Software Architect in Royston

£90,000 basic + bonus (£100,000 OTE)

On-site with flexibility

Own the software vision for two global product platforms. This is a rare opportunity to take genuine architectural authority across an entire software ecosystem, not a slice of it. Our client is a global manufacturer of advanced precision machinery used in demanding, highly regulated production environments worldwide. Their Royston site is the global design authority for the product line, supported by manufacturing operations in the United States and China, and R&D teams in the UK, Germany and Asia.

They currently run two established brands, each with its own software platform, its own hardware platform, and its own development team working largely independently. That is the problem you are being brought in to solve. You will be the person who understands both architectures at code level, forms a view on what should be shared, what should be merged, and what should stay deliberately different, and then sets the technical direction that takes those platforms into their next generation.

What you will actually be doing:

• Getting properly under the bonnet of two mature software architectures, mapping how they are built, why they were built that way, and where the structural risks and opportunities sit
• Defining the technical vision and roadmap for the next generation software platform, aligned to how the business wants to differentiate its two brands commercially
• Designing layered architectures that allow multiple teams, in multiple countries, to iterate quickly without tripping over each other
• Producing system architectures and high level product specifications for solutions that must be robust, scalable and secure
• Line managing a small UK software team of three to four engineers initially, with the German software team of a similar size expected to come under your remit over time
• Acting as the technical bridge into the Asia based R&D function, particularly around a growing portfolio of AI driven feature development
• Working across the full lifecycle, from early system definition through design, development, deployment and production support
• Holding developers to account on implementation quality, challenging approaches and mentoring where it counts
• Operating within an established Agile framework (SAFe or Scrum)

The portfolio you will influence spans customer facing application software, advanced imaging and signal processing algorithms, embedded firmware on custom electronics, and internal production and R&D tooling.

The technology:

The core application software runs on Windows IoT and is predominantly C and C++, with C# also in the estate. Around it sit custom electronics with their own firmware and embedded operating systems, AI and machine learning workstreams, and an emerging interest in connected and cloud enabled services. Cyber security, and the Cyber Resilience Act in particular, is a live and serious topic, because these are connected products going into industrial networks.

What they need from you:

This is not a requirements engineering role and it is not a Scrum Master role with a new title. The team will only follow someone whose technical credibility is beyond question.

Essential:

• A career that started in hands on software development and progressed upwards. You do not need to code daily, but you must be someone who could, and who has been genuinely excellent at it at some point
• Strong commercial development background in C, C++ and C#, with exposure to Python, .NET, Java or SQL welcome
• Experience architecting software that controls physical hardware. This is not enterprise software. The code drives a machine that does something in the real world, and it has to interact properly with electronics, sensors and mechanics
• Demonstrable experience operating as a software architect or technical authority within a complex, multi site organisation
• The ability to influence, persuade and align global teams without direct line authority
• Domain depth in at least one of: application software (industrial automation, networking protocols, UI frameworks), IoT and cloud development (Azure, AWS), AI and machine learning systems, cyber security, or embedded systems (RTOS, bare metal, hard real time)

Highly desirable:

• Experience working across European, Asian and North American teams, and an instinct for how working and communication styles differ across those cultures
• Time spent living or working abroad
• Background in industrial automation, medical devices, robotics, defence or another regulated hardware led sector

Travel and working pattern:

Expect to travel less than twenty percent of your time, but at least once a quarter, including regular trips to Germany and roughly quarterly visits to Asia. The role is primarily site based in Royston, with a discretionary hybrid policy in place.

What is on offer:

• £90,000 basic salary
• Annual bonus scheme taking realistic total earnings to around £100,000
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Early finish on Fridays
• Enhanced work life balance policies, strong wellbeing focus and regular employee engagement events
• Genuine international exposure across a global engineering network
• Committed investment in training and technical development

Why this one is worth a conversation:

Architect roles of this scope do not come up often. Most give you one platform, one team and a fixed direction. This gives you two platforms, three engineering locations, a blank sheet for the next generation, and the mandate to decide what it looks like. If you have built the technical foundation and you now want the influence that goes with it, this is the step.

Apply with your CV for a confidential discussion, or contact Laurence or Andrew at KO2 Embedded Recruitment Solutions.