Tech Lead - ClipCrop

ABOUT US  

Storyteller is a fast-growing B2B SaaS platform that lets companies add Instagram-style Stories (short form video) to their own apps and sites - boosting engagement, retention, and revenue.  

Our iOS, Android, and Web SDKs deliver a complete Stories experience with publishing, analytics, and ad tools. We’re now building an AI-native, multi-product platform that helps partners create and personalise immersive content.

We work with leading global brands, predominantly in sport - so if you love technology, are always looking to learn, develop and harness the latest technology, and have an interest in sport - you’ll fit right in.

About ClipCrop 

ClipCrop sits alongside our core product, Storyteller. It helps teams turn long videos into shorter clips and convert between aspect ratios, and is used by leading Sports clients. We’re now scaling it with AI to automatically find the right moments and produce the right crops for each channel, enabling much higher publishing volume.

RESPONSIBILITIES

We think you’ll be a great fit if you’ve worked in fast-moving startup/high-growth environments where autonomy, adaptability, and ownership are part of the culture. 

Own outcomes, not just tickets 

• Lead a squad of 2–4 engineers (mix of senior/junior) to deliver measurable product impact.
• Set clear goals and success metrics (e.g., latency/reliability/adoption), break work into small, reversible slices, and ship on a steady cadence.

Design and build production systems 

• Architect and implement .NET services/APIs with SQL Server for a multi‑tenant B2B SaaS platform. 
• Make pragmatic trade‑offs: idempotent writes, rate limiting, caching/ETag, indexing and query shaping, back‑pressure, and failure‑mode handling. 

Operate what you build 

• Instrument services with logs/metrics/traces; hold the line on p95/p99 performance and availability SLOs. 
• Run incident reviews that produce systemic fixes and documentation (runbooks, dashboards).

Prioritise for the business 

• Partner with PM/Design/Customer teams to translate goals into scope; cut or resequence work when data changes. 
• Keep stakeholders aligned with concise updates, risks, and owner/dates. 

Create clarity and accountability 

• Set explicit expectations with your reports; give direct feedback; follow through with support and check‑ins. 
• Use lightweight mechanisms - PR templates, decision records, checklists - to make accountability routine.

Grow people and the codebase 

• Mentor engineers via pairing, reviews, and 1:1s; create growth plans and celebrate momentum. 
• Keep standards high: tests where they matter, clear interfaces, and intentional debt management.

Leverage AI effectively 

• Use AI assistants to accelerate boilerplate and documentation, and verify outputs with tests and metrics. 
• Help the team adopt safe practices (no secrets, anonymised data, prompt discipline, simple evals). 

Collaborate across the product suite 

• Work with our iOS/Android/Web SDK teams to ensure that backend APIs and contracts are stable, well-documented, and easy to integrate. 
• Support enterprise client integrations (often in sport), balancing reliability with delivery speed. 

Hire and onboard 

• Contribute to interviews and rubrics; onboard new teammates with clear goals, docs, and a first‑week win. 

QUALIFICATIONS

Must‑haves 

• Technical leadership: you’ve led a small team (2–4 engineers) to ship production software, setting direction, unblocking work, and owning outcomes end‑to‑end. 
• Practical problem solving: you start from constraints and business goals, enumerate options, make trade‑offs explicit, and choose the smallest reversible step that works. 
• Clear, direct communication: you set crisp expectations with reports, write succinct PRs/decision records, and give kind‑but‑candid feedback that changes behaviour. 
• Ownership & accountability: you finish hard things, leave systems better than you found them (tests, telemetry, docs), and make accountability routine rather than personal. 
• Flexibility & product sense: you can cut scope to hit outcomes, re‑prioritise quickly when data changes, and keep stakeholders aligned. 
• Learning mindset & AI fluency: you adopt new tools fast (including AI assistants) and verify outputs with tests/metrics, respecting privacy and data safety.

Nice to have 

• Cloud & infra: Azure (or equivalent), CI/CD, feature flags, safe rollouts/rollbacks. 
• Experience across media/SaaS, SDKs, or high‑throughput event ingestion. 
• C# / .NET expertise: strong experience with modern .NET (.NET 8+), building and operating Web APIs; comfortable with Minimal APIs or controllers. 
• SQL Server depth: confident with schema design, indexing, query shaping, and concurrency (transactions, isolation levels, deadlocks, idempotency). 
• Interest in sport and fan engagement (helpful, not required). 

We value capability and trajectory over checklists. If you’re close on several of these and excited about the role, we’d like to hear from you. 

RECRUITMENT PROCESS

We keep the loop practical and fast. Most steps are remote. We aim to complete everything in 7–10 days. 

Step 1 - Intro with the hiring manager (30 min) 

Role, product area, expectations for leading a 2-4 person squad, and your interests. No coding. 

Step 2 - Paid take home  

A tiny .NET 8 + SQL Server repo task plus two short written pieces: a Kickoff Memo and a leadership simulation response. AI tools are welcome; we care how you verify outputs. 

Step 3 - Review + pairing + interview (75-90 min)

Walk through your submission, pair to extend it, and discuss leadership and decision making. We use anchored rubrics and share clear feedback.

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Privacy Notice
We process your personal data for recruitment purposes in line with UK data protection law. AI tools may assist in reviewing applications, but decisions are made by our team. We retain data only as necessary for recruitment and compliance. You can request access or deletion of your data at any time by emailing careers@getstoryteller.com.