Lead Software Engineer

Haven; Hemel Hempstead; Remote; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Holiday allowance

Discretionary annual bonus

Staff discounts

Haven breaks

Health plan

Partner discounts

Learning & development

Family-friendly policies

Job summary

Haven is seeking a Lead Engineer in the UK, remote-first with occasional visits to Hemel Hempstead or Haven parks. You will guide the technical direction, architecture, and AI-enabled practices across a delivery squad, balancing hands-on coding with strategic leadership.

You’ll mentor engineers, collaborate with product and design, and help shape Haven’s engineering standards while delivering high-quality, secure software across the lifecycle.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience as a software engineer in a similar environment, using relevant technology.
• Proven experience in a Lead Engineer role, fostering a strong, collaborative team.
• Excellent working knowledge of AI-enabled software engineering, including AI tooling and agentic workflows.
• Strong grounding in software design principles (SOLID, Clean Code) and testing practices.
• Solid architecture skills across discovery, domain modelling, and solution definition.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction and architecture for your squad.
• Define and evolve the squad's backlog alongside the Product Manager and UX Designer.
• Lead by example in the design and implementation of high-quality solutions.
• Own the squad's engineering practice, embedding AI-enabled ways of working.
• Communicate progress and decisions clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Coach, mentor, and support the professional development of squad engineers.
• Collaborate with other squads to drive continual improvement.
• Be the initial point of contact for issues affecting engineers' delivery.
• Contribute to the simplification of Haven's digital estate.
• Continue to develop your own software engineering capability.

Skills

Lead Engineer experience

AI-enabled software engineering

TypeScript

React

Node.js

AWS

DevOps & SRE

Security best practices (OWASP)

Effective communication

Stakeholder management

Tools

TypeScript

AWS

React

Node.js

Job description

UK Based - Remote-first with occasional visits to Hemel Hempstead or on Park

Permanent | Full Time

Competitive salary + bonus and benefits

About the role

Are you an experienced software engineering leader passionate about AI-enabled ways of working? If so, we want to hear from you! Haven is looking for a Lead Engineer to join our growing Technology team, taking joint ownership of the direction and output of a delivery squad alongside a Product Manager and UX Designer.

You’ll set the technical direction, define the architecture, and be the key technical contact for squad stakeholders and the wider business. You’ll shape how the squad adopts and continually improves AI-enabled engineering practices, ensuring work is well-structured, appropriately supported, and delivered to a high standard of quality, security, reliability, and maintainability.

This is a strongly hands-on role suited to a technical leader who thrives on building capable teams, coaching engineers, and staying close to the code. Typically you’ll spend around 80% of your time hands-on in smaller teams (and 60% in larger ones), balancing leadership, mentoring, and stakeholder engagement across the software delivery lifecycle. You will also commit to being part of our Engineering Lead community, actively contributing to developing the overall engineering standards across Haven, discussing and solving architectural challenges and providing peer support as appropriate.

• Set the technical direction and architecture for your squad
• Define and evolve the squad's backlog alongside the Product Manager and UX Designer, ensuring work is well understood and structured
• Lead by example in the design and implementation of high-quality solutions
• Own the squad's engineering practice, embedding effective, sustainable, AI-enabled ways of working
• Communicate progress, risks, difficulties, ideas, and decisions clearly to technical and non-technical audiences
• Coach, mentor, and support the professional development of squad engineers
• Collaborate with and support other squads, driving continual improvement across the wider engineering team
• Act as the initial point of contact for issues affecting engineers' ability to deliver (access, tooling, third-party engagement)
• Contribute to the simplification of Haven's digital estate
• Continue to develop your own software engineering capability

What we'd like you to bring

• Extensive experience as a software engineer in a similar environment, using relevant technology
• Proven experience in a Lead Engineer role, demonstrating the ability to foster a strong, collaborative and highly productive team.
• Excellent working knowledge of AI-enabled software engineering, including AI tooling, context management, prompting, agentic workflows, appropriate human validation, and common limitations
• Excellent working knowledge of TypeScript, AWS, React and Node.js
• Strong grounding in software design principles (SOLID, Clean Code), TDD, and other testing practices
• Excellent solution architecture skills across discovery, domain modelling, tool selection, systems architecture, and solution definition
• Solid working knowledge of Agile, Lean, and OKRs practices and principles
• Good working knowledge of DevOps and SRE (CI/CD, logging, monitoring, alerting), plus AWS or Azure
• Good working knowledge of relevant security concerns (e.g. OWASP Top 10)
• Strong coaching, communication, and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to work autonomously, manage your time well, and switch context frequently in a remote setting

Why Haven?

Haven is the UK's leading holiday operator, welcoming around 4 million guests every year to our 38 parks and 3 exclusive owners-only sites. From Scotland to Cornwall, Norfolk to Wales, our parks are dotted along some of the most breath-taking parts of the great British coastline.

A career here is more than just a job. We're one great team of up to 12,500 during peak season, united by a passion for creating experiences and memories that last a lifetime — for guests, owners and each other. It's what we call our Breath of Fresh Air culture: valuing and supporting every team member to be their authentic self and putting people at the heart of every decision we make.

This role is remote-first. You'll be based from home most of the time, with occasional visits to our Hemel Hempstead head office or Haven parks — typically around three days on Park per quarter — for team collaboration, workshops and external events.

What's In It For You?

• 25 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays + Holiday Buy Scheme
• Discretionary annual bonus
• 20% discount on both Haven and Warner Hotels holiday for you, family and friends
• One 4-night Haven break discounted 75%, per year
• Health Cash Plan
• Exclusive discounts with corporate partners
• Exciting career pathways, including Learning and Development opportunities such as Apprenticeships and Degrees
• Enhanced family friendly policies and pay (eligibility criteria applied)

What can you expect during the recruitment process?

Our interview process depends on the role but is up to 3 stages and may contain a presentation or skills test.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of who we are and what we do. Our commitment to these values is unwavering and they are central to our mission. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries and we are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments or flexibility that you may require, including whether a role can be part-time or a job-share.

We genuinely care about every candidate's experience during the recruitment process and are here to provide support where we can. If you require any assistance or reasonable adjustments while applying, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at [e-mail].