Technical Lead

SR2; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Strong package

Flexible hybrid working

Generous holiday

Enhanced family leave

Wellbeing support

Income protection

Development investment

Job summary

SR2 in Bristol is seeking a Senior/Principal Technical Lead to shape technical direction and mentor engineers within a hybrid working environment. You will contribute across projects, balancing hands-on tasks with architecture and client-facing responsibilities.

You will drive AI adoption in engineering, raise engineering standards, and lead senior client engagements, including technical audits and pre-sales support. This role emphasizes breadth over a single codebase.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in software engineering at a senior level mentoring Tech Leads.
• Ability to move between architecture discussions, problem solving, and client explanations.
• Experience in driving AI adoption within engineering.
• Experience mentoring senior engineers and working with clients.

Responsibilities

• Mentor experienced Tech Leads and help develop the next layer of technical leadership.
• Contribute technically across projects when needed, from hands-on coding to architecture and problem solving.
• Evolve engineering standards and best practices across the business.
• Drive practical adoption of AI tooling and AI-enabled development practices.

Skills

Software engineering

Architecture

Cloud computing

Mentoring

Client engagement

Job description

Senior/Principal Technical Lead | Hands on, tech agnostic

Bristol (Hybrid)

Are you someone who loves technology, but has reached the point where your biggest impact isn't necessarily the code you write yourself?

Maybe you're already the person other Tech Leads come to for advice. You enjoy shaping technical direction, mentoring experienced engineers and getting involved in the difficult client conversations - and you're increasingly interested in how AI is changing the way great software teams work.

I'm working with an established Bristol software business looking for a Senior Technical Lead to take a broad role across technical leadership, AI enablement and client consultancy.

What you'll be doing:

• Mentoring experienced Tech Leads and helping develop the next layer of technical leadership
• Contributing technically across different projects when needed, from hands-on coding and architecture through to technical problem-solving and design – staying close enough to the work to keep your technical judgement sharp.
• Evolving technical standards and engineering best practice across the business
• Driving practical adoption of AI tooling and AI-enabled development practices
• Leading senior client engagements including technical audits, early architecture and foundation-setting
• Working directly with clients to understand problems, challenge requirements and shape sensible technical solutions
• Getting involved in pre‑sales, using your technical experience to help shape opportunities, bids and proposals
• Identifying technical capability gaps and helping raise the bar across the wider engineering team

You won't be embedded in one squad or expected to spend most of your week hands‑on. Instead, you'll work across the engineering function, developing other technical leaders, evolving engineering standards and getting involved in some of the more complex technical conversations with clients.

A big part of the role will also be figuring out where AI makes engineering better, then helping the wider team put that into practice. They've already got strong engineering foundations, so this isn't about introducing Cursor and calling it an AI strategy.

What they're looking for:

You'll likely have proven experience in software engineering, with several years operating at a senior technical level involving mentoring/managing Tech Leads / equivalent.

More importantly, you'll be comfortable moving between different sides of the job. One conversation might be around architecture with senior engineers, another could be helping a Tech Lead work through a problem, and the next might be explaining a technical recommendation to a client.

They're looking for:

• Broad software engineering and architecture experience across modern systems
• Experience across multiple technologies rather than being tied to one stack
• Strong understanding of modern cloud, DevOps and engineering practices
• Evidence that you've helped drive AI adoption within engineering, rather than just personally using the tools
• Experience mentoring senior engineers and helping other technical people develop
• Confidence working directly with clients and constructively challenging them when needed
• The ability to communicate equally well with engineers and less technical stakeholders
• Enough commercial awareness to contribute to pre‑sales and understand the business problem behind the technology

Consultancy experience would translate well, although it isn't essential. You do need to enjoy variety – this isn't the role for someone who wants to disappear into the same codebase for the next three years.

• Wider impact – stay close to technology while influencing how engineering gets done and helping other technical people get better.
• Real influence over AI – plenty of autonomy to shape how AI is actually adopted across engineering, rather than just following a strategy someone else has written.
• Variety – work with some very capable engineers and get exposure to different technical problems, clients and projects.
• Good people, high standards – ambitious about engineering and maintaining a high technical bar, without taking themselves too seriously or expecting work to become your entire personality.
• Strong package alongside generous holiday, flexible hours, enhanced family leave, wellbeing support, income protection and investment in your development.
• Flexible hybrid working