Lead Software Engineer

Jobtailor

Greater London

On-site

GBP 110,000 - 170,000

Full time

3 days ago

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Job summary

8th Light is seeking a seasoned technologist to lead architecture and AI/ML integrations across diverse client engagements. You will drive production-grade coding and mentor teams while aligning with client leadership on roadmaps and risks.

You will guide the full ML lifecycle, ensure reliable deployments, and foster a culture of learning and collaboration. This role emphasizes stakeholder empathy, high-quality delivery, and strategic thinking in complex environments.

Qualifications

Typically 7+ years of long-term, repeated success across a variety of projects.
Successfully led high-stakes consulting engagements from discovery to production.
Production-quality coding experience across Java, C#/.NET, Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Go, Ruby, Scala, R and SQL.

Responsibilities

Lead as a technologist across varied client projects and technologies.
Make immediate project contributions and rapidly build client trust.
Balance technology choices pragmatically while delivering high-quality work within deadlines.
Lead architecture and software design discussions.
Collaborate on systems spanning the full ML lifecycle from data ingestion and preprocessing through model deployment, integration, and performance monitoring.
Generate technical and non-technical solutions with team members and clients.
Lead or initiate formal feedback conversations through retrospectives.
Document outcomes and drive action items forward.
Model 8th Light's Values and contribute to team and company culture.
Ensure a healthy, prioritized, and estimated team backlog.
Manage high-level project roadmaps for large engagements.
Maintain relationships with client technical leaders.
Conduct regular client status and risk-review syncs and present potential solutions.
Identify, mitigate, and resolve blockers to team progress.
Mentor, lead or design internal/client workshops, represent 8th Light in the tech community, and support hiring processes

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder communication

Mentoring

Ambiguity navigation

Team collaboration

Problem solving

Tools

Java

C#/.NET

Python

TypeScript

JavaScript

React

Ruby

Scala

SQL

Databricks

LangChain

LlamaIndex

CrewAI

N8n

RAG Pipelines

Git

CI/CD

MacOS

Linux

Job description

Lead as a technologist across varied client projects and technologies
Make immediate project contributions and rapidly build client trust
Balance technology choices pragmatically while delivering high-quality work within deadlines
Lead architecture and software design discussions
Collaborate on systems spanning the full ML lifecycle from data ingestion and preprocessing through model deployment, integration, and performance monitoring
Generate technical and non-technical solutions with team members and clients
Lead or initiate formal feedback conversations through retrospectives
Document outcomes and drive action items forward
Model 8th Light's Values and contribute to team and company culture
Ensure a healthy, prioritized, and estimated team backlog
Manage high-level project roadmaps for large engagements
Maintain relationships with client technical leaders
Conduct regular client status and risk-review syncs and present potential solutions
Identify, mitigate, and resolve blockers to team progress
Mentor, lead or design internal/client workshops, represent 8th Light in the tech community, and support hiring processes

Requirements

Typically 7+ years of long-term, repeated success across a variety of projects
Successfully led high-stakes consulting engagements from discovery to production
Production-quality coding experience with languages and frameworks including Java, C#/.NET, Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Go, Ruby, Scala, R, and SQL
Experience leveraging AI-assistive development tools for scaffolding, refactoring, debugging, test generation, and documentation
Experience building or integrating AI/ML-powered features
Experience with automated testing
Experience debugging and refactoring pre-existing code
Experience collaborating using Git, MacOS/Linux, and CI/CD
Experience addressing scalability, security, reliability, and performance concerns
Experience bringing together people from different functions and perspectives
Ability to make recommendations and set direction amid ambiguity
Ability to mentor and share knowledge
Ability to give and receive feedback effectively
Empathic communication with stakeholders and colleagues
Ability to balance technical considerations with product and user needs
Strongly preferred: platform engineering, data engineering including Databricks, production agentic systems including RAG pipelines, vector search and frameworks such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, AutoGen, and n8n, DevSecOps/DevOps, MLOps, and Infrastructure as Code

Core Competencies

Demonstrates extensive experience in leading high-stakes consulting engagements, with a strong focus on software architecture, AI/ML integration, and production-quality coding across multiple programming languages. Capable of mentoring teams, managing project roadmaps, and fostering effective communication with stakeholders.

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