Lead Software Engineer

Lead Engineer

Location: Reading area

Hybrid: 2 times a week in office

Security Clearance: Must currently hold, or have recently held, SC or NATO Secret clearance

Salary: £80k - £90k + bonus + healthcare

We're looking for a Lead Engineer to join a business working on complex, real-world, data heavy software solutions.

This is not a pure architecture role, and it is not a people‑management position from day one. It is a senior technical leadership role for someone who is still deeply hands‑on, can drive delivery, bring clarity to ambiguity, and act as a trusted right hand to senior leadership.

You’ll be joining a technically strong team working on a core product in a flat, low‑hierarchy environment. The role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving hard engineering problems, taking ownership, and helping experienced teams move faster with better structure, accountability, and direction.

The role

You’ll play a key part in shaping technical direction, improving engineering effectiveness, and helping unblock a busy, experienced team. There is already strong technical capability in the business, so this role is about adding leadership, decisiveness, and delivery focus.

You’ll work closely with senior leadership, particularly the Head of Engineering, and become someone they can rely on to take ownership of key technical areas, challenge where needed, and help relieve pressure from existing bottlenecks.

This is a role for someone who can hold the line on technical decisions, ask the right questions, guide engineers toward solutions, and operate confidently across both technical and non‑technical audiences.

What you’ll be doing

• Leading technically across a core product used in a complex, data‑heavy environment
• Driving delivery, ownership, and accountability across engineering work
• Helping define technical direction across the short, medium, and longer term
• Partnering with senior leadership to bring clarity to priorities and decisions
• Unblocking engineers and supporting the team through difficult technical challenges
• Improving engineering maturity across areas such as performance, observability, and security
• Helping evolve ad hoc or early‑stage tooling into robust production‑grade systems
• Contributing to wider platform and architectural thinking, without being removed from delivery
• Communicating confidently with engineers, internal stakeholders, and senior external parties

What they’re looking for

• Strong background as a hands‑on software engineer with clear technical leadership experience
• Proven track record of getting things done and taking ownership in complex environments
• Comfortable operating with responsibility, pace, and ambiguity
• Able to challenge constructively, push back when needed, and influence without relying on formal authority
• Strong communicator who can translate complex technical ideas clearly to different audiences
• Experience guiding teams technically and setting direction across quarterly to longer‑term horizons

Ideal Experience / Background

• Experience helping systems scale through startup, growth, and maturity phases
• Improving engineering standards, reliability, security, and observability
• Building or improving data platforms such as data lakes
• Exposure to ML pipelines or workflow‑driven engineering environments
• Strong applied understanding of mathematics and physics in engineering contexts
• Ability to work through complex, practical problem‑solving challenges rather than purely academic theory

Technical environment

The stack is flexible and capability matters more than exact tooling, but the current environment includes:

• Backend: C# / .NET
• Database: MariaDB – MySQL acceptable
• Frontend: Vue.js

Highly relevant background

• Geospatial data
• Time‑series or near real‑time systems
• Sensor data processing
• Radar, GPS, RF, or GNSS‑based systems
• Satellite imagery, LiDAR, or geospatial intelligence

Why this role stands out

This is an opportunity to work on a problem space that is technically demanding, fast‑moving, and genuinely meaningful.

The work has a direct link between software, engineering, and real‑world impact. It suits someone who enjoys deep technical challenges, wants to solve difficult problems properly, and is motivated by building systems that matter.

Essential requirement

Due to the nature of the work, you must currently hold or recently have held SC or NATO Secret clearance. You must also be commutable to Reading and willing to work from the office a minimum of 2 days a week, however this will be dependant on projects and workload.

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