. We deliver end-to-end solutions that result in revolutionary work. 

The opportunity:

Highly skilled Technical Lead who will operate between a Backend Developer & a solution architect with hands on experience on / Typescript / familiarity with AWS deployments. This role focuses on providing technical leadership to the development team, ensuring adherence to design patterns, best coding practices, and guiding developers throughout the software development lifecycle. Unlike a traditional Solutions Architect role, this position does not require infrastructure-level architecture work but requires strong technical depth, solution understanding, and the ability to translate business requirements into high-quality technical execution.

What you'll be doing:

Technical Leadership & Guidance

• Lead and mentor backend and full-stack developers in day-to-day technical activities.
• Review code, enforce coding standards, and ensure adherence to design patterns (e.g., MVC, DDD, microservices best practices).
• Provide hands-on support for complex technical challenges, debugging, and architectural decisions within the application layer.
• Assist in breaking down complex requirements into clear, actionable development tasks.

Solution Design & Planning

• Translate business requirements into technical specifications in collaboration with Product Owners and Business Analysts.
• Design high-level application flows, data interactions, and integration approaches.
• Identify and recommend suitable libraries, frameworks, and tools aligned with best practices.
• Ensure that the technical design aligns with system longevity, scalability, and maintainability.

Team Coordination

• Act as a bridge between developers, business analysts, and product teams.
• Ensure technical consistency across modules developed by different team members.
• Participate in sprint planning, refinement, and retrospectives to contribute technical insights.
• Coordinate development timelines and help unblock developers by providing technical clarity.

Quality & Performance

• Conduct peer reviews, provide constructive feedback, and ensure high-quality delivery.
• Promote best practices for performance, security, and maintainability in the codebase.
• Collaborate with QA teams to maintain robust testing strategies.

Collaboration & Communication

• Work closely with cross-functional stakeholders to ensure technical feasibility of requirements.
• Present solution approaches and technical decisions to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Maintain clear documentation of architecture decisions, design patterns, and technical standards.

What we want from you:

• 5–10 years of hands-on experience in backend development / Typescript / familiarity with AWS deployments).
• Strong understanding of software engineering fundamentals, design patterns, and clean code principles.
• Ability to write scalable, maintainable, and testable code.
• Experience designing application-level components, APIs, and data flows.
• Strong debugging skills and ability to analyze complex technical scenarios.
• Familiarity with microservices, REST APIs, message-driven architecture, and event-based systems.
• Experience with version control (Git), CI/CD pipelines, and Agile methodologies.
• Excellent communication and coordination skills, with the ability to guide and influence development teams.

If you know some of this even better:

• Exposure to DevOps concepts (without requiring hands-on infra management).
• Experience in system integration patterns.
• Knowledge of cloud-native application development (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Ability to collaborate with UX, QA, and Product teams effectively.

What we can offer you:

Alongside the opportunity to work with some of the most exciting brands around the world, we'll also prioritise your career development and help you grow your skills. We'll empower you to make a difference, allow you to be yourself, and respect who you are.

Our personality and behaviours: We believe that we are what we do, not just what we say. Our shared values and behaviours show how to bring the VML Enterprise Solution's culture to life through the actions we all take every day:

• Connect Meaningfully
• Inspire Creatively
• Include Purposefully
• Approach Positively

Our brilliant, talented people are what makes VML Enterprise Solutions what we are. That's why we look for people who go beyond and always push our thinking to be better than yesterday.

AT VML Enterprise Solutions

Our Enterprise Solutions division houses strategic consultants, creative and technical architects and skilled developers and operators that together help some of the world's leading organisations to deliver outstanding digital experiences across all major routes to market worldwide: marketplaces, online retailers, D2C, B2B and social platforms. With over 4,200 experts in 55 operational centres across 34 countries, our capabilities span the entire buying journey from customer acquisition, through engagement, to conversion and loyalty, driving multi-channel growth for world-leading brands.

We work with some of the most exciting brands such as The Coca-Cola Company, EY, Bosch, Unilever, Ford, DFS, Mercedes-Benz, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Sainsbury's, Selfridges, Shell and Tiffany & Co. We've built over 500 platforms for brands and retailers and generate in excess of $29bn annually for our clients and work with over 50 strategic partners including Adobe, SAP, Salesforce, HCL, Shopify, Sitecore, BigCommerce, commerce tools and Acquia. Our reputation is based on our people, and we believe we have some of the best in the business.

As our business grows internationally, we're looking for new people to join us on our journey to inspire and take a key role in shaping some of the best commerce solutions, services, and websites in the world. Working as a team, no problem is insurmountable; we share in our client's successes and believe that anyone can show creative bravery no matter what their role is in the team.

WPP (VML Enterprise Solutions) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers. 

VML is a WPP Agency. For more information, please visit our website, and follow VML on our social channels via Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. 

When you click "Submit Application", this will send any information you add below to VML. Before you do this, we think it's a good idea to read through our Recruitment Privacy Policy. California residents should read our California Recruitment Privacy Notice. This explains what we do with your personal data when you apply for a role with us, and, how you can update the information you have provided us with or how to remove it.

---