Lead Software Engineer, Full-Stack Applications - AI Fluent (Manchester)

This job is with Fitch Group, an inclusive employer and a member of myGwork – the largest global platform for the LGBTQ+ business community.

Fitch Ratings is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to join our global Ratings Technology team in Manchester or London. This is an opportunity to build mission-critical platforms while helping shape the next generation of technology that powers how a world-leading credit ratings agency delivers insights. In this highly visible role, you will combine hands-on engineering leadership with a passion for innovation, partnering with product, analytics, and technology teams to modernize workflows and accelerate responsible AI adoption across the tribe and squad.

You will work closely with talented engineering teams supporting Ratings workflow and analytical applications, influencing both technical architecture and organizational direction. We are looking for a seasoned technologist who enjoys solving complex problems, mentoring others, and turning emerging ideas into practical outcomes. You do not need to be an AI specialist, but you should be excited to explore how AI, automation, and modern engineering practices can improve developer productivity, analyst experience, decision support, and operational excellence. This is a critical leadership role for an organization investing in the future and looking for someone who can inspire curiosity, experimentation, and measurable innovation across teams.

What We Offer:

• Strategic leadership with organizational impact – Shape technical architecture and product direction for applications used by analysts worldwide, with high visibility to senior leadership and the ability to influence technology strategy across Ratings Technology.
• AI-forward innovation culture – The opportunity to champion responsible AI adoption, identify practical use cases, drive proofs of concept, and help teams translate experimentation into repeatable, trusted ways of working that create measurable business value.
• Continuous learning and career growth – Training, certifications, conferences, mentorship opportunities, and clear paths to principal/architect/leadership tracks as you establish yourself as a thought leader.
• Flexibility and world-class environment – Work from premier offices in London, Manchester, or Toronto with hybrid flexibility, competitive compensation reflecting your seniority, comprehensive benefits, and a culture that values both innovation and work-life harmony.

We'll Count on You To:

• Define technical vision and accelerate AI-enabled transformation – Design robust, scalable full-stack applications using Python and React, guide architectural decisions, establish technical standards, and identify high-value opportunities where AI, intelligent automation, and modern data-driven workflows can improve outcomes for analysts and engineering teams.
• Lead through influence and mentorship – Partner with product managers, analysts, and senior stakeholders as a trusted technical advisor, mentor engineers across teams, facilitate technical discussions, and foster a culture of experimentation, learning, and psychological safety.
• Champion innovation and responsible AI adoption – Challenge existing approaches constructively, encourage experimentation, create and evaluate proofs of concept, promote approved AI tools and responsible usage patterns, and help the tribe and squad turn promising ideas into scalable engineering practices.
• Champion engineering excellence and quality – Implement CI/CD pipelines, conduct architecture reviews, solve complex performance and scalability challenges, establish best practices that scale across teams, and balance innovation with pragmatic delivery.
• Shape team direction and build an innovation flywheel – Influence team processes, lead strategic technical initiatives spanning multiple teams, share learnings from AI pilots, create space for peer-led adoption, and model the curiosity, humility, and boldness needed to make innovation part of everyday delivery.
• Own reliability and navigate complexity – Provide expert troubleshooting for sophisticated issues, maintain system performance at scale, balance multiple strategic priorities, and deliver excellence in fast-paced Agile environments.

What You Need to Have:

• 12+ years of professional software engineering experience building and supporting enterprise-grade applications.
• Expert-level proficiency in developing scalable backend services, APIs, and data-driven applications using Python.
• Hands-on React experience developing modern, responsive, and scalable web applications in production environments.
• Strong experience with TypeScript/JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and modern frontend development practices.
• Experience designing and developing RESTful APIs and integrating with third-party services.
• Solid understanding of software design principles, design patterns, object-oriented programming, data structures, algorithms, and scalable system architecture.
• Experience working with relational and NoSQL databases.
• Familiarity with Agile development methodologies and modern software delivery practices.
• AI Fluency – Experience or familiarity with integrating AI-powered capabilities into software applications, including LLM APIs such as OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Anthropic, or similar platforms.
• Understanding of concepts such as prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), AI agents, and responsible AI practices, with the ability to evaluate and apply AI technologies to solve real business problems.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.

What Would Make You Stand Out:

• Modern engineering practices and DevOps prowess – Deep experience with Docker, Kubernetes/EKS, GitHub, sophisticated CI/CD pipelines, and hands-on cloud expertise (AWS/Azure) with microservices and cloud-native architecture.
• AI adoption leadership – Experience championing AI, generative AI, intelligent automation, or developer productivity tooling in an engineering organization; ability to identify practical use cases, define guardrails, coach peers, measure outcomes, and scale successful practices across teams.
• Leadership trajectory – Experience in principal engineer, tech lead, or architect roles; history of contributing to technical strategy or organizational direction; thought leadership through talks, writing, or community involvement.
• Financial services domain expertise – Experience with analytical workflows, regulatory processes, financial products, credit ratings, or understanding of how technology enables better decision-making.
• Agile mastery and change agent experience – Track record of establishing practices, challenging established patterns constructively, and creating space for teams to innovate and take calculated risks.

If you are a seasoned engineering leader who wants to build impactful platforms, inspire teams, and help shape how AI and innovation are adopted responsibly across a global technology organization, we would love to hear from you.

Why Fitch?

At Fitch Group, the combined power of our global perspectives is what differentiates us. Our global network of colleagues comes together to accomplish things greater than they ever could alone. Every team member is essential to our business, and each perspective is critical to our success. We embrace a diverse culture that encourages a free exchange of ideas, guaranteeing your voice will be heard and your work will have an impact, regardless of seniority. We are building incredible things at Fitch and we invite you to join us on our journey.

About Fitch Group

Fitch Group is a global leader in financial information services with operations in more than 30 countries. Wholly owned by the Hearst Corporation, we are comprised of three main businesses: Fitch Ratings | Fitch Solutions | Fitch Learning.

Fitch is committed to providing global securities markets with objective, timely, independent and forward-looking credit opinions. To protect Fitch's credibility and reputation, our employees must take every precaution to avoid conflicts of interests or any appearance of a conflict of interest. Should you be successful in the recruitment process at Fitch Ratings you will be asked to declare any securities holdings and other potential conflicts prior to commencing employment. If you, or your immediate family, have any holdings that may conflict with your work responsibilities, you may be asked to divest yourself of them before beginning work.

Fitch Group is proud to be an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status, and other statuses protected by law.