System Engineering Lead

On Direct Business Services Limited; Bath; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fitness Cash Contribution

Pension Contribution

Employee Assistance Programme

Enhanced Maternity & Paternity Leave

Life Assurance, Critical Illness, and

Birthday lunches

Fun Fund

Job summary

Cloud Direct is seeking a Systems Engineering Lead to drive technical leadership, delivery and evolution of the Systems Engineering team. You will shape AI-enabled solutions, automation and cloud-native platforms while coaching engineers and aligning with architectural strategy.

The role requires hands-on engineering, workforce development, and ownership of secure, scalable software. Bath-based with hybrid working and strong collaboration with architects and operations teams.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of commercial software engineering experience
• 3+ years leading engineering teams or major technical initiatives
• Experience designing and delivering complex business-critical software
• Strong experience with Microsoft Azure platforms and cloud-native development
• Experience delivering AI-enabled applications and automation
• Experience with Azure OpenAI or equivalent AI platforms
• Experience with Azure DevOps, Git and CI/CD
• Strong understanding of secure-by-design principles and DevSecOps
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
• Must be able to work from Bath office at least two days per week

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and direction for the Systems Engineering team.
• Lead solution design and key engineering decisions with the Principal Architect.
• Establish and maintain engineering standards, quality expectations and development practices via automation, testing, CI/CD, observability.
• Lead delivery of systems, platforms, integrations and AI-enabled solutions.
• Remain hands-on in design, development and deployment of software where required.
• Ensure solutions are secure, scalable, maintainable and supportable.
• Shape and prioritise technical work with stakeholders and product owners.
• Identify opportunities to apply AI, automation and emerging technologies to create business value.

Skills

C# (.NET 6+)

React

REST APIs

Azure Cloud

AI & Automation

CI/CD

DevSecOps

Leadership

Mentoring

Stakeholder management

Tools

Azure DevOps

Docker

Cosmos DB

SQL Server

Git

Job description

The Systems Engineering Lead is responsible for the technical leadership, delivery, and evolution of the Systems Engineering team. The team exists to design, build and enhance the systems, platforms, products and intellectual property that move Cloud Direct forward, with a particular focus on Artificial Intelligence, automation and emerging technologies.

This role is the senior technical leader within the Systems Engineering team, reporting to the Head of Business Systems alongside a Principal Architect, Systems Reliability and Automation team and Systems Operations team. While the Principal Architect owns architectural direction, governance and technical standards across Business Systems, the Systems Engineering Lead is accountable for translating that direction into successful engineering delivery which transforms the business.

The role combines hands-on software engineering, technical leadership, coaching and delivery accountability. The successful candidate will lead a small but mighty team of software engineers (including graduates), shaping technical solutions from concept through to production whilst maintaining high standards of engineering quality, security and reliability.

Success in this role will be demonstrated by:

• Delivery of strategic systems, platforms and AI initiatives to agreed scope, quality and timelines.
• A high-performing engineering team with clear standards, effective ways of working and measurable development of engineers.
• Consistent delivery of secure, maintainable and supportable software with reduced technical debt and improved engineering maturity.
• Successful adoption of AI, automation and new technology capabilities that generate measurable business value.
• Strong alignment between engineering delivery and architectural strategy through effective partnership with the Principal Architect.
• Establishment of scalable engineering practices, tooling and processes that enable future growth of the Systems Engineering capability.

What you’ll be doing?

Technical Leadership:

• Provide technical leadership and direction for the Systems Engineering team.
• Lead solution design and key engineering decisions in partnership with the Principal Architect.
• Establish and maintain engineering standards, quality expectations and development practices through automation, testing, CI/CD, observability and development tooling.
• Provide deep technical leadership into selected customer innovation engagements, workshops and proof-of-concept activities where specialist engineering expertise is required.
• Lead the delivery of systems, platforms, integrations and AI-enabled solutions.
• Remain hands‑on in the design, development and deployment of software where required.
• Ensure solutions are secure, scalable, maintainable and operationally supportable.
• Shape and prioritise technical work with stakeholders and product owners.
• Identify opportunities to apply AI, automation and emerging technologies to create business value.
• Translate emerging technologies from research and discovery activities into production-ready solutions, prototypes and reusable intellectual property.
• Support customer‑facing innovation activities where deep technical expertise is required.
• Line manage, mentor and develop software engineers at all experience levels.
• Support recruitment, onboarding and capability development across the team.
• Foster a culture of engineering excellence, ownership and continuous improvement.

What you’ll need:

• 5+ years commercial software engineering experience (excluding junior roles).
• 3+ years experience leading engineering teams, technical programmes or senior technical initiatives.
• Proven experience designing and delivering complex business‑critical software solutions.
• Strong experience with Microsoft Azure platforms and cloud‑native development.
• Strong experience delivering AI‑enabled applications, intelligent automation solutions, or agent‑based systems.
• Experience with Azure OpenAI, AI Foundry or equivalent AI platforms.
• Experience building AI agents, copilots or workflow automation platforms.
• Experience using Azure DevOps, Git and CI/CD practices.
• Strong understanding of software security, DevSecOps and secure‑by‑design principles.
• Experience mentoring engineers and developing junior technical talent.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Must be able to work from our Bath office at least two days per week.

Experience and Skills Desired:

• Competent in C# (.NET 6+) and modern software architecture.
• Competent building web applications using React and modern SPA frameworks.
• Competent designing and implementing REST APIs and distributed systems.
• Experience with Python for AI, automation or data‑processing workloads.
• Experience with Docker, containers and Azure Container Apps.
• Experience with SQL Server and Cosmos DB.
• Experience contributing to technical strategy, roadmaps or architecture forums.
• Experience working within a Microsoft partner, consultancy or managed services environment.
• Experience supporting innovation or research‑led initiatives.

What we’re offering:

• Fitness Cash Contribution
• Pension Contribution
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Enhanced Maternity & Paternity Leave
• Life Assurance, Critical Illness, and Income Protection.
• Birthday lunches, a Fun Fund, and more.

At Cloud Direct, we believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential to our success. We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and strive to build a team that reflects the diverse communities we serve. We encourage candidates of all races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, ages, abilities, and socioeconomic statuses to apply.