Principal Technical Consultant

About Softwire

Softwire is one of the UK’s leading digital technology consultancies, offering services in software engineering, design, innovation, cloud, mobile and data. We deliver high-profile and cutting-edge digital projects for household names across the public and private sectors.

Softwire was founded on one simple idea: if we can create the best possible culture and working environment then everything else will fall into place. And it seems to be working – we were recently voted number 1 company to work for in the UK at the Best Company awards, and we have a loyal and growing client base who trust us with their hardest problems and their mission critical projects.

We focus on creating a great culture and working environment and we are looking for people who share our core beliefs about what makes a great place to work:

• That if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly.
• That work should be fulfilling but can also be fun.
• That kindness matters and should be extended to employees and clients alike.
• That by being trusting and trustworthy as an organisation and as individuals we can dispense with tedious bureaucracy and rules.

When you work with Softwire, you’re not only becoming part of a team with in-depth technical skills and delivery expertise – you’ll be working in a high-trust environment alongside skilled, kind, fun people who are passionate about creating amazing services and experiences that solve real problems.

The Role

Principal Technical Consultants are experienced consultants with equal parts deep technical knowledge, and practical experience deploying that to deliver value in a business and industry context. They are responsible for devising novel and practical solutions to our clients’ trickiest problems and then getting them implemented to deliver business outcomes. They do this by:

• using their extensive technical knowledge and experience
• an outcomes-first focus on using technology to deliver business benefits
• their curiosity and knowledge of our clients businesses and industries
• and their outstanding advisory and client communication skills.

They build relationships with senior stakeholders based on their personal credibility and ability to add value for our clients. They can have peer-level conversations with C-suite executives about their business strategy, and they can tell them things they don’t know about they can deploy technology to help them solve problems.

They spend most of their time working with clients and developing technical solutions. From time to time, they also contribute to pre-sales and to building Softwire’s reputation and brand. A proportion of their time is also spent mentoring and supporting junior colleagues.

You Will Be Responsible For

• Using your knowledge, skills and experience to devise solutions to hard problems and deliver real world solutions for our clients.
• Building strong relationships with clients and using these to generate client loyalty and growth.
• Taking part in pre-sales: leading early-stage meetings, impactful contributions to bids and pitches.
• Mentoring and coaching junior colleagues in both technical and consultancy skills.
• Taking overall responsibility for the quality of delivered solutions, either working individually or as part of a team with oversight over the quality within your area of expertise.
• Actively contributing to a Softwire community of practice in your area and helping produce relevant thought leadership content.
• Taking part in networking and representing Softwire at events.
• Working alongside Delivery Directors to ensure clients receive a great service and experience.

About You

• You have 8+ years experience in technical roles, including at least 4 years in an agency/consultancy context. You have deep knowledge and proven experience in least one of the following areas:
  • Cloud platform architecture/migration (AWS and/or Azure)
  • Data engineering
  • Digital platform architecture and enterprise modernisation
• You have a track record designing and delivering complex technical solutions that deliver business benefits to clients.
• You are comfortable working in ambiguous contexts, making decisions with incomplete information and working with multiple stakeholder agendas. You work to distil disparate needs, ideas and problems into clear, practical solutions with broad buy-in.
• You are interested in not just the technology, but also the business and industry side and have relevant knowledge and context in one of more of our sectors. From the first meeting you show up knowledgeable about the client’s industry and business strategy, and ready to advise and guide them on how they can use technology to deliver their goals. Your clients will regard you as a trusted adviser, someone who can inspire them and provide solutions to their problems. 
• You have excellent consulting and advisory skills. You are able to lead, persuade, explain and communicate with all levels of stakeholders, including C-suite. You are comfortable presenting, have excellent writing skills, and a keen understanding of narrative and message structure.
• You have a track record of forming strong relationships and leveraging these for on-sell and cross-sell of our services. You are proactive at finding additional areas we can add value for clients and shaping solutions they are willing to buy.
• You are collaborative and your default approach is to work as a team, openly share information, resources and comms – you see all other colleagues as allies. You are comfortable in a culture which values and rewards collective success over personal attribution and that takes a “One Team” approach to everything we do.
• You take a can-do approach and don’t mind getting your hands dirty and leaning into issues and opportunities that you identify. You don’t need a perfect environment to thrive and you are comfortable taking ownership of situations and problems with a positive approach to addressing them.
• You have pre-sales experience in an agency context. You are comfortable leading opportunity stage meetings to identify goals, develop bespoke solutions tailored to the client’s specific context and business need, and to create compelling narratives that explain how we will help and why they should choose us.
• You are a leader: people want to follow you, whether they report to you or not and whether they work for Softwire, the client, or another party.

What We Offer

Softwire operates transparent pay scales and a profit share scheme based on role and overall company performance.

• Achievable OTE of £155,000+
• Pension: Additional 5% of salary.

Additional benefits

• 25 days annual leave (with the option to buy 10 and sell 5)
• 3.5 days additional days off for company-wide morale activities
• AIG income protection
• Travel card loan scheme
• Zero emission car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme 
• Enhanced maternity/paternity pay
• Time off for charitable activities
• Sabbatical available on request
• Payroll charity donations
• Headspace plus
• Free annual eye test
• Long service awards

Flexible working options and patterns

• (Flexible Working: The role is suitable for people who want to work 4dpw)
• (Hybrid Working: Generally able to work at least 2dpw from home)

Flexibility

We are a flexible employer who understand that being committed to a job is not the same as sacrificing everything for it: holiday is holiday; if you need flexibility for life stuff that’s not a problem; and we don’t expect (or want) long hours – we believe in a good work/life balance.

For further details on benefits click here