Lead Engineer/Head of Software Engineering

Lead Engineer / Head of Engineering

£75,000-£85,000 + bonus + benefits

East Midland - Hybrid (3 days on site minimum)

Commutable from Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Cambridgeshire, Buckinghamshire, North Hertfordshire, North Oxfordshire,

A fast-growing UK financial technology company is seeking a Lead Engineer / Head of Engineering to shape the strategic and technical direction of its platforms and lead a new era of engineering maturity.

The company provides innovative digital lending and finance solutions for SMEs across the UK. Its technology underpins the entire customer lifecycle - from onboarding and credit analysis through to lender integration, decisioning models, and customer self-service. The environment blends custom full-stack applications, CRM, and AWS-hosted data engineering systems.

This role combines hands-on coding with strategic leadership. You will design scalable architecture, improve engineering standards, and mentor a small but growing team. It's ideal for a senior developer or technical lead from a larger fintech, financial services, or SaaS environment who wants greater autonomy, ownership, and visibility.

What You'll Do

Own the technical roadmap, working directly with the Head of Tech to deliver next-generation customer and data platforms.
Design and build web applications and APIs using Node.js, React, Python, and AWS.
Oversee integrations between CRM, AWS services, data pipelines, and internal systems.
Implement and enforce best practice in CI/CD, testing, code review, and version control.
Develop secure, reliable cloud infrastructure across AWS Lambda, S3, Glue, and Redshift.
Mentor developers, set standards, and lead by example through high-quality hands-on coding.
Contribute to strategic initiatives including:
A new customer self-service portal
Automation of credit and lending workflows;
Data engineering and machine learning model deployment for lender matching and risk profiling;
Continuous improvement of API and data architecture for scalability.

About You

You are an experienced software engineer who enjoys building and leading in equal measure. You want a role where your technical depth, problem-solving skills, and leadership make a visible impact.

You'll bring:

5+ years of full-stack experience in JavaScript (Node.js/React) and Python.
Strong cloud background, ideally AWS (Lambda, S3, Glue, Redshift).
Proven ability to design and deploy scalable web and data systems.
Understanding of CI/CD, automated testing, and version control (Git).
Experience integrating CRM or SaaS systems (Zoho, Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.).
Excellent communication and problem-solving skills - confident presenting to business stakeholders.
UK-based, with full right to work, UK work software engineering experience and ability to attend the office minimum three days per week.

Ideal Industry Sector Backgrounds:

FinTech / Alternative Lending / Payments
SaaS, Data or Analytics Platform Providers
Financial Services or Digital Banking Engineering Teams
Larger blue-chip or consultancy environments where you've learned engineering project/programme discipline and now want autonomy, ownership, and pace within a smaller, entrepreneurial business.

You'll suit this role if you:

Enjoy being both a strategic thinker and a hands-on engineer.
Thrive in a high-energy, collaborative environment where delivery speed and technical quality both matter.
Want the freedom to shape engineering culture, standards, and architecture.

You won't suit this role if you:

Are seeking a fully remote or management-only position.
Lack UK software engineering/full stack development experience or confidence communicating with senior business stakeholders.
We are not looking for overseas applicants and visa sponsorship will not be considered for overseas applicants