Software Engineering Lead

Elsevier; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

An international information and analytics leader in Greater London is seeking a Software Engineering Lead to guide the Graph Traversal Search Team. You will be responsible for providing architectural direction and ensuring the team delivers scalable, innovative solutions. The ideal candidate will have proven experience in software development with expertise in Java and cloud-native architectures. This role offers a flexible working environment with numerous benefits, including generous vacation and well-being initiatives.

Benefits

Comprehensive Pension Plan

Flexible working hours

Generous vacation entitlement

Maternity and Paternity leave

Employee Assistance Program

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Software Engineering Lead or Tech Lead.
• Hands-on experience with GraphQL APIs.
• Solid background with AWS and Kubernetes.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Graph Traversal Search Team in architecture and implementation.
• Drive application development using Java and Spring Boot.
• Integrate with AWS services to support data pipelines.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

GraphQL APIs

Kubernetes

Cloud-native architecture

Team leadership

Clear communication

Job description

Software Engineering Lead

Are you excited about shaping the future of intelligent search?
Do you thrive on leading teams to build scalable AI‑driven platforms that power next‑generation experiences?

About the team

The Search and AI Platform is Elsevier’s agentic data platform, which powers products such as Scopus, ScienceDirect, and our next‑generation LLM‑powered research systems.

The platform uses agentic services to interrogate our rich knowledge graphs, search and recommendation systems, and our unparalleled collection of research data to deliver insights to the scientific community so they can collaborate more effectively, work smarter, and deliver quality research more quickly.

We are looking for an innovative, enthusiastic lead to work as part of the team building and enhancing our platform to deliver intelligent, scalable solutions that create real value for our clients.

About the role

The Graph Traversal Search Team is a core part of Elsevier’s Search and AI Platform, powering products such as Scopus, ScienceDirect, and our next‑generation LLM‑powered research systems.

This team builds graph‑based search capabilities that interrogate our rich knowledge graphs, enabling advanced traversal, discovery, and recommendation systems. As Software Engineering Lead, you will provide technical leadership, architectural direction, and mentoring, ensuring the team delivers scalable, dependable, and innovative solutions that accelerate scientific discovery.

Key responsibilities

• Leading the Graph Traversal Search Team, guiding architecture, design, and implementation of graph‑based search services.

• Driving the development of applications using Java, Spring Boot, Spring GraphQL, and Apollo Federated Gateway.

• Architect and optimise GraphQL APIs and federated services for unified data access.

• Overseeing deployment and scaling strategies on Kubernetes (EKS), ensuring resilience, observability, and high availability.

• Integrating with AWS services (S3, Parameter Store, SQS, SNS, Kinesis) to support ingestion, storage, and messaging pipelines.

• Championing clean code, SOLID principles, and engineering best practices, setting standards and mentoring engineers.

• Collaborating with product managers, data scientists, and other engineering teams to deliver advanced search and recommendation features.

• Ensuring robust monitoring and logging with New Relic and ELK, driving reliability and performance.

Requirements

• Proven experience as a Software Engineering Lead / Tech Lead / Principal in distributed systems or search platforms.

• Strong expertise in Java and the Spring Boot ecosystem.

• Hands‑on experience with GraphQL APIs and federated API design.

• An advocate of best practices for rapid development of quality software, including clean code, architectural design patterns, CI/CD.

• Solid background in cloud‑native architectures with AWS and Kubernetes (EKS).

• Comfortable learning new technologies, languages, and tools on the job, to ensure that the product is not left behind in a rapidly evolving ecosystem.

• Excellent communication and leadership skills, with a track record of mentoring and guiding teams.

• An inclusive, positive, collaborative mindset and a desire to deliver real business value to our customers.

Nice to have

• Experience with Apollo Router or advanced GraphQL federation strategies.

• Background in data modelling for graph‑based systems.

• Familiarity with search platforms or AI‑driven discovery systems.

Why join us?

Join our team and contribute to a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence. If you are ready to advance your career and make a significant impact, we encourage you to apply.

Work in a way that works for you

We promote a healthy work/life balance across the organisation. We offer an appealing working prospect for our people. With numerous wellbeing initiatives, shared parental leave, study assistance and sabbaticals, we will help you meet your immediate responsibilities and your long‑term goals.

• Working flexible hours – flexing the times when you work in the day to help you fit everything in and work when you are the most productive.

Working for you

We know that your well‑being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. These are some of the benefits we are delighted to offer:

• Comprehensive Pension Plan

• Home, office, or commuting allowance.

• Generous vacation entitlement and option for sabbatical leave

• Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Family Care leave

• Flexible working hours

• Personal Choice budget

• Internal communities and networks

• Various employee discounts

• Recruitment introduction reward

• Employee Assistance Program (global)

About the business –

A global leader in information and analytics, we help researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. Building on our publishing heritage, we combine quality information and vast data sets with analytics to support visionary science and research, health education and interactive learning, as well as exceptional healthcare and clinical practice. At Elsevier, your work contributes to the world’s grand challenges and a more sustainable future. We harness innovative technologies to support science and healthcare to partner for a better world.

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