Lead Software Developer

Purpose of the role:

Lead a software engineering feature team and champion collaborative ways of working across the group/area of responsibility. You will manage the development, maintenance, and testing of high‑quality, secure, and performant software in line with agreed project plans.

You will work closely with the architecture team to provide input into High‑Level Designs (HLD) and technical stories, resource and estimate against these, and oversee the creation of Low‑Level Designs (LLD) with associated DevOps tasks. You will drive sprint planning (including defining sprint goals), remove blockers, uphold coding and testing standards, and lead sprint reviews and retrospectives, acting on recommendations in collaboration with the Senior Development Manager.

Key job requirements and responsibilities:

• Manage the development of elastic/cloud‑scale Command and Control applications.
• Assist in the maintenance of existing customer systems through a structured bug triage and resolution process.
• Own code repositories and define/enforce branching strategies.
• Analyse requirements and contribute to the design of new systems; distil complex designs into defined tasks and estimates.
• Develop automated testing solutions and manage unit‑test coverage/quality gates.
• Adopt and adapt software design methods, tools, and techniques; perform impact analyses and manage associated risks.
• Evaluate software designs for adherence to standards, balancing functional, quality, security, and operability requirements.
• Contribute to organisational software design and architecture policies and standards.
• Create and maintain appropriate documentation for each stage of the SDLC across the team.
• Define and enforce coding standards and secure‑by‑design practices; ensure code is stored in OSL‑approved source control systems.
• Direct, mentor, and support team members; conduct regular 1‑2‑1s and development planning.
• Present the team's work to stakeholders in an accessible and inclusive manner.

Qualifications / skills and experience

Essential (MUST) technical skills:

• C# (.NET and .NET Core).
• ASP.NET (Web API and/or ASP.NET Core).
• Docker and microservices design/implementation.
• Linux for development, deployment, and production operations.
• Message queues (preferably RabbitMQ; Kafka or Azure Service Bus also beneficial).
• Relational databases (e.g., SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or MySQL); strong SQL fundamentals.
• Applied maths skills (e.g., data structures, algorithmic complexity, coordinate systems or basic statistics as relevant to C2 systems).

Strongly preferred / experience:

• Azure DevOps (Boards, Pipelines, Repos: branching and pull requests).
• Container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes).
• Secure coding practices (OWASP), SecOps awareness, and DevSecOps tooling.
• Designing, building, and operating distributed systems at scale.
• Microservice observability (logging, metrics, tracing).
• Message‑driven architectures and eventual consistency patterns.
• Windows Server administration and interoperability with Linux environments.
• UML or other documentation standards.
• Command and Control (C2) domain knowledge and/or experience in Defence/Security (not essential).
• Agile ways of working (stand‑ups, sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives) and continuous improvement.

We value equivalent experience. If you don't meet 100% of the criteria but have relevant skills and potential, we encourage you to apply.

Diversity & inclusions

We are committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace where everyone is respected, valued, and empowered to thrive. We believe that different perspectives and experiences enrich our organisation, and we welcome applications from all qualified individuals.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We do not discriminate based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

We are also committed to supporting neurodiverse individuals and others who may benefit from tailored approaches to recruitment and workplace adjustments.

We are dedicated to ensuring fair and accessible recruitment processes. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process or in the workplace, please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

This job description is not exhaustive and will be subject to periodic review. It may be amended to meet the changing needs of the business, following consultation where appropriate.