Software Engineering Manager

Hargreaves Lansdown PLC; Bristol; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus

25 days holiday

Hybrid working

Private medical insurance

Pension 11% employer contribution

Life insurance

Health care cash plans

Wellbeing programme

Volunteering days

Job summary

Hargreaves Lansdown plc in Bristol seeks a Software Engineering Manager to lead the Dealing Journeys squad within the Trading Tribe, building scalable, end-to-end client journeys on React and React Native.

You'll coach engineers, own delivery, guide architectural decisions, partner with product, and drive observability and high-velocity delivery in a regulated financial services environment.

Qualifications

• 7+ years building full‑stack applications; 2+ years leading engineering teams.
• Strong frontend, mobile and backend knowledge across React, React Native and APIs.
• Experience with AWS and cloud‑native platforms (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with CI/CD, observability, and scalable system design.
• Proven track record mentoring engineers and delivering in regulated environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead across four areas: people, delivery, tech decision‑making, and strategy.
• Co‑own the product roadmap with the Product Manager, define outcomes and scope.
• Set engineering standards and guide architecture for web and mobile apps.
• Forecast delivery using capacity metrics and communicate risks early.
• Establish guardrails for scope, quality, and non‑functional requirements.
• Champion observability, SLOs, and incident readiness.
• Grow engineers through coaching, feedback, and structured reviews.
• Remove blockers and maintain a sustainable delivery cadence.

Tools

React

React Native

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

API‑driven architectures

System architecture

Leadership

Mentoring

Job description

About the role

We are building a next-generation platform for one of the UK’s leading financial services providers – trusted by over 2 million clients and managing c.£150 billion in assets. This is a unique opportunity to shape technology that will transform how people invest and achieve financial freedom. We are looking for a Software Engineering Manager to lead and grow our Dealing Journeys squad, delivering critical capabilities at the heart of the investment experience. You will join our Trading Tribe – a domain responsible for end-to-end client journeys, from pre-trade decision-making through order placement to trade execution, ensuring fast, reliable, and seamless investing experiences at scale.

In this role, you will work with modern technologies including React and React Native, building distributed, highly available systems on AWS. You will play a key role in fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement, while guiding your team through complex technical and product challenges with clarity and purpose. By joining us, you will help deliver innovative, scalable solutions that make investing simpler and more accessible to millions of users across the UK.

Be part of HL’s future. Be part of the future of investing. Shape it with us.

What you’ll do

As an Engineering Manager, you will lead across four core areas: people, delivery, technical decision-making, and strategic alignment. You will act as a key bridge between engineering and the business, ensuring that technical direction supports product outcomes and client needs. While this is not a hands‑on coding role, a strong technical foundation is essential to effectively guide your team and shape solutions.

Co-own the product roadmap with your Product Manager, defining clear outcomes, shaping scope, and making data-informed trade-offs across value, effort, and risk.

Drive technical decision-making by setting engineering standards, guiding architecture, and reviewing solutions across web and mobile (React / React Native) applications.

Forecast delivery using capacity and flow metrics, communicating timelines, dependencies, and risks early and transparently.

Establish engineering guardrails across scope, quality, and non-functional requirements, enabling teams to design optimal solutions within them.

Champion observability and operational excellence, ensuring system health, SLOs, and alerting are visible and actively managed.

Partner with Tech Leads and Architects on system design and evolution, bringing structured thinking to complex, distributed environments.

Foster a culture of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement, helping teams navigate technical and product challenges with clarity and purpose.

Grow and develop engineers through coaching, feedback, hiring, and creating an environment that supports autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

Remove blockers, drive cross‑functional alignment, and maintain a sustainable, predictable delivery cadence.

What you bring

7+ years of experience building full‑stack applications, with 2+ years leading engineering teams. Strong technical background across frontend, mobile, and backend systems, including React, React Native, and modern API‑driven architectures.

Solid experience with AWS and cloud‑native platforms (e.g. Docker, Kubernetes), with a focus on scalability, resilience, and distributed systems.

Good understanding of full‑stack architecture, including API design and integration, performance optimisation, security, and microservice or event‑driven patterns.

Experience with CI/CD, modern development workflows, and observability practices.

Proven track record of leading high‑performing teams in fast‑paced, complex or regulated environments.

Passion for mentoring and developing engineers through coaching, feedback, and code reviews, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Ability to connect engineering, product, and business needs to deliver seamless, end‑to‑end client journeys.

Strong communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills, with the ability to influence and build alignment across teams.

Why us?

Here at HL, we’re the UK’s number 1 investment platform for private investors, based in Bristol. For more than 40 years we’ve helped investors save time, tax and money on their investments. To achieve our mission, we believe we have a workplace like no other, with constant learning, dynamic teams, and a great ethos. We’re steered by core values that promote service, quality, innovation, and opportunity in everything we do. Hargreaves Lansdown is an inclusive employer that values diversity in its workforce.

We encourage applications from all individuals without regard to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or age.

This role may also be available on a flexible working or part time basis - please ask the Recruitment & Onboarding team for more information.

Please note, we are unable to provide employment sponsorship to candidates.

What's on offer?

• Discretionary annual bonus* and annual pay review
• 25 days* holiday plus bank holidays and 1-day additional Christmas closure
• Option to purchase an additional 5 days holiday**
• Flexible working options available, including hybrid working
• Enhanced parental leave
• Pension scheme up to 11% employer contribution
• Income Protection and Life insurance (4 x salary core level of cover)
• Private medical insurance*
• Health care cash plans - including optical, dental, and outpatient care
• Health screening programme
• Help@hand - confidential support including mental health counselling and remote GP
• Wellhub - unlimited access to fitness providers and wellness coach sessions
• Variety of travel to work schemes with bike storage and shower facilities
• Inhouse barista and deli serving subsidised coffee and sandwiches
• Two paid volunteering days per year * dependant on role level

Hargreaves Lansdown is the UK's number one platform for private investors. Our purpose is to empower people to save and invest with confidence, and today, we are trusted with more than £120 billion by over 1.7 million clients. We are based in the heart of Bristol now with over 2,000 colleagues. We believe we have a workplace like no other, with constant learning, dynamic teams and a great ethos. We’re steered by our core values that promote service, quality, innovation, and opportunity in everything we do.