Lead Software Engineer: Scalable, Secure Systems Leader

National Grid; Devon and Torbay; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual bonus up to 30%

Pension scheme with company match

Cycle scheme

Share incentive plan

Technology schemes

Digital GP and NHS prescriptions

Access to Work + Family Space

Job summary

National Grid is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to guide a team of engineers, shaping secure, scalable software for cloud and on‑prem environments. Reporting to the Head of Software Engineering, you will drive architectural standards and reduce technical debt while delivering aligned outcomes.

You will mentor the team, promote Agile practices, and foster an inclusive, collaborative culture within the Technology department. Strong hands-on coding and leadership are essential for success.

Qualifications

• Strong experience designing and delivering scalable software systems.
• Proven ability to lead engineering teams and mentor engineers.
• Solid grasp of microservices, event-driven architectures, and secure software practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a high-performing software engineering team with technical direction and growth opportunities.
• Guide architectural decisions for modular, secure, and maintainable solutions.
• Define and enforce engineering standards and best practices across the team.
• Identify and manage technical debt and plan long-term platform health.
• Monitor large-scale distributed systems for performance and reliability.
• Build automation for configuration management, provisioning, and deployment.
• Collaborate with QA, IT Ops, and Product teams to deliver high-quality outcomes.
• Own project delivery, timelines, resources, and documentation.

Skills

Python

Java

C++

Leadership

Architectural design

CI/CD

Security practices

Education

Bachelor's in Computer Science

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

Terraform

AWS

Job description

National Grid is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to guide a team of engineers, shaping secure, scalable software for cloud and on‑prem environments. Reporting to the Head of Software Engineering, you will drive architectural standards and reduce technical debt while delivering aligned outcomes.

You will mentor the team, promote Agile practices, and foster an inclusive, collaborative culture within the Technology department. Strong hands-on coding and leadership are essential for success.