Software Tech Lead

Talent Locker; Altofts; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work (3–4 days onsite)

Defence programme exposure

Job summary

Talent Locker in the United Kingdom is seeking a Senior Engineer / Tech Lead to own significant backend and integration work within a long-term defence programme. You will design, build, and oversee APIs, services, and data platforms while mentoring engineers and guiding architectural decisions.

The role is based in Wiltshire with hybrid working 3–4 days onsite. You will bring strong Java and SQL expertise, experience across the stack (including frontend with Angular), automated testing, and

Qualifications

• Experienced Senior Engineer/Tech Lead with backend and integration background.
• Proficient in Java, SQL, API development, system integration, and software architecture.

Responsibilities

• Own significant technical work from idea through production.
• Design and build backend services, APIs, and integrations across complex systems.
• Make pragmatic architecture and data/API decisions; drive event-driven approaches.

Skills

Java

SQL

Backend

API development

System integration

Software architecture

Automated testing

CI/CD

Angular

Mentoring

Leadership

Tools

CI/CD tooling

Job description

Salary: £100,000 - 100,000 per year

Requirements

• Were looking for an experienced Senior Engineer, Tech Lead, Staff Engineer, or equivalent with a strong backend and integration background.
• Strong experience with Java, SQL, backend services, API development, system integration, and software architecture.
• Experience with automated testing and CI/CD.
• Experience working across the stack, ideally with Angular or a similar modern frontend framework.
• Technical leadership and mentoring experience, with the confidence to influence technical direction.
• Ability to define problems, challenge assumptions, and make sound technical decisions when specifications are unclear.
• Ability to describe and quantify the impact of previous work, such as improvements to performance, deployment times, reliability, platform scalability, or engineer development.
• Existing SC clearance is desirable; candidates without it must be eligible to obtain it.

Responsibilities

• Well rely on you to own significant technical work from initial idea through to production.
• Design and build backend services, APIs, and integrations across complex systems and data platforms.
• Make pragmatic decisions about architecture, data, APIs, and event-driven approaches.
• Raise engineering standards across testing, CI/CD, code quality, and observability.
• Lead technical discussions and mentor engineers to help develop our wider engineering capability.
• Work directly with technical and non-technical stakeholders to turn ambiguous requirements into practical solutions.
• Stay hands-on with the code while influencing architecture and leading technical decisions.

Technologies

• API
• Angular
• Backend
• CI/CD
• Frontend
• Java
• SQL

More

Were hiring a Software Tech Lead for a long-term UK defence programme, where complex technical challenges are still being worked through. The role is based in Wiltshire and is hybrid, with 3–4 days onsite. The salary is up to £120,000, plus benefits. This role offers genuine technical ownership and the opportunity to shape how technology is built while continuing to write code.

last updated 40 week of 2026