Lead Software Engineer

Lead Software Engineer

Location: London - Hybrid

Salary: Up to £105,000 + Bonus & Benefits

We're looking for a Lead Software Engineer to join a global technology business whose platforms underpin consumer experiences used by millions of people every day. This is an established, scaled business with a genuinely global reach - and this is a greenfield opportunity to build something new at the heart of it.

This is a backend-focused engineering role with real technical ownership. You'll be close to the code, leading a small team of engineers while also being the first point of contact in customer-facing settings - presenting to and representing the team in client meetings as the business opens up its platform to new customers for the first time.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and development of SDKs and APIs as the business makes its first move toward exposing its platform to external customers
• Stay hands-on and close to the code — this is a technical leadership role, not a management one
• Represent the engineering team in customer meetings, communicating clearly and presenting well to both technical and business audiences
• Provide technical leadership to a squad of around 5 engineers across a globally distributed team
• Drive quality and best practice across a greenfield codebase — testing, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and clean architecture
• Partner with Product and Delivery to shape the direction of a platform that helps businesses of all sizes interact with the software in new ways
• Actively engage with AI tooling and bring a genuine understanding of what AI can do for engineering teams and products

Key Requirements:

• Strong backend engineering background with proven experience building and shipping SDKs or developer-facing APIs
• Proficiency in TypeScript and Node.js, with experience in a NestJS or similar backend framework
• Solid AWS and Kubernetes experience — comfortable with containerised, cloud-native infrastructure
• GraphQL knowledge is useful but not essential
• Kafka experience is a plus but not a dealbreaker
• Experience providing technical leadership — mentoring engineers, setting standards, and owning architectural decisions at team level
• Confident and polished enough to step into a customer meeting and represent the team credibly
• A genuine enthusiasm for AI — not just awareness, but a desire to understand its capabilities and apply them meaningfully
• Enterprise CRM experience would be an advantage

What's on Offer:

• Salary up to £105,000 plus bonus
• Central London - 2 days per week onsite
• Generous parental leave and family-friendly policies
• Strong support for career development and progression

This is a rare greenfield opportunity for a Lead Software Engineer who wants to build something from scratch, stay close to the code, and play a visible role in how a major platform opens up to the world - technically, commercially, and at scale.

Unfortunately, due to the high volume of applications, not everyone will be able to receive detailed feedback.