Gather is a SaaS platform for construction record management. Their product helps construction professionals capture, manage, and analyse site records digitally, often in challenging on-site environments.
The business is moving from early adopters into mainstream construction companies, meaning the software being built is used daily by real customers solving real operational problems. Gather is a small team with ambitious growth plans and a recently rebuilt platform.
Tonic Recruitment is supporting Gather in the search for a Head of Product Development to take ownership of the technical direction of the platform during its next stage of growth. This is a senior, hands-on role combining technical leadership and delivery. The successful candidate will act as the senior technical and product voice within a small engineering team, remaining actively involved in building features while guiding technical direction and ensuring the platform scales in a stable, reliable way.
This is not a heavily people-managed role. There are no large teams or layers of approval. The focus is on ownership, judgement, and delivery, with the autonomy to make pragmatic technical decisions that directly impact the product and the business.
What you will be doing:
Own the platform: Lead architectural decisions across the Symfony/Pimcore backend and React (MUI) frontends, keeping the platform stable and performant as usage grows.
Ship full-stack features: Build features across the web and Android applications, including offline-capable functionality that synchronises when connectivity is restored.
Apply technical judgement: Balance feature delivery with technical improvements, making informed trade-offs that support long-term product health.
Support scale and reliability: Take responsibility for API stability, performance, and deployment workflows in a growing SaaS environment.
Shape direction: Influence the technical roadmap, including where AI adds genuine value alongside structured, deterministic systems.
Guide the team: Act as the senior technical authority within a small, capable engineering team, providing direction and support while remaining hands-on.
What you will need:
Essential experience
Strong PHP experience using modern frameworks (Symfony preferred, Laravel acceptable)
Confident frontend experience with React and TypeScript
Proven experience designing and maintaining REST APIs in production
Strong SQL experience (MySQL / MariaDB), including schema design and query optimisation
Solid understanding of full-stack systems, including how frontends, APIs, and databases interact
Comfortable working collaboratively using Git-based workflows
Manchester-based (or within ~1 hour commute) and happy with a hybrid working model
Nice to Have
Experience with Pimcore or similar platforms
Exposure to React Native or mobile application development
Experience working in SaaS or product-led environments
Familiarity with Docker, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud environments
Interest or experience using AI/LLMs pragmatically
Background in construction, infrastructure, or enterprise software
Personal attributes
Comfortable taking ownership and working autonomously
Confident communicating technical ideas and trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders
Pragmatic in balancing quality with delivery
Open, collaborative, and professional in discussion and decision-making
Objective and outcome-focused, with strong long-term product thinking
You’ve shipped meaningful improvements and built trust in your technical judgement
You understand the platform, customers, and technical landscape
You’ve identified a small number of high-impact technical improvements
6–12 months
Features are driving real customer adoption
The platform remains stable and reliable as usage grows
Your technical input is shaping product and business decisions
Technical debt is actively managed with a clear sense of direction
Gather is a SaaS platform for construction record management. Their product helps construction professionals capture, manage, and analyse site records digitally, often in challenging on-site environments. The business is moving from early adopters into mainstream construction companies, meaning the software being built is used daily by real customers solving real operational problems. Gather is a small team with ambitious growth plans and a recently rebuilt platform.
Tonic Recruitment is supporting Gather in the search for a Head of Product Development to take ownership of the technical direction of the platform during its next stage of growth. This is a senior, hands-on role combining technical leadership and delivery. The successful candidate will act as the senior technical and product voice within a small engineering team, remaining actively involved in building features while guiding technical direction and ensuring the platform scales in a stable, reliable way.
This is not a heavily people-managed role. There are no large teams or layers of approval. The focus is on ownership, judgement, and delivery, with the autonomy to make pragmatic technical decisions that directly impact the product and the business.
What you will be doing:
Own the platform: Lead architectural decisions across the Symfony/Pimcore backend and React (MUI) frontends, keeping the platform stable and performant as usage grows.
Ship full-stack features: Build features across the web and Android applications, including offline-capable functionality that synchronises when connectivity is restored.
Apply technical judgement: Balance feature delivery with technical improvements, making informed trade-offs that support long-term product health.
Support scale and reliability: Take responsibility for API stability, performance, and deployment workflows in a growing SaaS environment.
Shape direction: Influence the technical roadmap, including where AI adds genuine value alongside structured, deterministic systems.
Guide the team: Act as the senior technical authority within a small, capable engineering team, providing direction and support while remaining hands-on.
What you will need:
Essential experience
Strong PHP experience using modern frameworks (Symfony preferred, Laravel acceptable)
Confident frontend experience with React and TypeScript
Proven experience designing and maintaining REST APIs in production
Strong SQL experience (MySQL / MariaDB), including schema design and query optimisation
Solid understanding of full-stack systems, including how frontends, APIs, and databases interact
Comfortable working collaboratively using Git-based workflows
Manchester-based (or within ~1 hour commute) and happy with a hybrid working model
Nice to Have
Experience with Pimcore or similar platforms
Exposure to React Native or mobile application development
Experience working in SaaS or product-led environments
Familiarity with Docker, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud environments
Interest or experience using AI/LLMs pragmatically
Background in construction, infrastructure, or enterprise software
Personal attributes
Comfortable taking ownership and working autonomously
Confident communicating technical ideas and trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders
Pragmatic in balancing quality with delivery
Open, collaborative, and professional in discussion and decision-making
Objective and outcome-focused, with strong long-term product thinking
