Lead Software Engineer – Cloud & Data Orchestration

📍 Hybrid (1–2 days/week in office) | 💼 £140k+ Package | 🕵️‍♂️ Security-Cleared or Security Clearable required

Location: London | Sector: Intelligence, Analytics & Secure Data | Process: 3 stages

Our client is a mission-driven consultancy delivering high-impact intelligence, research, and technical services to governments and private sector clients globally and the brand are well known for making real-world difference.

As we continue to expand, we’re hiring a Lead Software Engineer/Founding Engineer to take the reins of a specialist engineering unit delivering microservice-based cloud and data solutions at scale. This is a hands-on technical leadership role where you'll work closely with the CTO, shape architecture and tooling, and directly influence the future of our engineering capability.

🔍 What You’ll Be Doing

• Leading a growing team (currently 2 engineers + external partners) across complex data and cloud engineering projects
• Designing and delivering distributed solutions on an AWS-centric stack, with open-source flexibility
• Working with Databricks, Apache Iceberg, and Kubernetes in a cloud-agnostic environment
• Guiding architecture and implementation of large-scale data pipelines for structured and unstructured data
• Steering direction on software stack, best practices, and legacy tech modernisation
• Collaborating with a multidisciplinary group including intelligence analysts, researchers, and domain specialists
• Supporting clients working in highly sensitive and secure environments

🧠 Ideal Background

• Senior/Lead/Founding Software Engineer, startup/hands on CTO, or Lead Architect experience, ideally in cloud-native or high-scale data environments
• Deep experience with Software Engineering, cloud deployments (especially AWS), and orchestration technologies
• Proven delivery of big data solutions—not necessarily at FAANG scale, but managing high-volume, complex data (structured/unstructured)
• Experience working with Databricks, Apache Iceberg, or similar modern data platforms
• Experience of building software environments from the ground up, setting best practice and standards
• Experience leading and mentoring teams
• Worked in a startup/scaleup background and someone that is adaptable

⚙️ Tech Stack Snapshot

• Languages: Open to any Engineering language (this will be the start of the brands Engineering function and codebase), some work has been done on Python so that could be preferable but open for this person to drive the Engineering practice
• Cloud: AWS preferred, cloud-agnostic approach encouraged
• Data: SQL, Databricks, Iceberg, Kubernetes, large-scale data pipelines
• CI/CD & Ops: Open source tools, modern DevOps principles

🚀 Why Join Us?

• Impactful Work – Help solve security problems that truly matter
• Ownership & Autonomy – Freedom to shape the stack and drive strategy alongside the CTO
• Growth – A growing company at the cutting edge of data and intelligence
• Flexibility – Hybrid and remote-friendly, with minimal in-office requirements

✅ Compensation & Process

• £140k base salary with flexibility
• 10% performance based bonus
• Pension
• Private Healthcare
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• L&D
• Great company culture and socials
• 3-stage interview process (tech test and final stage onsite)