Vetted on a call by a Wave consultant, not scraped. Up to £90,000.
Python and Django is the core, with Wagtail CMS and Django REST across an adventure travel platform, plus Vue and TypeScript on the front. Fourteen years overall, 5 of them solid full stack after a research career. Recent exposure to AI tooling and agent-based workflows, though that is the part they like least.
Looking forWants structure, established process and a senior role with a mentoring component. Would consider contract, and needs a setup that still works if they move to Italy, Portugal or Spain.
How they came acrossDescribes an identity crisis at work, moving from writing code to coordinating agents and reviewing their output. Add a team that grew from 4 to 15 and a leadership push to ship at the expense of quality, and the stress arrives in cycles every few months. Wanted their own situation settled before entering a process, rather than waste anyone's time.
Python, Django, Wagtail, Django REST · PostgreSQL, MySQL, Redis · TypeScript, Vue, React, Docker, Git
Fourteen years across 6 employers, from an Italian comics and books venture and a research institute into web agencies and now travel technology. Average tenure 2 years 1 month with a longest stint of 7 years 9 months.
Two months notice, and a possible move to continental Europe means a UK-remote-only contract could become a problem. Won't take a role that is mostly AI agent coordination rather than writing code.
Masters in biological anthropology, plus a doctoral research post, before moving into software.
One of the first 5 or 6 engineers at an AI coding platform, hired pre-launch, shipping features end to end across frontend, backend and AI-enabled systems. React, TypeScript, Next.js, Go and Node, with agent work covering tool calling, structured outputs, streaming execution and RAG pipelines. Four years before that on an automation and integrations platform, across both backend and frontend.
Looking forWants product-focused work with end to end ownership at a growth-stage startup that actually listens to its users. Hybrid 2 to 3 days. Taking a short reset after the last role.
How they came acrossSelf-taught into engineering from a biomedical sciences degree, and survived 5 rounds of redundancy at a previous company before leaving on their own terms. Wary of anything that looks too much like the last job, and said so rather than pretending otherwise.
TypeScript, React, Next.js, NestJS · Go, Node.js, Python, GraphQL · AWS Lambda, Docker, OpenTelemetry, Grafana
Five years across 10 employers including hackathons, volunteering and internships, the real record being 4 years at an automation platform and a year at an AI coding startup. Average tenure 1 year with a longest stint of 2 years 8 months.
Won't take a 5 day office, a sole founding engineer role, or insurance and betting companies for religious reasons. Immediately available.
Degree in biomedical sciences, then self-taught into engineering.
Owns billing, pricing and subscription logic on a B2B SaaS platform, which is about as unforgiving a domain as product engineering offers. TypeScript and React on the front, Node, AWS Lambda, DynamoDB and API Gateway on the back, with some Terraform. Designs for backward compatibility, which matters when the thing you're changing takes money off people.
Looking forWants a company that is actually growing. Theirs has sat at about 20 people for 4 years with no progression path. Looking at 50 to 200 person businesses and describes themselves as mid-level rather than senior.
How they came acrossStraight about their own level, which is rare and useful. Came into software through an apprenticeship after an architecture degree, and the long-term ownership habit shows in how they talk about features they've held for years.
TypeScript, React, Node.js, JavaScript · AWS Lambda, DynamoDB, API Gateway, S3 · Terraform, Docker, Jest, CircleCI
Nine years across 9 employers, most of it in architecture practices before an apprenticeship route into software, then 3 years at a small subscription management SaaS business. Average tenure 1 year 8 months with a longest stint of 3 years 7 months.
Says plainly they won't qualify for senior roles and is looking at mid-level. Doesn't want another very small company straight away.
Architecture degree, then a Level 4 software developer apprenticeship.
Tell me which came closest and I recalibrate, then come back with 10 to 15 more inside 24 hours.
Show me the wider bank