Senior/Lead Software Engineer (Java)

Senior/Lead Software Engineer (Java)
Permanent
Manchester-based (Hybrid with 3 days in the office)
Salary DOE - £95,000 - £145,000 + attractive benefits + bonus

The client is continuing to scale their engineering presence in the UK as part of a broader US-UK expansion. They have recently closed another deal in Greater Manchester, and this is one of the first hires for a team that is expected to grow quite quickly.

This is a role for a Senior Software Engineer with a focus on Back End development with Java as the primary language. It involves improving and extending existing systems, with the possibility of building new interfaces while ensuring the platform continues to scale effectively.

Essential Skills

• Strong Back End engineer; AI development is not a core requirement.
• Java, SQL, AWS
• Can clearly articulate deep system-design thinking, especially around architectural trade-offs, scalability, caching, and how design decisions evolve in practice
• Tooling: Cursor, Claude Code (used, but not the focus)
• React is beneficial but not essential
• There will be Backend-heavy work
• Interfaces, frameworks, infrastructure pipelines
• Provider integrations and APIs
• Brownfield development and Legacy plumbing
• Solving scaling and growth-related problems

Responsibilities

• Initial focus is as a senior individual contributor, with strong technical ownership however they can also be a team lead as this role could move into a team lead position.
• Candidates who have experience in larger SaaS or software environments, and who have seen where systems or teams begin to strain at scale, are particularly attractive.

Working Pattern

• Hybrid working: 3 days per week in the office is the minimum
• Agile delivery environment.
• Strong emphasis on practical impact rather than theory.