Sr Lead Software Engineer in London

Sr Lead Software Engineer in London

London Full-Time 60000 - 80000 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
United States Digital Space LLC

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Design and build AI tools for seamless software migration and automation.
  • Company: Join a leading tech firm focused on innovation and collaboration.
  • Benefits: Competitive salary, remote work, mentorship, and career advancement opportunities.
  • Other info: Be part of a diverse team that values continuous improvement and collaboration.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact in AI-assisted software engineering and modernise technology at scale.
  • Qualifications: Strong coding skills in Python, Go, or Java; experience with AI coding tools.

The predicted salary is between 60000 - 80000 £ per year.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities of the Role

  • Design and build AI‑augmented migration tooling, using Claude Code and Copilot, that automates discovery, code transformation, containerisation, and validation across compute platforms.
  • Engineer agentic workflows that analyse legacy workloads, generate migration artefacts (Dockerfiles, Helm/Kubernetes manifests, CI/CD pipeline definitions), and produce reviewable pull requests against real codebases.
  • Build the guardrails: automated validation, rollback, and continuous verification so AI‑generated migration changes are safe to ship at scale.
  • Establish reusable patterns, prompts, evals, and reference implementations that let the rest of the migration org apply these tools consistently and reliably.
  • Partner closely with the platform engineering teams that build and operate GKP, GCS, Gaia VSI and the container golden path, so the tooling targets the correct end state.
  • Work directly with the migration execution and enablement teams to understand real blockers, then encode the solutions into tooling rather than one‑off fixes.
  • Measure and improve the quality, cost, and throughput of AI‑driven migration — treating model output quality and human‑review load as engineering metrics to optimise.
  • Contribute to the firm’s practice for safe, effective use of agentic coding tools on production codebases.
  • Attributes of Engineers in the Platform Migration group
  • A builder’s bias: you ship tools that other engineers depend on, and you measure success by migrations completed, not demos given.
  • Comfort at the frontier: you are energised, not intimidated, by fast‑moving AI tooling and are willing to establish practice where none exists yet.
  • Healthy scepticism: you trust automated output only as far as your validation proves it, and you build the checks accordingly.
  • Optimism and adaptability when faced with legacy complexity, coupled with the drive to solve hard problems and continuously optimise.
  • Respect for people and opinions, and the confidence to offer your point of view.
  • Dedication to continuous improvement of your own skillset and of the tools around you.
  • A strong personal identification with the firm’s values.
  • Required qualifications, capabilities, and skills
  • Strong software engineering fundamentals and hands‑on delivery in Python, Go, or Java.
  • Practical, production‑grade use of AI coding assistants – Claude Code, Git Hub Copilot, or equivalent agentic tooling – to build and ship real software, not just autocomplete.
  • Building automation and tooling that operates on real codebases: code parsing/transformation, templating, and generating change as reviewable pull requests.
  • Cloud‑native platforms and their primitives: Kubernetes, containers (Docker/OCI), and at least one of AWS, GCP, or Cloud Foundry / VCF.
  • CI/CD and automated deployment pipelines.
  • Designing validation and guardrails for automated change, testing, verification, and safe rollback.
  • End‑to‑end application infrastructure concerns such as authentication/authorization and systems integration.
  • A consultative, problem‑solving approach and the ability to communicate technical concepts clearly.
  • Excellent written and spoken communication skills.
  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field of study, plus working experience in a role such as Software Engineer, Application Developer, or related occupation.
  • Preferred qualifications, capabilities, and skills
  • Experience building on top of LLM APIs: agent frameworks, tool/function calling, retrieval, and writing evals to measure output quality.
  • Prompt and context engineering as an applied discipline, including cost/latency/quality trade‑offs.
  • Container build and supply‑chain tooling: Dockerfiles, buildpacks/Kaniko, SBOM, image signing, hardened base images.
  • Infrastructure‑as‑code tools such as Hashi Corp Terraform.
  • Static analysis, AST‑level code transformation, or compiler/language‑tooling experience.
  • Migration or modernisation programmes at scale, and proficiency managing large infrastructure deployments (compute, container systems, storage, networking).
  • Global financial services and regulatory / compliance considerations relevant to workload deployment.
  • Database and messaging technologies such as My SQL, Cassandra, Kafka, Cockroach DB, or Oracle.

What's in it for you?

You'll be building at the leading edge of AI‑assisted software engineering, on a problem with real scale and real impact – modernising the firm's compute estate – where the tools you build are used every day by the teams migrating it.

Besides being in a strong team, we thrive on the challenge to be our best, progressive thinking to keep growing, and working together to deliver products that help our clients succeed.

  • Hands‑on, daily work with frontier AI coding tools, and a mandate to define how the firm uses them.
  • Continued career advancement opportunities, including industry‑recognised certifications such as AWS and CKAD.
  • Exposure to strong mentorship and leadership examples.
  • Professional and technical development programs.
  • Membership of a close‑knit, collaborative, diverse team that encourages networking.

We recognise that our people are our strength and the diverse talents they bring to our global workforce are directly linked to our success.

We are an equal opportunity employer and place a high value on diversity and inclusion at our company.

We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute, including race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital or veteran status, pregnancy or disability, or any other basis protected under applicable law.

We also make reasonable accommodations for applicants' and employees' religious practices and beliefs, as well as mental health or physical disability needs.

Visit our FAQs for more information about requesting an accommodation.

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Sr Lead Software Engineer in London employer: United States Digital Space LLC

United States Digital Space LLC is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work culture that prioritises innovation and collaboration in the heart of Greater London. With a strong focus on employee well-being and flexible work options, we provide ample opportunities for professional growth and development, making it an ideal environment for those looking to make a meaningful impact in the field of AI-enabled SaaS engineering.

United States Digital Space LLC

Contact Details:

United States Digital Space LLC Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Sr Lead Software Engineer in London

Join Local Tech Meetups

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Contribute to Open Source Projects

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We think you need these skills to ace Sr Lead Software Engineer in London

Python
Go
Java
AI Coding Assistants (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot)
Code Parsing/Transformation
Kubernetes
Docker

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.

Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at United States Digital Space LLC.

Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at United States Digital Space LLC and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!

Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!

How to prepare for a job interview at United States Digital Space LLC

Brush Up on Your Coding Skills

For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.

Know Your Tools and Frameworks

Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If United States Digital Space LLC uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.

Showcase Your Projects

Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.

Prepare for Behavioural Questions

While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.