Senior Technical Lead

About Softwire

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

Softwire was founded on one simple idea: be the outstanding place to work for smart, passionate technologists who want to make an impact. Attract the best, create a culture where people thrive, and offer our customers access to capabilities that are truly market leading.

And it seems to be working – We were recently voted number 1 company to work for in the UK at the Best Company awards; we employ outstanding people across all capabilities (typical destinations after Softwire include Google, DeepMind, start-up founder, algorithmic trading, and AI research roles); and we have helped our clients deliver some of the hardest, most interesting tech programmes, across private and public sectors.

A big part of this is our culture and values 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

In brief 

Senior Technical [OL1] Leads are responsible for delivering great technical outcomes for our customers on project, supporting and developing their team, and contributing to the wider technical community at Softwire.

We have a diverse project portfolio, with project sizes from 50 to 5,000 days and spanning multiple sectors and technologies. You might:

• Lead a team of 10 developers to migrate a legacy monolithic API to a cloud-based microservices architecture which can handle significant spikes in traffic, for a leading leisure brand
• Collaborate with a product owner and designer to prototype and architect a new product for a start-up
• Guide the technical design and implementation of a system that helps match thousands of bone-marrow donors with suitable recipients for a national charity
• Spearhead an early engagement with a financial institution struggling with a digital transformation, analysing the problem and establishing a plan to grow a team to drive improvement

You will take responsibility for broader success of our projects, engaging to resolve challenges both inside and outside the technical domain. You will form strong client relationships, working with them to define technical strategy as well as ensuring day-to-day project success.

You will mentor & motivate other Tech Leads and developers on the team, collaborate with the client’s technical and non technical stakeholders, and work closely with delivery leads to ensure our projects are delivered on time and in budget

You will use your technical skills to contribute beyond your project – sharing knowledge with other teams, and working closely with our presales team to lead the design of technical solutions for potential new clients.

Experience and qualifications 

Technical expertise

You have significant breadth & depth of technical knowledge & expertise, and can solve technical challenges across front-end, back-end and infrastructure.

You have strong experience and understanding in at least some of the following technologies:

• C# and the .NET ecosystem
• Java and the JVM ecosystem
• JavaScript and popular frameworks
• Python and its ecosystem
• AWS and/or Azure
• Popular databases and SQL versions
• Mobile (iOS or Android) development

You are a fast learner, and can leverage your existing expertise to quickly become effective in unfamiliar tech stacks and novel situations

You have a good understanding of best practice principles for technical architecture, and are comfortable applying these in unfamiliar situations to design new system

Leadership and communication

You are a talented leader, who can motivate and coach the developers or less experienced tech leads on your team and have a proven ability to establish effective teams with strong technical delivery processes.

You are a strong communicator, who can explain technical concepts effectively to non-technical people and make an excellent impression on clients

You are adept at achieving outcomes by influencing client stakeholders who don’t report to you

Your approach

• You are passionate about leveraging technology to deliver great outcomes for clients and end users
• You are focused on effective delivery – ensuring great technical quality and efficient, high-value output
• You enjoy helping clients increase their technical maturity, while remaining sensitive to their business needs
• You enjoy mentoring developers, and helping them reach their personal development goals
• You enjoy collaborating with designers and product owners to innovate and devise great technical solutions to meet user needs
• You are comfortable with ambiguity and fast-paced, changing environments

The package 

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

• Base salary from £77,800 – £87,400 depending on your background and how many years of relevant experience you have.
• You can expect to receive a profit share depending on your experience and company performance. Over the last three years, this ranged between £15,000 – £23,000
• Pension: Additional 5% of salary

Additional benefits

• 25 days annual leave (with the option to buy and sell)
• Flexible work options, time off for company-wide morale activities, time off for charitable / CSR activities
• Free annual eye test, income protection, cycle to work, electric vehicle lease schemes, and payroll charity donations

Read here for further details on benefits