Job Description

Location: Hybrid / Remote-first (~ 1 day per week in London)

Who We Are

The Cruise Globe is building the world's leading digital platform for cruise travellers.


Founded by a Geographer, a Naval Architect, and one of the cruise industry's most trusted creators, we started with a simple belief: cruising deserves better digital experiences. We're building the "Strava for cruises" - a product that lets cruisers see their exact routes and stats, capture and share their journeys, and then plan, book, and track what comes next.


In under nine months, more than 100,000 cruisers joined the platform, with over 500,000 cruises logged -- all with zero marketing spend. Today, we're building the #1 cruise app in the world, and the central digital hub for a global community of over 34 million cruise passengers.


Cruising is the fastest-growing segment in travel, and The Cruise Globe is backed by some of the most respected names in the industry. We have a rare opportunity to define an entirely new category -- and we're looking for ambitious, talented people who want to help shape a product used by millions.

The Opportunity

We're looking for a talented Technical Lead / Senior Full-Stack Engineer to become our first in-house technical hire, and should be considered as a founding engineer role with a huge impact on the future of The Cruise Globe.


This is a rare and exciting opportunity to join at an early stage and shape the technical foundations of the business, and create our future. This is an excellent opportunity to shape process and framework. We're looking for someone who finds this exciting rather than intimidating, and who enjoys building structure as they build product.


The Cruise Globe is an innovative, adventure-driven technology and design company redefining how cruisers around the world relive their journeys. Born from a passion for the sea, cartography, and world travel, The Cruise Globe crafts high-precision, personalised cruise maps that capture exactly where cruises actually go, using advanced satellite tracking data, a first of its kind in the industry.


You'll report directly to our CEO, with strategic support from our fractional CTO, and work closely with our founder, agency development partners, and data team. This is a hands-on, senior engineering role, not people management. You'll lead by building, setting standards, and making smart technical decisions that will scale with the business.


If you're ambitious, highly technical, and motivated by ownership and impact, this role offers the chance to grow into a long-term technology leadership position as the company scales.

? What You'll Be Doing

Own the Build

Take end-to-end ownership of technical delivery, from early architecture decisions through to production
Balance speed, quality, and scalability as we grow our Cruise Globe and Cruise Map products

Build Across the Stack

Develop high-performance, user-facing features using React, Next.js, and TypeScript
Design and build backend services and APIs using Python (FastAPI)

Design Robust Systems

Architect clean, scalable REST APIs
Design and optimise PostgreSQL / Supabase schemas for performance and growth

Ship to the Cloud

Deploy, maintain, and evolve AWS infrastructure using Terraform
Own CI/CD pipelines via GitHub Actions

Set the Technical Bar

Establish engineering best practices around testing, documentation, and code quality
Lead by example through code reviews, pairing, and technical guidance

Bridge Tech & Product

Work closely with non-technical stakeholders to translate product goals into pragmatic technical solutions Clearly explain technical decisions, trade-offs, and constraints

Requirements

What We're Looking For

7+ years of commercial software engineering experience At least 2 years operating in a technical leadership capacity (project or architectural leadership, not people management) Strong Computer Science fundamentals or equivalent practical experience Expert-level JavaScript/TypeScript and React experience Strong Python skills for backend and API development Proven experience designing, deploying, and running systems on AWS Experience working with (or introducing) solid testing practices Excellent communication skills and confidence working directly with founders
Some exposure to mobile development (React Native, Flutter, or native)

Nice to Have

Experience with geospatial data, mapping, or visualisation technologies Information security knowledge or certifications

Benefits

What We Offer

First Tech Hire Impact: Shape the architecture, tooling, and technical culture from day one High Autonomy: Real ownership and authority over technical decisions Startup Environment: Less process, more progress, with the opportunity to build the right foundations Flexible Working: Remote-first, with 1 day per week in our London office Competitive Salary: 80,000-100,000 depending on experience Holiday: 25 days + bank holidays * Pension: Auto-enrolment scheme