Product Engineer (Platform)

We’re an ambitious, remote-first travel scale-up, looking to expand our engineering team with exceptional product engineers. If you’re a passionate engineer with a love for the outdoors and a knack for building robust, scalable systems, this is the role for you!

Read more about working at Much Better Adventures.

The Role

As a Product Engineer on our Core team, you’ll shape the backbone of our product ecosystem. Your work will directly impact the reliability, scalability, and security of the tools and systems that empower our teams and drive our core operations. Collaborating closely with our Ops, CX, Finance and Marketing teams, you’ll build and maintain the infrastructure that keeps our business running smoothly.

This role is perfect for engineers with a strong product mindset who enjoy tackling complex technical challenges and designing solutions that balance diverse needs. You’ll primarily focus on our Django-based backend, optimising workflows, managing data, and delivering secure, scalable services that underpin our future growth.

Why You’ll Love It Here

At the heart of what we do is a mission to build tools and infrastructure that drive meaningful impact. Our Core team operates at the intersection of product and engineering, where you’ll have the autonomy to innovate and the support to excel.

We believe in small, focused teams with clear missions, where everyone has a voice and can make a meaningful contribution. We’re constantly refining our practices to suit our team and the challenges we face, so you’ll be part of an environment that values learning, collaboration, and growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Understand and empower internal users: Build a deep understanding of the needs of our internal teams and stakeholders. Create solutions that solve real problems while anticipating future requirements.
• Collaborate to uncover root causes: Work closely with stakeholders to identify the underlying challenges behind requests and design solutions that address core issues effectively.
• Build scalable, robust systems: Develop and maintain backend services that are reliable, performant, and scalable, ensuring they support critical business operations seamlessly.
• Champion engineering best practices: Lead by example with disciplines like Continuous Delivery, Test-Driven Development, and metrics-driven approaches to ensure code quality and maintainability.
• Focus on security and performance: Ensure infrastructure and backend services meet the highest standards for security and reliability, especially in areas supporting business-critical functionality.

Technical Experience

Proven experience with:

• Python and Django, including Django REST Framework (DRF) and PostgreSQL.
• React + Typescript
• Infrastructure and deployment tools such as Heroku, AWS, and Cloudflare.
• BI and operational tools, such as Segment, Metabase, and Xero to support data-driven decision-making and business operations.
• Practices and technologies that contribute to safe, continuous delivery, such as containerisation, automated testing, and CI/CD pipelines.

And experience in at least one of the following areas:

• Security best practices, especially around data handling and privacy.
• Quality Assurance expertise to help standardise and enhance our testing practices.
• A strong grasp of networking and systems design, with an eye for scalable and secure architecture.

Product Mindset:

• Driven to understand and solve internal user needs while aligning solutions with broader business goals.
• Comfortable discussing and refining requests with internal stakeholders to deliver well-scoped, impactful solutions.
• Approaches challenges with curiosity, eager to learn and explore complex problem spaces before proposing solutions.

Engineering Mindset:

• Committed to building reliable, maintainable software with a focus on continuous delivery and TDD.
• Metrics-driven, with a scientific approach to problem-solving and a dedication to high-quality code.
• Strong collaborative skills, valuing pair programming as a way to improve code quality and knowledge sharing.

Experience Level: Mid to senior (5+ years in industry)

• An entrepreneurial and creative environment where great ideas are actively encouraged, and taking responsibility for them is expected
• The warm fuzzy feeling that comes with knowing you are making a huge difference to small independent businesses, local economies and communities
• 38 days holiday per year (inclusive of public holidays) - to be used when you like
• Annual company performance-based bonus
• Flexible hours set up (40 hours p/w for full time roles), and a fully remote company
• Company-wide, adventurous meet-ups
• Experience what we do: everyone goes on a free MBA trip within their first year
• A £500 annual travel voucher to spend on an MBA trip/s
• 30% Employee discount, plus 15% friends and family discount for MBA trips
• Generous Pension scheme (UK employees only)
• Free access to private GP, and unlimited mental health support and counselling via our partner at BHSF.
• Budget to set up a remote working space and access to co-working spaces
• Supportive Maternity and Paternity Pay: we offer 16 weeks full pay if you’re the primary caregiver & 4 weeks full pay if you’re the secondary caregiver.

What does the typical interview process look like?

Our hiring process is fully remote, and all interviews are done online. Every application is carefully read by a real member of the team (no AI screening here).

• Stage 1: A short automated coding assessment
• Stage 2: A ‘get to know each other’ interview, to find out more about your experience and see if we’re a good fit. (approx 30–45 mins)
• Stage 3: A technical assignment, plus preparation for a short presentation to be given in the interview.
• Stage 4: In-depth interview where we review your assignment, listen to your presentation, and take a look at some code with two members of the MBA team. (Approx 60–90 mins)

Job ‘Need to Know’ details

• Preferred Start Date: Jan / Feb 2025
• Salary Range: £55-75k, depending on experience.
• Working Hours: a full time role is 40 hours per week, with core hours being 1000 - 1500 GMT (regardless of where you are based), and a flexible hours policy for the remaining time. We also welcome applicants from those wanting to work part-time, but we require 80% (32 hours) minimum.
• Location: you must be resident either in the UK or in Europe (max +2 hours GMT) 
  Note: Contract and benefits will vary depending on which country you are based in - this will be discussed at an appropriate stage in the interview process.
• We are an equal opportunities employer and strongly encourage applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and industries. Our flexible working arrangements are designed to support everyone in the team to achieve that important work/life balance in a way that works for their particular circumstances.