Team Lead (ReactJS / Node.js)

About Us

We are Playbook, a leading creator platform for fitness, health, and wellness. Our mission is to help fitness creators build sustainable businesses, while enabling hundreds of thousands of users to live healthier lives.

We are a fast-growing company in the fitness tech space, operating as a remote-first, product-driven team that values ownership, direct communication, and a strong growth mindset. We believe in “drivers, not passengers” — everyone is encouraged to take responsibility, think proactively, and act like an owner.

Role Overview

We're looking for a Team Lead (ReactJS / Node.js) to lead a small, high-performing team of engineers while staying hands-on as a part-time individual contributor. This is not a purely managerial role — you'll still write code, contribute to architecture, and lead by technical example. But your primary leverage shifts: you're accountable not just for what you ship, but for the delivery, health, and growth of your team. You'll partner closely with Product and Design, own the team's execution cadence, and create an environment where engineers do their best work. You're someone who can zoom out to align the team with product goals, and zoom in to unblock a critical feature or review a key architectural decision. This role is best suited for a senior engineer who has already led or mentored a small team and is ready to own that responsibility more formally.

Requirements

• 6+ years of professional software development experience, with a strong focus on full-stack JavaScript / TypeScript. Proven track record in shipping production web applications end-to-end.

• 1+ year of direct team leadership experience — managing or formally leading a small engineering team (2+ people). This includes 1:1s, feedback, and accountability for team delivery.

• Strong experience with React.js and modern frontend patterns. Ability to build responsive, user-friendly interfaces with attention to detail and performance.

• Strong experience with Node.js, including designing GraphQL schemas and understanding resolvers, dataloaders, and API structure for maintainability.

• Advanced TypeScript proficiency. Comfortable writing complex types, generics, and conditional types; using TypeScript to enforce contracts and model domain logic across the stack.

• Demonstrated ability to facilitate team decisions — gathering input, communicating trade-offs clearly, and driving alignment under ambiguity.

• Strong experience working with relational databases (PostgreSQL preferred), including schema design, query optimisation, and reasoning about consistency and performance.

• Active daily use of AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, or similar) for development, debugging, and problem-solving.

• Strong communication skills in English. Comfortable working in a remote, cross-timezone team and collaborating asynchronously with both engineers and non-technical stakeholders.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Node.js frameworks: Next.js, NestJS

• Familiarity with MVVM or similar architectural patterns.

• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure as code, and improving observability and logging

• Familiarity with AWS. We use services like Lambda, Step Functions, SNS/SQS, DynamoDB, and ECS — hands-on experience with some of these is a plus.

• Experience building or integrating payment and subscription flows (e.g. Stripe, billing systems, in-app purchases).

• Experience working in a startup or fast-growing product company.
  
  What We Offer

• Your work will directly affect creators and users on the platform. You’ll work on features that ship quickly and matter.

• We offer a wide compensation range to reflect different seniority profiles within this role. The upper end of the range is reserved for top candidates who demonstrate exceptional technical quality, product thinking, and ownership beyond day-to-day execution.

• Equity options

• 100% remote with flexible working hours and async-friendly culture. Collaboration across Europe and the US East Coast.

• A collaborative team that values ownership, open communication, and autonomy over micromanagement.

• Yearly team retreats focused on connection, alignment, and building strong team relationships.

• Paid Time Off