We've just started hiring for a role that's been nearly two years in the making: our Lead Developer. There's a line in the job description I want to expand on. We design things people actually use, and increasingly we build them too. We need someone to own how.
Why now
For nearly two years, we've been designing and building the frontend of a climate resilience platform for UK infrastructure. It's long-running, multi-phase and delivered by a consortium. We've built it with some brilliant contractors. They brought experience when we needed it, and they got us a long way.
But contracting was right for where we were. It isn't right for where we're going. I'll be honest, there's some regret in that. We've loved working with the people who got us here. A project this long deserves someone who's in it for the long haul, though. So does Thunk.
The work
The platform helps network operators understand how climate threats spread across connected systems. Picture a flood that takes out a substation. That substation powers a water pumping station. The pumping station keeps a hospital running. One flood becomes several problems, across organisations that don't usually share a map.
We work alongside partners who own the data, the backend and the hosting. Our part is what people actually see and use: the maps, the asset views, the prioritisation, the exports. It's complex in every direction: the data, the partners, the geography. It's also fascinating, and it matters.
Where AI fits in this
Andy wrote about this when we hired for content, and it holds here too. AI plays an assistive role at Thunk. It clears away what gets in the way of thinking. It doesn't do the thinking. What's changed is how much we build. Every prototype we make is now coded, not clicked through. Real enough to test with real users, quick enough to throw away.
We run several agents at once, each on a different part of the same build. The speed is genuinely exciting. But speed without judgement just gets you to the wrong place faster. That's this role. Deciding what's worth building, reviewing what comes back, and setting standards so it still holds up in two years.
Work that requires human thinking, in other words.
Where it goes
The role starts on the flagship project, leading the frontend.
From day one, it's also about how Thunk builds everything else. Our standards, our tooling, how we scope work in pitches, how we run our own services. In time, it's about who joins you. We'd love someone with the ambition to grow a small engineering team, not just sit in one. Nearly two years of brilliant help got us here. Someone who stays will take us further. That's the honest version of why we're hiring now.
If that sounds like your kind of thing, the job description has the details. And since you've read this far, have a look at our how to apply well guide too.
Below, there's a short video where Andy and I talk through the role, and why we need it now.
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