Lead Software Engineer in Leeds

About us

Make a difference and advance your career by helping deliver some of the UK's most important tech for good projects, making the world a smarter, safer, greener, and healthier place. You'll join a talented team of dynamic and driven professional problem solvers; creative thinkers and solutions builders who thrive on helping clients meet the most exciting digital transformation challenges. Founded in 1992, we are a successful, growing international digital transformation consultancy. Our solutions are used by globally recognised public and private sector brands in sectors such as Civil Defence, Healthcare, Sustainable Environment, Land Asset Management, and Digital Democracy.

The Role

As a Lead Full Stack Software Engineer at Informed Solutions, you will take overall technical ownership of large, complex digital solutions for the public sector. Your expertise will guide teams, influence technical strategy, and ensure the delivery of high‑quality, scalable, and secure services. You will lead end‑to‑end delivery of major components or entire services, overseeing architecture, design, development, and continual improvement. You will collaborate across Software Engineering, User‑Centred Design, Delivery Management, and Data Science to shape enterprise‑scale digital solutions, mentor colleagues, and drive innovation within the Engineering discipline. The role offers flexibility to be based from our Altrincham (Manchester) or Westminster (London) offices, supported by our hybrid working approach.

Key Responsibilities

• Client Engagements:
• Take overall technical responsibility for high‑quality engineering across large, complex services, from design through operation and continual improvement.
• Own the end‑to‑end architecture and design, producing and maintaining high‑quality documentation and ensuring designs are effectively implemented.
• Work with Delivery Managers to plan complex technical activities, provide robust estimates, and proactively mitigate technical risks and issues.
• Build trusted client and partner relationships, offering guidance, enabling effective decision‑making, and ensuring technically and commercially sound solutions.
• Provide technical assurance and mentoring for teams, supporting less experienced practitioners and maximizing overall delivery quality and velocity.
• Engineering Discipline:
• Drive innovation and best practice adoption across the Engineering community, motivating and empowering domain practitioners to create a positive and creative culture.
• Support the growth of our Engineering capability via recruitment, masterclasses, training, and curriculum development.
• Provide Practitioner Coaching and technical leadership to guide the development of other engineers.

Requirements

Essential Skills

• Extensive experience leading full‑stack engineering teams, with advanced skills in .NET, Java or Python, plus modern JavaScript libraries.
• Proven track record of taking technical ownership of large‑scale services, including architecture, design, and delivery across the full lifecycle.
• Strong understanding of architectural and design patterns (serverless, microservices), with ability to lead and assure their application.
• Experience leading delivery in Agile environments (Scrum, Kanban, TDD), providing technical guidance and contributing to planning and estimation.
• Hands‑on expertise with cloud, delivering scalable, secure, and well‑architected solutions.
• Experience mentoring and coaching engineers, enabling high‑quality, efficient delivery.
• Strong client engagement skills, able to advise on technical direction and build trusted relationships.
• Familiarity with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins and/or Terraform.

Desirable Skills

• Consultancy experience engaging with external stakeholders and clients.
• Exposure to public sector projects and delivery in complex organisational environments.

Key Abilities

• Able to work effectively in environments where you can adapt to innovative practices involving uncertainty, change, and agile working.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and time so you can deliver high‑quality work within deadlines.
• Good interpersonal skills, with the ability to respect and accept different perspectives and disagreement, work collaboratively in diverse teams, and maintain positive working relationships.
• Good judgement and decision‑making in complex environments where uncertainty, ambiguity, and risk must be collaboratively managed by working supportively alongside others.
• Good communication skills, including clear, constructive written output and measured, respectful verbal delivery.

Benefits

• InformedACADEMY™ – career development opportunities and support with professional certifications.
• Industry‑leading health and well‑being plan, including 24/7 GP services, mental health support, and physical health support.
• Hybrid working.
• Private health‑care cover.
• Generous life assurance cover.
• Gym membership.
• Monthly office lunch.
• Onsite massage sessions.
• 25 paid working days holiday per year plus bank holidays.
• Sabbatical leave scheme.
• Enhanced maternity leave and pay.
• Enhanced paternity leave and pay.
• Company pension contribution.
• Profit share scheme.
• Payment of professional subscriptions.
• Generous referral scheme with no limits on the number of referrals. Qualifying period applies.

Culture

We are proud to nurture a workplace culture that is diverse, inclusive, rewarding, and egalitarian. We strive to live up to our values of Innovation, Excellence, and Integrity by thinking about things differently, always doing our best, and acting in good faith at all times. Our workplace culture reflects how we go about our work, the type of work that we choose to do, and our commitment and contribution to the sustainable social, environmental, and economic development aims of the communities that we are part of.