Lead Application Developer

At the heart of our travel business is a simple idea: every unforgettable trip starts with a seamless experience. From the first customer interaction through to booking fulfilment, the systems that power our business must be resilient, scalable, and seamlessly connected, enabling exceptional experiences for both customers and colleagues.

We're looking for a Lead Application Developer to lead our high-performing team in migrating legacy systems into a modern, scalable ecosystem. You will be responsible for the technical aspects of development within the Travel IT Team, including architecture design, framework choices, implementation and delivery of solutions. You will bring hands-on development, including leading and mentoring a team of developers, sharing knowledge and cultivating best practices within the team. You will be assisting the team in resolving operational issues that require high expertise.

This role requires you to be working from our Folkestone office a minimum of 3 times a week. We have designated office space for colleagues in our Travel business, allowing us to collaborate and share success as a function.

Package Description

At Saga we recognise that our people make us special. We believe our colleagues deserve rewards for the excellence they demonstrate every single day, that's why we have put together an amazing benefits package for all colleagues.

• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Option to purchase additional leave - 5 extra days
• Pension scheme matched up to 10%
• Company performance related annual bonus - Up to 5%
• Life assurance policy on joining us, 4 x salary
• Wellbeing programme
• Colleague discounts including family discounts on cruises, holidays and insurance
• Range of reductions and offers from leading retailers, travel groups and entertainment companies
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Grandparents leave
• Income protection
• Access to Saga Academy, our bespoke learning platform

Main Responsibilities

As our Lead Application Developer you will be responsible for leading the design and implementation of scalable, high-performance .NET solutions aligned to modern architecture principles and deliver against the business needs and requirements with precision and pace. Other accountabilities will include:

• Providing strong technical guidance to the team and working alongside the technical leadership team, product owners and project management to ensure the team delivers against agreed business requirements.
• Working collaboratively with other colleagues across Saga's Technology community to deliver technology programs, projects and workstreams.
• Establishing and maintaining a good working relationship with internal and external teams.
• Ensuring our applications are secure, resilient, testable, and fit for long-term evolution.
• Strong experience with Azure DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and release management, driving automated, secure, and predictable software delivery across multiple environments.
• Mentor and promote strong engineering best practices across the team.
• Supporting the project team with planning and estimation of the project tasks and delivery dates, whilst keeping key stakeholders updated with progress.
• Being a key contributor to identify risks, understand the impact and liaise with the business and technology teams to put robust controls in place.

The Ideal Candidate

You will have already worked as a Senior or Lead Application Developer with expert level command on C#, SQL and the .NET ecosystem. Ideally, you would have experience working with the travel industry. Strong technical knowledge and analytical skills. Demonstrable experience of producing and consuming web services using Web API or other REST frameworks as well as in cross-platform integrations. Experience with Azure or other public cloud is advantageous. Cruise/Travel domain experience is desirable. Good understanding of JIRA, Agile development, and other methodologies. Experience in CI/CD and modern DevOps pipelines. Proactive, enthusiastic, and self-motivated. Advocate for team success and proactively participating in the team to discuss issues, improvements, and successes. Excellent organisational and communication skills. Cybersecurity OWASP Top 10.

Saga Values: Make it Happen, Do the Right Thing, Customer First, Excellence Every Day, Our People Make Us Special.

About The Company

Over the past 75 years we have become the UK's specialist provider of products and services to people aged over 50 in the UK. We're the most trusted brand amongst UK consumers in this demographic, recognised for high-quality products and exceptional standards of service. Our product portfolio includes cruises, holidays, insurance, personal finance products and Saga Magazine.

Our focus on delivering exceptional products and service empowers our colleagues to create moments that are personal and special for our customers and for each other and our values underpin our approach and help guide us to deliver our purpose.

We're committed to making sure that colleagues can be their best, be themselves and make a difference more than anywhere else. We have done this by creating a truly inclusive culture, where all colleagues can bring their full and authentic selves to work and be treated with dignity and respect in an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment.

Thanks to our people, Saga was awarded with a Gold for Best Customer Centric Culture in 2025. This is testament to the great culture we've built together. This award belongs to all our colleagues who collectively make Saga a fantastic place to work.

We are champions of age inclusivity and signatories of the Age-Friendly Employer Pledge, we are proud of our multigenerational teams we have in place. We're also a committed Disability Confident employer and ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible. Your application will have fair consideration, and you'll receive personal communication throughout your applicant journey when you apply to join Saga.

Saga does not accept agency CVs unless specifically engaged on the role by the Talent Acquisition Team. Please do not forward CVs to our recruiters, employees or any other company location. Saga will not be responsible for any fees related to CVs received in this unsolicited manner.