Lead Java Developer in Leeds

Hippo is a rapidly growing digital consultancy passionate about building and delivering transformative digital solutions for a diverse range of Public and Private sector clients. We work at the intersection of strategy, design, and technology to solve complex problems and create lasting value. Our collaborative and agile culture empowers our teams to make a genuine impact.

As a Lead Java Developer, you will play an important role in making Hippo the best Consultancy out there. You will work as part of a multi-disciplinary team combining data, design, product, delivery, analysis and engineering to deliver bespoke digital services that make a positive and meaningful impact on organisations and society. You will act as a Lead Consultant to deliver Java Development services to our clients. Lead Java Developers are experts in their field, providing strategic technical guidance and hands-on leadership within squads and the wider Hippo engineering community.

Your Role in a Nutshell

• Act as a technical SME within the squad to produce and ensure user-centred software is developed based on business requirements and following best practice.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues and stakeholders to explore, design, and deliver solutions to complex client problems.
• Continuously review and prioritise the delivery team’s workload, anticipating the need for realignment with evolving operational priorities.
• Design and manage software development and deployment pipelines, resolving issues and potential bottlenecks before they occur.
• Be a strong communicator and presenter, presenting prototypes, solutions, and progress to internal and external stakeholders in a clear, concise manner.
• Lead the recruitment and on-boarding of other engineers, and support consultants in their professional development through mentoring and coaching.

About the Candidate

Essential Experience

• Extensive experience in Java and the full development lifecycle delivering user-centred digital solutions.
• Proven track record of leading a delivery team to deliver high-quality, robust, and scalable solutions.
• Expertise in building robust, secure, and scalable back-end services using Spring Boot and the wider Spring Framework (MVC, Security, REST API).
• Skilled in designing and building native and web applications across a variety of platform environments.
• Experience of Microservices design and architecture, including Restful API services.
• Expertise in public cloud (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and DevOps practices, including containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes).
• In-depth knowledge of Infrastructure as Code tools such as Cloudformation, Terraform, or ARM.
• Proficient in using CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, AWS CodeBuild, Azure DevOps, and Atlassian.
• Experience with front-end technologies like Angular, React, and TypeScript.

Desirable Experience

• Previous experience of working on GOV/NHS projects or in a consultancy environment.
• Experience with Kotlin or other JVM languages.
• Knowledge of Kafka or other asynchronous messaging systems for event-driven architectures.

About The Company

As well as a competitive salary which we’re transparent about from the outset, you can also expect a range of benefits:

• Contributory pension scheme (Hippo 6% with employee contributions of 2%)
• 25 days holiday plus UK public holidays
• Perkbox access for a wide range of discounts
• Critical illness cover
• Life assurance and death in service cover
• Volunteer days
• Cycle-to-work scheme for the avid cyclists
• Salary sacrifice electric vehicles scheme
• Season ticket loans
• Financial and general wellbeing sessions
• Flexible benefits scheme with options of: private health cover, private dental cover, additional company pension contributions, additional holidays (up to an extra 2 days), wellbeing contribution, charity contributions, tree planting

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Hippo

At Hippo, we’re dedicated to creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace that works for everyone. We understand that having a diverse team unlocks our capacity for innovation, creativity and problem solving. Only by building a community of diverse perspectives, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds can we create an environment where all can contribute and thrive. We actively encourage applications from underrepresented groups including women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent and people with disabilities. We are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process that reflects our workplace culture. We are a registered Disability Confident Employer, Mindful Employer, Endometriosis Friendly Employer and a member of the Armed Forces Covenant. Hippo continually strives to remove barriers, provide accommodations and offer reasonable adjustments to ensure equity throughout our practices.

We are headquartered in Leeds and have offices across the UK in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London and Bristol. We’re on the lookout for top talent nationwide but you need to be located within reasonable travelling distance from one of our offices which will be your contracted office location. Given the dynamic nature of a consulting business, you may be required to work on-site at a Hippo office or at an in/out of town client location for a number of days per week (client dependent) and therefore candidates will need to be open/flexible to travel. Plus, we offer a generous relocation support package of up to £8k (please ask for terms and conditions) to help make your move a smooth one.