Senior Software Architect in Royston

Location: Royston, Hybrid Working from Home Available

Salary: Up to £90,000

KO2 is working with a well-established manufacturer of advanced, ruggedised electronic hardware, precision equipment built to perform reliably in demanding real-world conditions. Below covers everything you need to know about what this opportunity entails, as well as what is expected from applicants.

A considerable body of software sits behind each product, running across multiple processing units, and the business is now seeking a Senior Software Architect to take ownership of the software vision and steer it forward. This is a role of genuine scope, and it is worth being clear about what it is not. It is not an architect position where a set of requirements is handed over and the task is simply to work out how to deliver them. The business is looking for the person who defines how the entire software platform ought to look, across every component and including the data management strategy.

You would be the technical figurehead the software team looks to, the person who sets the direction and brings colleagues with them.

The remit

The business runs two mature software platforms that developed separately, in different countries, performing much the same function but built in very different ways with very different front ends. The first task is to understand both in real depth: how they are constructed, why, and where the strengths and the liabilities lie. From there, you would decide the way forward. That may mean retaining what works and extending it, or it may mean concluding that a platform has reached the end of its useful life and defining a new one. That judgement, and the ability to argue it convincingly, sits at the heart of the role.

Alongside this you would:

• Work closely with product management, together with the hardware and technology leads, to define the software portion of the roadmap and the shape of the platform's future
• Take on line management of the software team, and in time responsibility for software colleagues based in another country
• Partner with a technical lead elsewhere to determine, on a global basis, what gets built and how
• Engage directly with customers where appropriate, since a good deal of what shapes the software returns through the organisation from those using the product
• Balance how much is exposed to the customer against how much is automated beneath the surface, so that the end user is well served with a product that is straightforward to use

The technical picture

The core of this role is C++ and C#. This is application software that controls a device, running on Windows, rather than embedded firmware development. One platform is built largely in C# with an amount of wrapped C carried over from earlier work. The other is predominantly C, with Qt and QML providing the interface layer. You would not be expected to have worked in all of these, and you would not be writing production code day to day. What is essential is a background that began in software engineering proper, writing code and progressing from there, because holding a software team to account and challenging how work has been approached is only credible from someone who has done the work themselves. A working knowledge of industrial protocols such as OPC and the common field buses would be an advantage. With the European Cyber Resilience Act approaching, an architect who writes and thinks about code with security considered from the outset, rather than addressed after the fact, would be particularly valued.

The person

Technically excellent above all, with the standing to command the respect of an accomplished engineering team. Someone equally comfortable operating at senior level within the organisation and working alongside the development team. A capable communicator, able to take a customer requirement and translate it into something the software team can build, with a clear sense of what matters and what does not. The international dimension is a significant part of the role. The business operates across the UK, Germany and beyond, so experience of working with teams in more than one country, and an understanding that working styles differ from place to place, would be a distinct advantage. Finally, the business places real value on engineers who have seen a product through its full life cycle, from introduction through maturity to eventual retirement, and drawn the lessons from it. A history of frequent short tenures is unlikely to suit, as much of what makes this role effective is an appreciation of the long-term consequences of the decisions taken.

The essentials

Salary up to £90,000

Bonus

On site in Royston, Cambridge, three days per week. This is a collaborative role, and a fully remote arrangement is not available.

Permanent, and intended as a long-term appointment.

To apply, please send your CV in confidence.