Lead Software Engineer

Burns Sheehan Limited; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Burns Sheehan Limited is partnering with a fast-growing UK SaaS business to hire a Lead Software Engineer. This role blends technical influence with hands-on coding in a modern full-stack environment, using TypeScript and Node.js.

You will shape the product's direction, own architectural decisions, and collaborate with product stakeholders to deliver scalable software while maintaining high quality and security standards. Remote-first with regular Manchester onsite.

Qualifications

• Strong TypeScript and Node.js skills with production systems experience.
• Ability to lead architecture while remaining an individual contributor.
• Solid understanding of software design, automated testing, CI/CD, and production support.
• Experience building secure, maintainable, scalable systems.

Responsibilities

• Shape technical direction: lead design, scoping and architectural decisions.
• Stay hands-on: design, build and ship production software across a modern full-stack environment, with TypeScript and Node.js at its core.
• Turn ideas into delivery: work with product and business stakeholders to break down complex requirements into clear, deliverable increments.
• Explore the unknown: prototype solutions, run technical spikes and validate architectural approaches before committing to a direction.
• Raise engineering standards: champion clean code, SOLID principles, design patterns, automated testing and secure development practices.
• Own what you build: take responsibility for the quality, performance and operability of your systems, including supporting live products and resolving production issues.
• Evolve the way software is built: explore AI-enabled and agentic development workflows to improve engineering efficiency without compromising quality.

Skills

TypeScript

Node.js

Architectural leadership

Automated testing

CI/CD

Production support

Security

Full-stack

AI-driven workflows

Hands-on engineering

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

Lead Software Engineer |Scaling SaaS | Up to £100k

Remote-first | Monthly or quarterly onsite in Manchester

Are you looking for your next role to give you the technical influence to shape a product, the autonomy to make important engineering decisions, and the opportunity to stay hands-on with the code?

We’re partnering with a fast-growing UK SaaS business operating in the B2B space. With customer-facing products at the heart of their growth, the business is looking for an experienced Lead Software Engineer to help drive the design and delivery of its next generation of software.

This is an opportunity for an engineer who enjoys working beyond the boundaries of a traditional development ticket: getting involved early, challenging assumptions, exploring solutions and taking ownership from initial design through to production.

You won’t just influence the technical direction. You’ll help build it.

What you’ll be doing:

• Shape technical direction: Lead solution design, scoping and architectural decisions, balancing customer needs with long-term maintainability and scalability.
• Stay hands-on: Design, build and ship production software across a modern full-stack environment, with TypeScript and Node.js at its core.
• Turn ideas into delivery: Work with product and business stakeholders to break down complex requirements into clear, deliverable increments.
• Explore the unknown: Prototype solutions, run technical spikes and validate architectural approaches before committing to a direction.
• Raise engineering standards: Champion clean code, SOLID principles, design patterns, automated testing and secure development practices.
• Own what you build: Take responsibility for the quality, performance and operability of your systems, including supporting live products and resolving production issues.
• Evolve the way software is built: Explore AI-enabled and agentic development workflows to improve engineering efficiency without compromising quality.

What are they looking for:

• Strong TypeScript and Node.js skills, with experience designing and delivering production systems.
• The ability to lead architectural decisions while remaining a highly effective individual contributor.
• A solid understanding of software design principles, automated testing, CI/CD and production support.
• Experience building secure, maintainable and performant systems at scale.