Software Engineering Team Lead

AJ Bell; Salford; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading investment platform provider in the UK is seeking an experienced Engineering Lead to oversee a cross-functional team of engineers. Responsibilities include managing the software development lifecycle and driving improvements in product and processes. Ideal candidates will possess leadership experience, problem-solving skills, and an understanding of software design patterns. This role also offers Go training for those new to the language, fostering growth in a collaborative and innovative environment. Competitive benefits and a hybrid working model available.

Benefits

26 days starting holiday entitlement

Pension scheme with matched contributions

Discretionary bonus scheme

Health Cash Plan

Discounted private healthcare

Free onsite gym

Personal development programmes

Casual dress code

Social events calendar

Qualifications

• Experience leading an engineering team with line management duties.
• Ability to engage in full software development lifecycle.
• Familiarity with automated testing and continuous integration.
• Experience with investment or pensions platforms is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead a cross-functional team and manage approximately 5 engineers.
• Oversee software development lifecycle from requirements to support.
• Identify opportunities for product and process improvements.
• Utilize automated testing and continuous deployment practices.

Skills

Excellent programming and problem solving skills

Software design patterns and paradigms knowledge

Experience creating performant and secure code

Team leadership experience

Strong sense of ownership

Tools

Go

gRPC/proto

TypeScript

Vue

Dart

Flutter

Job description

The Touch team is developing a next generation investment platform. We want to use technology to improve the way consumers access financial advice and manage their investments.

The majority of existing platforms are still reliant on software and processes that aren’tcapable of supporting today’s technology, so we started from scratch, developing a modern platform that is as efficient as possible. We're building a mobile first investmentapp that lets advisers manage their clients' investments entirely through theirSmartphone.

We're seeking passionate engineers and offer Go training for experienced engineers new to the language.

If you're ready to take your career to the next level, apply now!

What you’ll do:

• Hands‑on leadership for a cross‑functional team, responsible for the team delivery and line managing ~5 engineers (back‑end, web and mobile) providing feedback, coaching and mentoring.
• Engage in the full software development lifecycle: requirements gathering with stakeholders, working as a team to build and test features, managing deployment and supporting the service in production.
• Always be on the lookout for ways we can improve our product, processes and practices. We don’t like friction and waste.
• Automated testing, continuous integration and continuous deployment. We are huge proponents of automation.
• Working outside of your specialism when needed. While all our team members have a specialism, we don’t let that restrain us. Our engineers jump in to help get things done even in technologies out of their core competency.

What you’ll have:

• Previous experience of leading an engineering team, including line management duties such as personal development coaching and performance reviews.
• Excellent programming and problem solving skills
• Understanding of relevant software design patterns and paradigms, such as OOAD, DDD, MVC, microservices, containers/orchestration or event‑driven architecture
• Experience in creating performant, scalable, secure and well tested code.
• Strong sense of ownership of tasks and problems, clearing roadblocks and pulling in other people to help when needed.
• Experience working with Investment or Pensions platforms would be an advantage

Our tools and technologies:

The below are all things that we are either currently using or have found to be a useful foundation when joining our team. Prior knowledge of them is not essential but would be beneficial to the role:

• Go (we can offer training for experienced engineers who haven’t used Go before)
• gRPC/proto

Other technologies we use include:

• TypeScript and Vue
• Dart and Flutter

About AJ Bell

AJ Bell is one of the fastest-growing investment platform businesses in the UK offering an award-winning range of solutions that caters for everyone, from professional financial advisers to DIY investors with little to no experience. We have over 644,000 customers using our award-winning platform propositions to manage assets totalling more than £103.3 billion. Our customers trust us with their investments, and by continuously striving to make investing easier, we aim to help even more people take control of their financial futures.

Having listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange in December 2018, AJ Bell is now a FTSE 250 company.

Headquartered in Manchester with offices in central London and Bristol, we now have over 1,500 employees and have been named one of the UK's 'Best 100 Companies to Work For’ for six consecutive years and in 2025 named a Great Place to Work®.

At AJ Bell you can expect a friendly working environment with a strong sense of teamwork, we have a great sense of pride in what we do, and this is reflected in our guiding principles.

What we offer:

• Starting holiday entitlement of 26, increasing up to 31 days with length of service and a holiday buy and sell scheme
• A choice of pension schemes with matched contributions up to 7%
• Discretionary bonus scheme
• Annual free share awards scheme
• Buy As You Earn (BAYE) Scheme
• Health Cash Plan – provided by Simply Health
• Discounted private healthcare scheme and dental plan
• Free onsite gym
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Sick pay+ pledge
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, and shared parental leave
• Loans for travel season tickets
• Charitable giving opportunities through salary sacrifice
• Calendar of social events, including monthly payday drinks, annual Christmas party, summer party and much more
• Personal development programmes built around you and your career goals, including access to personal skills workshops
• Ongoing technical training
• Peer recognition scheme, with rewards including restaurant and shopping vouchers or time off
• Monthly leadership breakfasts and lunches
• Casual dress code
• Access to a range of benefits from our sponsorship deals

At AJ Bell, our people are the heart of our culture. We believe in building strong connections by working together. That's why we offer a hybrid working model, where you’ll spend a minimum of 50% of your working time per month in the office, including one day a month in our Bristol office. For new team members, an initial period will be full‑time in the office to help you immerse yourself in our business and build valuable relationships with your colleagues.

AJ Bell is committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and all employees are empowered to bring their whole self to work.

We do not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, pregnancy, religion, physical and mental disability, marital status and any other characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010. All decisions to hire are based on qualifications, merit and business need.

If you like the sound of the above, or just want to know more about the company and the role, we'd love to speak to you.