Senior Software Engineer

ZigZag is the #1 app for dog training & life skills, helping pups and their pawrents build a lifelong bond. Too many dogs miss out on the right training, leading to behavioural issues or even abandonment. Our mission is to prevent that by making puppy training accessible and enjoyable for everyone.

We’ve been featured as Apple’s App of the Day, highlighted in New Apps We Love, and shortlisted for multiple industry awards. Backed by a major global petcare organisation, we’re a growing product-led company with big ambitions and a close-knit team.

Our engineers build and maintain the ZigZag Puppy Training mobile app (iOS and Android), with meaningful work across the full stack, and particular responsibility for helping raise the bar on backend systems, APIs, and data-driven product development.

The app is built using Nest.js and TypeScript on the backend, with an Angular (v20) UI and Ionic for cross-platform mobile delivery. We deploy multiple times per day via CI/CD in Azure, enabling small, frequent releases and fast feedback.

This is a hands-on senior individual contributor role. You’ll work across the full stack, contributing to both backend services and the mobile app. As a senior engineer, you’ll also help guide backend and infrastructure design decisions and best practices. There’s scope to grow into broader technical leadership over time, if that’s something you’re interested in.

We work collaboratively through pair programming, peer review, and regular learning sessions, and partner closely with product and design to ship high-quality features at pace.

This role is ideal for a full-stack engineer who enjoys working across the stack and brings particular strength and experience on the backend.

Core capabilities

We’re particularly interested in candidates who bring:

• Experience delivering production features across a modern web or mobile stack
• Depth of experience in backend development, including APIs, data modelling, and system design
• Comfor moving between backend and frontend codebases in a collaborative team
• A pragmatic approach to reliability, performance, and security
• Clear communication skills and a learning mindset

Helpful experience (not required):

• Experience with modern UI frameworks such as Angular, React, or Vue
• Exposure to CI/CD pipelines and cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP)
• Experience with mobile, hybrid, or cross-platform app development
• A passion for dogs is optional but highly appreciated!

We know no one meets every requirement perfectly. If you’re excited about our mission and feel you could grow into this role, we encourage you to apply.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you will:

• Design and ship features across the full stack, writing high-quality, maintainable code
• Take a leading role in backend design, data modelling, and API quality, helping ensure the platform scales safely and reliably
• Feed into decisions around infrastructure and CI/CD, contributing to improvements in our Azure-hosted pipelines
• Work closely with the Head of Engineering, product, and design to plan and deliver roadmap initiatives
• Ensure our code meets security, privacy, and performance best practices
• Share knowledge with teammates through collaboration, mentoring, and code review
• Take part in interviews and pairing sessions to help us build a strong, inclusive engineering team

What We Offer

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary £75,000 - £85,000 pending on experience & interview performance, reviewed annually
• Annual 8% bonus, increasing with tenure
• Pension: 5% employer / 3% employee contribution
• Referral bonus

Wellbeing & Flexibility

• Private health scheme
• Hybrid working (UK-based) with 1 day per week in our London Victoria office
• Flexible working arrangements
• Work from abroad for up to 2 weeks per year
• 25 days holiday (increasing to 27), plus your birthday off
• Dog-friendly office

Growth & Learning

• £1,000 annual learning budget
• 1 paid volunteering day per year

We’re happy to discuss flexible arrangements and reasonable adjustments throughout the hiring process.