Lead Software Engineer

Lead Software Engineer (Maternity Cover) Location: Remote (UK) or any company site Reports to: Head of Software Systems Team: IT Delivery We're looking for a Lead Software Engineer who can steer technical direction, keep engineering standards sharp, and stay hands-on with real code. You'll guide a small number of squads, support delivery of complex features, and help shape the architecture and practices that keep our systems robust, scalable, and secure. What You'll Do Lead engineering across your domain-architecture, design, standards, and best practice. Work closely with Principal Engineers and Architecture to ensure alignment across teams. Stay hands-on, coding around 20-25% of the time to stay close to the work. Support the delivery of complex features and services, ensuring performance and maintainability. Review code, enforce secure development standards, and mentor engineers at all levels. Produce and support design proposals and engineering documentation. Identify inefficiencies

duplication, or misalignment across projects and drive improvements. Champion secure-by-design principles and ensure compliance with controls and processes. Promote continuous learning-both for yourself and the wider engineering community. Line Management of Senior Software Engineers What You'll Bring .NET (C#) Strong experience with C#, .NET Framework, .NET Core OOP, design patterns, REST/SOAP Azure, Git/Azure DevOps Entity Framework, MS SQL, JavaScript/HTML Experience with Vue.js, React, or Blazor For ALL Candidates Strong understanding of system design, microservices, and cloud-native architecture Solid Agile/Scrum experience and full SDLC knowledge Effective communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders Experience with Jira or Azure DevOps A practical, problem-solving mindset and strong engineering discipline Who You Are A team-focused leader who can influence, challenge, and drive progress Detail-oriented, quality-driven, and calm under pressure Comfortable adapting to change and encouraging innovation Someone who balances pragmatism with long-term thinking Nice to Have Experience in insurance (especially personal lines) Knowledge of secure coding and security best practices Open-source contributions, blogs, or community involvement