Overview:
Patch are hiring a CTO / Lead developer. We are expanding our tech team as part of scaling the company. This is an opportunity to make a big impact on our E- commerce platform and help shape the new services we’re creating.
About Patch:
● In 2016, Patch supplies the owners of London’s windowsills, balconies and roof terraces with personalised garden and outdoor products.
● The initial focus for Patch is to provide a modern alternative to outdoor decorating, gardening (outdoor and indoor) and the garden centre.
● Currently a team of six based in East London near Old Street Station with plans for headcount growth in the months ahead.
● The founder/CEO, Freddie Blackett is a thorough, intelligent and thoughtful entrepreneur who is passionate about the problems that he’s solving. His background in brand consulting provides him with an important disruptive skill in an old-fashioned industry.
● Patch is well capitalised through early-stage investors Forward Partners with a seed round of £250,000, and is positioning for a significant institutional round next year.
● The size of the addressable urban eCommerce market in the UK is estimated to be worth £3.22bn and with only 5% penetration Patch would be become a £160m revenue business.
● The business has already caught the attention of BBC’s Gardeners World stalwart Gay Search who sits on the advisory panel and provides daily tips to Patch’s growing and loyal customer base.
Our Story:
Back in 2014, Freddie and his girlfriend moved in together and, in an effort to put his stamp on what was his girlfriends place, he soon made it his mission to turn the bare, unloved balcony into an urban garden that they could be proud of. One long weekend, Freddie reached the conclusion that this was going to be far easier said than done.
Firstly, he realised that he had no idea what plants he liked nor what kind would be right for their little east-facing balcony. It then dawned on him that he was going to have to travel to the city’s far reaches to find a garden centre and, once he’d eventually got to one, he couldn’t find anyone or anything to help guide him. So Freddie pulled out his iPhone and headed online. ‘Surely there’s a half-decent online garden centre’, he thought. And there was but more the experienced country gardener and nothing for a clueless urban gardener like Freddie.
In the end, Freddie bought some plants from a nearby supermarket but, within four weeks, they were dead. The plant paradise he had promised to create, soon looked rather sorry for itself.
Disheartened but still determined, Freddie picked up some books, got back on the horse named ‘Gardening’ and started learning. In the meantime, he heard more and more of his friends were struggling with the same plant problems that he had been having. So Freddie thought he would try to find a way to help them and others.
That’s how Patch was born, in December 2015.
At Patch, we want to make it easy for anyone and everyone to get into gardening. To do that, we bring our customers fresh, personalised ideas, we source the best plants and products from the best suppliers in the UK, then we deliver them to their new home, along with all the tips an urban gardener could possibly need to look after their new garden.
Our Plans:
Patch has a clear 12-month operational plan, which includes further geographical and target customer expansion, product and service diversification. Beyond that point, the focus will shift to claiming a presence in multiple urban locations in the UK and creating additional value from the significant additional opportunity in the proprietary design and production of products appropriate for urban gardens.
Links:
Patch: Transform your space in the perfect urban garden
The Telegraph - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/how-to-grow/do-urban-gardeners-need-a-bespoke-service-to-get-started/
Platform:
At Patch, we want to bring the very best of the garden centre experience online. In the medium term, this is split into two main areas:
1: Ecommerce: driving excellence as an online garden centre by ensuring we provide a truly personalised and user-focused shopping experience, which incorporates all e-commerce best practices and takes them to the next level.
2: Business processes: systems automation, reporting tools, and other internal processes so that all functions of our business (e.g., operations, marketing, etc.) can work most efficiently.
Technology:
The current technology platform operates on a world class, highly scalable python-oriented stack, setup by the Forward Partners technical team. Continuous integration and deployment processes are already in place, allowing us to continuously deliver value to our customers. The technologies currently in use include: Python, Django, PostgreSQL, Redis, Celery, RabbitMQ, React, MobX, Webpack. The local development environment is built on top of Docker and the production environment is fully powered by Amazon Web Services (EC2, S3, RDS, ElastiCache, Route53, ELB, among others).
We are passionate about Python whilst open minded about other technologies. We evaluate different languages and frameworks for new services and as part of our R&D.
The Role:
We are looking for software developers with a track record of getting things done. We are a customer-focused company, so we want to hear from people who are motivated by making great end-products as well as writing high quality code. Being one of the early tech team hires you’ll have the opportunity to shape the role as the company grows.
Testing is important to us. You should have experience of writing automated tests, or are very keen to start working using TDD. You’ll be part of code reviews as well as planning how to implement new features.
Bonus points for:
1: Significant experience with AWS
2: Open source contributions
3: Experience with JS frameworks or native mobile development
4: Server admin/DevOps experience
Location: Old Street, London.
Please apply for a full in-depth role description document.
No recruiters please.