It is meritocratic, we don't technically have tech lead, but we do have seniority. However, the most senior engineer doesn't pretend/try to give the impression

It is meritocratic, we don't technically have tech lead, but we do have seniority. However, the most senior engineer doesn't pretend/try to give the impression that he knows everything. Usually each person will have a portion of the project that he knows best and his opinions are the primary driver in that portion. Others give recommendations based on those opinion and not overriding them (normally). There are larger issues in direction but for those I think all of our opinions are fairly similar - being engineers, we dislike complexity and like things maintainable and extendable.