Team Roles — What Each Person Actually Does
| Role | Primary Responsibility | Typical UK Salary (2025) | When You Need One |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product Manager | Define what to build and why. Roadmap, user research, stakeholder management. | £55K–£130K | From first product decision — often founder initially |
| UX Designer | User research, wireframes, prototypes, design system. | £45K–£105K | When UI quality is a product differentiator |
| Frontend Developer | React/TypeScript UI, accessibility, performance. | £44K–£118K | Any product with a user interface |
| Backend Developer | Node.js/Python APIs, database, business logic. | £44K–£118K | Any product with a server-side component |
| Full Stack Developer | Both frontend and backend — most efficient for small teams. | £46K–£122K | Small teams needing versatility |
| QA / SDET | Test strategy, automated test frameworks, quality gates. | £25K–£100K | From first production deployment |
| DevOps / Platform Engineer | CI/CD, infrastructure, cloud, deployment. | £35K–£135K | From first cloud deployment |
| Technical Lead | Architecture decisions, code quality, mentoring, stakeholder bridge. | £72K–£165K | When team exceeds 4 engineers |
| Engineering Manager | People management, hiring, delivery governance. | £80K–£185K | When Technical Lead is overwhelmed by people needs |
Team Topologies for UK Software Companies
| Topology | Structure | Best For | UK Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stream-aligned | Small, full-stack team owns a product stream end-to-end | Most UK product companies | 5-person team owns the payments product |
| Platform | Shared infrastructure team serving multiple stream teams | Scale-ups with multiple product lines | Platform team owns CI/CD, cloud, observability |
| Enabling | Specialist team helps stream teams adopt new capabilities | Regulated sector compliance rollout | DTAC compliance team helping 3 NHS product teams |
| Complicated subsystem | Expert team owns a hard technical component | ML model, security module, FHIR integration | NHS FHIR integration team shared across 3 products |
In-House vs Agency vs Staff Augmentation — UK Decision Framework
IR35 in UK team structures: Hiring individual contractors directly creates IR35 assessment obligations. ClickMasters staff augmentation: our engineers are employees — zero IR35 liability for your business, one monthly invoice.
| Approach | Cost | Speed | IP Risk | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In-house hire | Highest (salary + on-costs + IR35) | Slowest (3–6 months to hire) | None | Core long-term product team |
| Agency (fixed price) | Predictable | Fast (2–4 weeks start) | IP transfer required | MVP, project-based build |
| Staff augmentation | Medium (monthly rate) | Fast (2 weeks onboard) | Minimal (employees) | Scaling existing team |
| Offshore T&M | Lowest day rate | Medium (time zone risk) | High (IP enforcement) | NOT recommended for regulated UK software |
| ClickMasters fixed price | Transparent GBP | 2 weeks to start | 100% transferred | UK commercial software — all sectors |