Software Engineering Technical Lead - Defence Professional Multiple Cities in Cheltenham

At IBM CIC, we provide technical and industry expertise to a wide range of public and private sector clients in the UK. A career in IBM CIC means you’ll have the opportunity to work with leading professionals across multiple industries to improve the hybrid cloud and AI journey for the most innovative and valuable companies in the world. You will get the chance to deliver effective solutions, driving meaningful business change for our clients, using some of the latest technology platforms. Curiosity and a constant quest for knowledge serve as the foundation to success here. You’ll be encouraged and supported to constantly reinvent yourself, focusing on skills in demand in an ever‑changing market. You’ll be working with diverse teams, coming up with creative solutions which impact a wide network of clients, who may be at their site or one of our CIC or IBM locations. Our culture of evolution centres on long‑term career growth and development opportunities in an environment that embraces your unique skills and experience.

We offer:

• Many training opportunities from classroom to e‑learning, mentoring and coaching programs and the chance to gain industry recognised certifications
• Regular and frequent promotion opportunities to ensure you can drive and develop your career with us
• Feedback and checkpoints throughout the year
• Diversity & Inclusion as an essential and authentic component of our culture through our policies and process as well as our Employee Champion teams and support networks
• A culture where your ideas for growth and innovation are always welcome
• Internal recognition programs for peer‑to‑peer appreciation as well as from manager to employees
• Tools and policies to support your work‑life balance from flexible working approaches, sabbatical programmes, paid paternity leave, maternity leave and an innovative maternity returners scheme
• More traditional benefits, such as 25 days holiday (in addition to public holidays), private medical, dental & optical cover, online shopping discounts, an Employee Assistance Programme, life assurance and a group personal pension plan of an additional 5% of your base salary paid by us monthly to save for your future

In this role, you will work in one of our IBM Consulting Client Innovation Centres (Delivery Centres), where we deliver deep technical and industry expertise to a wide range of public and private sector clients around the world.

Your role and responsibilities

We are looking for an experienced Technical Lead specialising in Java and web technologies to lead the design and development of robust, scalable, and secure enterprise applications. This role is ideal for a professional who can drive innovation and excellence in our organisation’s software development initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement scalable, secure, and maintainable enterprise application architectures using Java and web technologies.
• Collaborate with cross‑functional teams to understand business and technical requirements, translating them into effective application designs.
• Guide the development team in best practices for software architecture, ensuring adherence to industry standards and emerging trends.
• Stay current with Java and web technologies, driving innovation and continuous improvement in our application development practices.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior architects and developers, fostering a culture of excellence and knowledge sharing.

Required education

None

Preferred education

Bachelor’s Degree

Required technical and professional expertise

• Proven experience in designing and implementing large‑scale enterprise applications using Java and web technologies.
• Strong understanding of software architecture principles and patterns, and experience with microservices, event‑driven architectures, and cloud‑native development.
• Excellent problem‑solving skills and the ability to analyse complex systems, identifying areas for optimisation and improvement.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to articulate technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.

Preferred technical and professional experience

• Experience with containerisation technologies like Docker and orchestration tools like Kubernetes.
• Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools such as Terraform or CloudFormation.
• Knowledge of data engineering and experience with big data technologies like Hadoop, Spark, or Kafka.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automation, such as using Jenkins, GitLab, or CircleCI.

As an equal‑opportunities employer, we welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds. However, to be eligible for this role you must have the valid right to work in the UK. We do not offer visa sponsorship and have no future plans to do so. You must be a resident in the UK and have been living continuously in the UK for the last 10 years. You must be able to hold or obtain a UK government security clearance. IBM is proud to be an equal‑opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.

Other relevant job details

IBM wants you to bring your whole self to work and for you this might mean the ability to work flexibly. If you are interested in a flexible working pattern, please talk to our recruitment team to find out if this is possible in the current working environment.