Lead Software Developer

TESTQ Technologies is an IT services and Solutions Company whose offerings span over a variety of industry sectors with strong technical, domain, and process expertise helping clients grow their businesses and decrease operational costs on a continuous basis in an ever-changing business environment.

The Lead Software Developer will be responsible for designing, developing, and leading the implementation of complex, AI-enabled software solutions. This role involves providing technical leadership, mentoring a team of developers, and ensuring high-quality code delivery aligned with business goals. The ideal candidate will combine strong hands-on development expertise with architectural insight, fluency in modern AI-assisted engineering practices, and a collaborative approach to team leadership.

Job Description (Main Duties and Responsibilities):

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of scalable and maintainable software applications.

• Collaborate with product managers, architects, and stakeholders to define technical requirements and system designs.

• Oversee end-to-end software development lifecycle, including coding, testing, code reviews, and deployment.

• Set and enforce best practices for coding standards, testing, documentation, and responsible use of AI-assisted development tools.

• Mentor and guide a team of developers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.

• Troubleshoot, debug, and optimise application performance, scalability, and reliability.

• Ensure system security, data integrity, and compliance with enterprise and industry standards.

• Evaluate and implement new tools, technologies, and methodologies - including AI/LLM tooling - to enhance development efficiency.

• Participate in sprint planning, estimation, and agile ceremonies.

• Contribute to architectural decisions, including AI/agentic system integration, and help define the technical roadmap.

• Champion the safe, ethical, and effective adoption of AI coding assistants and automation across the team.

Key Skills, Qualifications and Experience Needed [The candidate must demonstrate these in all stages of assessment]

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.

• 7-10+ years of professional software development experience, including at least 2-3 years in a technical lead or senior developer capacity.

• Proven experience designing and delivering complex, scalable software systems.

• Strong communication and leadership skills with the ability to mentor and motivate a development team.

• Hands-on experience with agile development processes and collaborative tools.

• Strong proficiency in modern programming languages such as Java, C#, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, or Go, depending on the technology stack.

• Experienced in frameworks and technologies such as Spring Boot, .NET Core, Node.js, Angular, React, or Vue.js, with a solid understanding of object-oriented programming (OOP), design patterns, and software architecture principles (e.g., microservices, event-driven architecture).

• Experience working with RESTful and GraphQL APIs, and integrating with third-party services. A deep understanding of databases - both SQL (MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server) and NoSQL (MongoDB, Cassandra, Redis) - is required.

• Proficiency in DevOps practices and tools such as Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or Azure DevOps, along with familiarity in cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

• Hands-on experience with version control (Git), CI/CD pipelines, and automated testing frameworks (JUnit, NUnit, PyTest, Selenium, Cypress, etc.). Understanding API security, OAuth 2.0, and authentication/authorization mechanisms is expected.

• Practical experience building with Large Language Models (LLMs) and generative AI - prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and integrating LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) into production applications.

• Familiarity with AI agent frameworks and orchestration tools such as LangChain, LangGraph, LlamaIndex, or the Model Context Protocol (MCP), and experience evaluating agentic workflows.

• Daily working fluency with AI-assisted coding tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor) and an understanding of their code-review, testing, and security implications.

• Working knowledge of MLOps fundamentals - containerising and deploying models, monitoring drift/performance, and building automated training and deployment pipelines.

• Awareness of AI/LLM-specific security considerations (prompt injection, data leakage, model governance) alongside core application security practices such as the OWASP Top 10.

• Experience in agile software development methodologies (Scrum or Kanban) and using tools like Jira, Confluence, and GitLab. Strong analytical, problem-solving, and debugging skills are essential for this role.

Other Key skills:

• Good analytical and Problem-solving skills

• Good communication skills

• A thorough approach and Self starter

• Focus on quality and delivery

• Working together in teams.

• Leadership and effective decision making.

• Flexible Attitude

• Excellent customer service

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree or above in the UK or Equivalent.