Job Title: Principal Developer & Team Lead
Salary: £51,400 – £68,800
Location: Cambridge/Hybrid with 40-60% of time in the office
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time 35 hours per week
About the Role
As a team lead with strong technical instincts you’re ready to take the next step with more scope, more shaping of what gets built, more influence over how things are done but you’re not ready to put down your tools. We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world‑leading academic publisher and assessment organisation and a proud part of the University of Cambridge. You’ll lead transitions taking place in our organisation: migrating legacy enterprise applications to cloud‑native AWS architectures, while helping us establish two practices from close to scratch including Site Reliability Engineering and AI development.
Alongside that broader technical leadership, you’ll be the principal developer on a focused project within the programme with deep ownership of a specific delivery, hands‑in‑the‑code, designing and building it end‑to‑end. You will spend most of your time close to the code: setting direction, setting the standard in design and review, and writing code alongside the team.
You will also be the line manager for a small team of developers. We’re not looking for a fully formed people leader; we want someone who cares about the people around them and wants to grow into that part of the role. Support and development to grow into it over time. The bulk of your focus is on the technical work. You’ll be the principal developer on a focused project within the migration programme, your own delivery to design, build and own. Around that, you’ll lead the wider migration to AWS, build the DevOps automation and observability that lets SRE practices take hold, and establish the standards for how we use AI responsibly in education products. You will set the technical bar through code reviews, design conversations and your own contributions.
About You
A current or recent team lead ready to step up technically. The bar that matters most:
- You’ve led developers before, formally or informally, and people have grown around you.
- You’re fluent in two or more modern languages and still write code regularly.
- You’ve worked with AWS (or an equivalent cloud) in anger not just touched it.
- You understand CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and what observability actually means in production.
- You can hold a conversation about event‑driven architecture, microservices and security in cloud environments at a level beyond the textbook.
- You communicate clearly with engineers and non‑engineers, and you’re open to growing the people‑leadership side of the role with support.
If you meet the above minimum requirements, we encourage you to apply. Your application will be even stronger if you can also demonstrate the following desirable criteria:
- Hands‑on exposure to AI/ML in production systems.
- Experience helping establish SRE or observability practice early on.
- A track record of modernising legacy systems without breaking them.
What This Role Offers
Genuine scope from the start you’ll be shaping the SRE function and AI practice, not inheriting someone else’s blueprint, while owning a focused project as principal developer that keeps you firmly in the code. A small team to lead and learn from. A leadership team that expects you to stay close to the code, and that will support you to grow as a people leader at your own pace. And work that has real reach; the systems you help build serve millions of learners, teachers and researchers worldwide.
Rewards and Benefits
In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a world‑class, flexible rewards package, featuring family‑friendly and planet‑friendly benefits including:
- 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- Private medical and permanent health insurance
- Discretionary annual bonus
- Group personal pension scheme
- Life assurance up to 4 × annual salary
- Green travel schemes
Equal Opportunities
We are a Disability Confident employer that is committed to equality and inclusion, ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. The Disability Confident scheme’s offer of an interview commitment applies to applicants who opt in, disclose a disability or a long‑term health condition, and who best meet the minimum criteria for the role. In instances where interviewing all qualifying candidates is not practicable and/or appropriate, we prioritise those who best meet the minimum criteria.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment is an approved UK employer for the sponsorship of eligible roles and applicants under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please refer to the GOV.UK website for guidance to understand your own eligibility based on the role you are applying for.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment is committed to being a place where anyone can enjoy a successful career, where it is safe to speak up, and where we learn continuously to improve together. We welcome applications from all candidates, regardless of demographic characteristics.
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