Lead Software Engineer

JOB TITLE:  Lead Software Engineer

SALARY: £90,440 -£106,400

LOCATION: Manchester or Bristol

HOURS:  Full time

WORKING PATTERN: Hybrid, 40% (or two days) in the Bristol or Manchester office.

About this opportunity

We recognise the impact data can have on operating the bank, and we appreciate the sizeable opportunities data can bring to better serving our customers and growing the business. It is the foundation of our operation and is a vital component of building the Bank of the Future.

Our Data Platform Services team build and run the bank's enterprise data platforms. With a strong focus on automation and self service we make data easy and safe to use.

We are a large enterprise building a cutting-edge data mesh architecture on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to enable decentralised, self-serve data products across teams. We're crafting a golden path for development by integrating with GCP APIs and leveraging its robust services. If you're passionate about shaping scalable solutions in complex systems and enabling data democratisation, we want you on board. Day to day you'll be:

• Leading a team of engineers, fostering growth and technical excellence.
• Enabling teams to build data products on GCP, following data mesh principles.
• Developing reusable tools, templates, and frameworks to create a standardised "golden path" for teams across the enterprise.
• Ensuring the platform follows standard methodologies for scalability, security, and cost-efficiency while promoting developer efficiency.
• Collaborating with teams to understand requirements, provide guidance, and implement solutions
• Collaborating closely with product owners, and architects to prioritise and deliver the engineering roadmap.
• Defining service level objectives (SLOs) and ensure reliability in production environments.
• Implementing proven methods for security, governance, and resilience.
• Promoting and supporting Agile methodologies, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

The sheer pace and scale of change taking place in the data space means there couldn’t be a more exciting time to join us. With a modern technology toolset at our fingertips, we'll build even more opportunities to get the most from our data.

About us

Like the modern Britain we serve, we’re evolving. Investing billions in our people, data and tech to transform the way we meet the ever-changing needs of our 26 million customers. We’re growing with purpose. Join us on our journey and you will too…

What you’ll need

• Strong background in software engineering roles
• Proven experience in leading software engineering projects within large, distributed systems.
• Strong programming skills in languages such as Python, Java, or Go, with a focus on building scalable, production-grade solutions.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP or Azure)
• Hands-on knowledge of API development, automation, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools (e.g., Terraform).
• Proven experience in containerisation and orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with building secure systems, adhering to enterprise security and compliance standards.
• Strong collaboration skills, with the ability to influence and align diverse teams on a shared vision.
• Knowledge of DevOps practices and tools CI/CD pipelines.
• Knowledge of Monitoring and Observability tooling.

In addition, any experience of these would be useful: 

• Experience with data mesh concepts (e.g., domain-driven ownership, and data product thinking).
• Expertise in GCP services, including BigQuery, Data Fusion, Cloud Composer, IAM, and others.
• Ability to define objectives and measure metrics.
• Relevant certifications in software engineering, cloud platforms or related areas.

About working for us

Our focus is to ensure we're inclusive every day, building an organisation that reflects modern society and celebrates diversity in all its forms.

We want our people to feel that they belong and can be their best, regardless of background, identity or culture.

We were one of the first major organisations to set goals on diversity in senior roles, create a menopause health package, and a dedicated Working with Cancer initiative.

And it’s why we especially welcome applications from under-represented groups.

We’re disability confident. So, if you’d like reasonable adjustments to be made to our recruitment processes, just let us know.

We also offer a wide-ranging benefits package, which includes:

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• An annual bonus award, subject to Group performance
• Share schemes including free shares
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• 30 days’ holiday, with bank holidays on top
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies

Want to do amazing work, that’s interesting and makes a difference to millions of people? Join our journey.