Lead/Principal Software Engineer

Sanderson Government and Defence; Altofts; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

Sanderson Government and Defence is seeking an experienced software engineer to design, develop, document, deploy, and enhance secure cloud platform features. You will work on mission‑critical data platforms in a regulated environment, translating requirements into robust technical solutions and contributing to planning and estimation of user stories.

Collaborating with cross‑functional teams, you will build and maintain CI/CD pipelines, ensure automated testing and code reviews, and take

Qualifications

• 5+ years delivering production-grade cloud solutions.
• Proficient in Java; JVM languages such as Kotlin or Scala.
• Experience with Kafka or similar streaming platforms.
• Experience in Agile DevSecOps environments and Zero Trust.
• Experience integrating with backend services like PostgreSQL, Redis, or object storage.
• Strong engineering fundamentals: clean code, automated testing, CD, code reviews.
• Experience using Git-based version control.
• Experience with test-driven development.
• Understanding microservices architecture and patterns.
• Exposure to big data technologies.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, document, deploy, and enhance platform features.
• Contribute to elaboration and estimation of user stories within the team.
• Deliver frequent, incremental releases to maintain delivery momentum.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional engineering teams, ensuring shared ownership and coverage.
• Build, optimise, and maintain continuous deployment pipelines.
• Take operational responsibility for services owned by our team.

Skills

Java

Kotlin

Scala

Kafka

DevSecOps

Zero Trust

Git

Test-driven development

Microservices

Big data

Cloud platforms

Tools

PostgreSQL

Redis

Object storage

Job description

Salary: £100,000 - 100,000 per year

Requirements

• We require at least 5 years of experience delivering production-grade cloud solutions.
• We are looking for strong proficiency in Java and experience with JVM-based languages such as Kotlin or Scala.
• We require experience working with Kafka or similar streaming platforms.
• We value experience in Agile DevSecOps environments and Zero Trust architecture.
• We require experience integrating with backend services such as PostgreSQL, Redis, or object storage solutions.
• We expect strong engineering fundamentals, including clean code, automated testing, continuous delivery, and code reviews.
• We require experience using version control and collaboration tools such as Git-based platforms.
• We value proven experience with test-driven development practices.
• We expect understanding of microservices architecture and design patterns.
• We value exposure to big data technologies.

Responsibilities

• We design, develop, document, deploy, and enhance platform features in line with functional and non-functional requirements.
• We contribute to the elaboration and estimation of user stories within the team.
• We deliver frequent, incremental releases to maintain delivery momentum.
• We collaborate closely with cross-functional engineering teams, ensuring shared ownership and coverage.
• We build, optimise, and maintain continuous deployment pipelines.
• We take operational responsibility for services owned by our team.

Technologies

• Big Data
• Backend
• Cloud
• DevSecOps
• Git
• Support
• JVM
• Java
• Kafka
• Kotlin
• PostgreSQL
• Redis
• Scala
• Security
• microservices
• DevOps

More

We are a collaborative, Agile team working on secure cloud and data platforms across private and public cloud environments. We offer the opportunity to contribute to high-impact, mission-critical projects in a secure and regulated domain, with support for obtaining advanced security clearance. We foster an inclusive and supportive culture that puts people first and values innovation, continuous improvement, and partnership. This role is an excellent opportunity for an experienced engineer looking to work on cutting-edge cloud and data platforms while contributing to meaningful, real-world outcomes.

last updated 40 week of 2026