Lead Software Engineer

JR United Kingdom; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 140,000 - 161,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading consultancy in London is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to spearhead a specialist engineering unit focused on cloud and data solutions. This hybrid role offers a competitive salary of £140k+, along with a performance-based bonus and opportunities for impactful work in a dynamic environment.

Benefits

10% performance-based bonus

Pension

25 days holiday + bank holidays

Learning & Development opportunities

Great company culture and socials

Qualifications

• Experience as a Senior/Lead Software Engineer or similar.
• Deep experience with cloud deployments, especially AWS.
• Experience leading and mentoring teams.

Responsibilities

• Leading a growing team on complex data and cloud engineering projects.
• Designing and delivering distributed solutions on an AWS-centric stack.
• Guiding architecture and implementation of large-scale data pipelines.

Skills

Cloud deployments

Software Engineering

Data engineering

Leadership

DevOps principles

Tools

AWS

Databricks

Apache Iceberg

Kubernetes

Job description

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Lead Software Engineer, London (City of London)

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Client:

Location:

London (City of London), United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Views:

1

Posted:

23.05.2025

Expiry Date:

07.07.2025

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Job Description:

Hybrid (1–2 days/week in office) | £140k+ Package | Security-Cleared or Security Clearable required

Our client is a mission-driven consultancy delivering high-impact intelligence, research, and technical services to governments and private sector clients globally. The brand is well known for making a real-world difference.

As we continue to expand, we’re hiring a Lead Software Engineer/Founding Engineer to lead a specialist engineering unit delivering microservice-based cloud and data solutions at scale. This is a hands-on technical leadership role working closely with the CTO, shaping architecture and tooling, and influencing the future of our engineering capability.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Leading a growing team (currently 2 engineers + external partners) on complex data and cloud engineering projects
• Designing and delivering distributed solutions on an AWS-centric stack, with open-source flexibility
• Working with Databricks, Apache Iceberg, and Kubernetes in a cloud-agnostic environment
• Guiding architecture and implementation of large-scale data pipelines for structured and unstructured data
• Steering software stack decisions, best practices, and legacy tech modernisation
• Collaborating with a multidisciplinary team including intelligence analysts, researchers, and domain specialists
• Supporting clients in highly sensitive and secure environments

Ideal Background

• Senior/Lead/Founding Software Engineer, startup/hands-on CTO, or Lead Architect experience, preferably in cloud-native or high-scale data environments
• Deep experience with Software Engineering, cloud deployments (especially AWS), and orchestration technologies
• Proven delivery of big data solutions—managing high-volume, complex data (structured/unstructured)
• Experience with Databricks, Apache Iceberg, or similar modern data platforms
• Experience building software environments from scratch, setting standards and best practices
• Experience leading and mentoring teams
• Startup/scaleup background and adaptability
• Languages: Open to any engineering language; some Python experience is a plus but not essential
• Cloud: AWS preferred, open to cloud-agnostic approaches
• CI/CD & Ops: Experience with open-source tools and modern DevOps principles

Why Join Us?

• Impactful Work – Help solve security problems that truly matter
• Ownership & Autonomy – Shape the tech stack and strategy alongside the CTO
• Growth – Be part of a company at the forefront of data and intelligence
• Flexibility – Hybrid and remote-friendly, minimal in-office requirements
• £140k base salary with flexibility
• 10% performance-based bonus
• Pension
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• L&D
• Great company culture and socials
• 3-stage interview process (tech test and onsite final stage)