Software Engineering Manager

HL is beginning a multi-year transformation of its back- and middle-office technology. This will require new backend capabilities that simplify complex operational processes, connect customer-facing journeys to core platforms, and provide secure, reliable access to the data and services needed across the organisation. We are looking for an Engineering Manager to lead this core capability and help turn that ambition into well-engineered, reusable product.

This is a hands-on engineering leadership role with a long-term mandate: to help establish the services, APIs, events and integration patterns on which HL’s future back- and middle-office estate will depend. You will remain close to architecture, code and delivery while building a strong engineering team capable of modernising legacy workflows incrementally, safely and at scale.

Working across Product, Architecture, Operations, Data Platform and other engineering teams, you will shape capabilities that can be reused across transformation journeys rather than solving each need in isolation.

What you’ll be doing

Hands-on engineering and technical direction

• Lead by example through meaningful contribution to backend services, APIs, integration components, infrastructure and technical spikes.

• Own the technical direction of the squad, ensuring immediate delivery choices contribute to a coherent, scalable backend estate for the transformation ahead.

• Design and deliver synchronous, asynchronous and event-driven integrations using cloud-native patterns.

• Set clear standards for API-first and contract-driven design, versioning, backward compatibility, automated testing, observability and failure recovery.

• Review code and designs, remove complex technical blockers and ensure solutions are production-ready.

• Reduce legacy complexity and technical debt through incremental modernisation and well-governed reuse.

Building HL’s future back- and middle-office capabilities

• Help define and deliver the multi-year engineering roadmap for the backend capabilities required by HL’s back- and middle-office transformation.

• Build reusable domain services, APIs, events and data flows that connect digital journeys, operational processes and core enterprise platforms.

• Translate target operating models and business processes into clear service boundaries, contracts and dependable integration capabilities.

• Create strategic building blocks that can be adopted across multiple transformation journeys, reducing duplication and accelerating future delivery.

• Lead the incremental transition from legacy services and point-to-point integrations through safe migration, reconciliation, replay, parallel-running and rollback approaches.

• Manage dependencies and technical sequencing across squads and platforms so that near-term delivery decisions support the longer-term target architecture.

• Ensure new capabilities are secure, observable, resilient and supportable from the outset, with clear ownership throughout their lifecycle.

People and delivery leadership

• Build a high-performing, inclusive engineering team with clear goals, ownership and accountability.

• Coach engineers through regular feedback, career development, pairing and technical mentoring.

• Plan squad capacity and skills against the roadmap, supporting recruitment and addressing capability gaps.

• Create an effective delivery environment by managing priorities, risks and trade-offs in partnership with Product and Delivery colleagues.

• Promote healthy challenge, continuous improvement and shared ownership of live services.

• Communicate technical decisions, delivery confidence and risks clearly to engineering and non-technical stakeholders.

Engineering excellence and operations

• Embed automated unit, integration, contract and end-to-end testing within CI/CD pipelines.

• Ensure services meet security, compliance, data protection and architecture requirements by design.

• Establish effective logging, metrics, tracing, alerting and service-level indicators.

• Own service health, incident response, root-cause analysis and the prioritisation of preventative improvements.

• Encourage reusable engineering patterns, good documentation and consistent ways of working across integration teams., * HL has a growing set of secure, scalable and reusable backend capabilities supporting back- and middle-office transformation journeys.

• Transformation teams can adopt consistent APIs, events and integration patterns rather than creating isolated point solutions.

• Legacy dependencies and manual operational processes are progressively replaced through controlled, low-risk modernisation.

• The Integrations squad has clear technical direction, strong service ownership and the skills required to deliver and operate critical capabilities.

• Delivery becomes faster and more predictable while service resilience, observability and recovery continue to improve.

• Short-term milestones demonstrably contribute to a coherent target architecture and sustainable engineering platform for HL’s future.

• Proven experience leading a backend or integration engineering team while remaining technically hands-on.

• Strong software engineering experience with TypeScript or a comparable modern backend language.

• Deep practical knowledge of REST APIs, messaging, event-driven architecture, distributed systems and integration design patterns.

• Experience designing and operating cloud-native services on AWS, including technologies such as Lambda, API Gateway, EventBridge, SQS/SNS, IAM, CloudWatch and VPC networking.

• Experience delivering infrastructure as code with Terraform and automated delivery through CI/CD pipelines.

• Strong understanding of testing strategies, observability, resilience, security and production support.

• Experience modernising legacy systems or delivering complex transformation programmes with multiple dependencies.

• Evidence of coaching engineers, improving team effectiveness and influencing technical decisions beyond a single squad.

Desirable experience

• Experience delivering middle-office, financial-services or other regulated operational platforms.

• Knowledge of data pipelines, data quality, reconciliation and integration with cloud data platforms such as Snowflake.

• Experience with domain-driven design, schema governance, contract testing and service ownership models.

• Understanding of migration patterns, parallel running and controlled decommissioning of legacy services.

How you work

• You are comfortable moving between strategy, architecture, code, delivery and people leadership.

• You make clear decisions using evidence and explain trade-offs without unnecessary complexity.

• You take ownership of outcomes and create the conditions for others to succeed.

• You value collaboration, constructive challenge and learning from production.

• You focus on incremental value while keeping long-term engineering quality in view.

• Discretionary annual bonus* and annual pay review
• 25 days* holiday plus bank holidays and 1-day additional Christmas closure
• Option to purchase an additional 5 days holiday**
• Flexible working options available, including hybrid working
• Enhanced parental leave
• Pension scheme up to 11% employer contribution
• Income Protection and Life insurance (4 x salary core level of cover)
• Private medical insurance*
• Health care cash plans - including optical, dental, and outpatient care
• Health screening programme
• Help@hand - confidential support including mental health counselling and remote GP
• Wellhub - unlimited access to fitness providers and wellness coach sessions
• Variety of travel to work schemes with bike storage and shower facilities
• Inhouse barista and deli serving subsidised coffee and sandwiches

• Two paid volunteering days per year

• dependant on role level

** only available to select during our annual benefits window, in November each year

Here at HL, we’re the UK’s number 1 investment platform for private investors, based in Bristol. For more than 40 years we’ve helped investors save time, tax and money on their investments.

To achieve our mission, we believe we have a workplace like no other, with constant learning, dynamic teams, and a great ethos. We’re steered by core values that promote service, quality, innovation, and opportunity in everything we do.