Lead Java Developer

Royal London; Alderley Edge; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading mutual life and pensions company is seeking a Lead Java Developer to spearhead new technology solutions for investment products in their Alderley Park office. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in Java development, cloud technologies, and mentoring junior staff. This role offers a hybrid working environment and vibrant workplace benefits.

Benefits

28 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Up to 14% employer matching pension scheme

Private medical insurance

Qualifications

• Expert in enterprise Java development with Spring.
• Experienced in developing microservices and event-driven architectures.
• Strong knowledge of cloud-based environments and container orchestration.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of a new state-of-the-art investments platform.
• Build and maintain technology solutions for investment product offerings.
• Mentor junior developers and ensure best practices are followed.

Skills

Enterprise Java development with Spring

REST API microservice development

Event streaming with Kafka

NoSQL databases such as MongoDB

Cloud hosting and containerisation platforms like Kubernetes

TDD and automated testing

Low latency and optimised runtimes

Agile development practices

Leadership and mentorship

Job description

Date: 3 Sept 2025

Company: Royal London Group

Contract Type: Permanent

Working style: Hybrid 50% home/office based

Overview

We are seeking expertly skilled and experienced Lead Java Developers to play a lead role in building amazing digital solutions for our customers and business users. The team will be focussed on delivering a new state-of-the-art investments platform, an undertaking that is expected to take several years.

About you

• Expert in enterprise Java development with Spring.
• Expert in REST API microservice development and event streaming with Kafka.
• Expert in persistence and caching layers, NoSQL databases such as MongoDB.
• Expert in cloud hosting and containerisation platforms such as Kubernetes.
• Expert in TDD and left-most automated testing.
• Experienced in low latency, highly performant, optimised runtimes.
• Experienced in agile development practices and the full software development lifecycle.
• Thrives under little to no supervision.
• An experienced development lead and mentor.
• Continuously developing new skills, driving best practice and emerging technology adoption.

About the Opportunity

• We are forming new engineering capability in our Alderley Park office to deliver and maintain a new technology solution which will support our investment product offering.
• We have more than 80 vacancies for people to be part of this exciting opportunity.
• Modernising our technology is fundamental to realising our ambitions and achieving sustained competitive advantage. It will allow us to develop an innovative and leading proposition, achieve speed to market and ongoing pace of change, and maintain a competitive cost-to-develop and cost-to-serve.

About Royal London

We’re the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company, offering protection, long-term savings and asset management products and services.

OurPeople Promise to our colleagues is that we will all work somewhere inclusive, responsible, enjoyable and fulfilling. This is underpinned by our Spirit of Royal London values; Empowered, Trustworthy, Collaborate, Achieve.

We\'ve always been proud to reward employees by offering great workplace benefits such as 28 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays, an up to 14% employer matching pension scheme and private medical insurance. You can see all our benefits here -Our Benefits

Inclusion, diversity and belonging

We’re anInclusive employer. We celebrate and value different backgrounds and cultures across Royal London. Our diverse people and perspectives give us a range of skills which are recognised and respected – whatever their background.