Software Engineering Lead - SC Cleared

Software Engineering Lead - Digital Engineering

Location: Reading - Hybrid (minimum 50% onsite)
Rate: £70-£80 per hour, Inside IR35
Contract: 6-month rolling contract
Clearance: Active SC clearance mandatory; DV clearance highly desirable
Eligibility: Sole UK Nationals only

The Opportunity

We are looking for an experienced Project Engineer - Digital Engineering / Software Engineering to support the technical delivery of complex Software Factory projects across sensitive MOD, Defence and aerospace programmes.

This is a hands-on technical delivery role, acting as the key interface between engineering teams and Delivery Management. You will coordinate technical activities, manage risks and dependencies, support technical decision-making and help ensure projects are delivered to agreed scope, schedule and quality standards.

The role is based in Reading, with a minimum of 50% onsite working required.

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinate technical activities across multidisciplinary engineering teams and stakeholders.
• Track project execution against objectives, milestones and delivery plans.
• Identify and manage technical risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies.
• Support the development and maintenance of project plans and technical roadmaps.
• Provide technical leadership and first-level technical decision-making.
• Act as an escalation point for engineering and delivery issues.
• Manage technical interfaces across customers, suppliers and internal engineering teams.
• Support project reporting, forecasting and performance monitoring.
• Facilitate technical reviews, governance activities and milestone assessments.
• Ensure engineering deliverables meet agreed quality, process and compliance standards.
• Contribute to effort estimation, resource planning and workload prioritisation.
• Support configuration and change management.
• Communicate project status, risks and mitigation plans to key stakeholders.
• Work closely with architects, engineers and delivery teams to maintain technical alignment.

Essential Experience & Qualifications

• Active SC clearance - mandatory.
• DV clearance highly desirable.
• Sole UK National - mandatory due to programme requirements.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology or a related discipline.
• 8+ years' experience working on software, systems or platform engineering projects.
• Demonstrable experience delivering architecture or technical solutions within MOD, Defence Digital, UK aerospace or similarly regulated environments.
• Strong software engineering and/or systems development background.
• Experience working within software delivery environments.
• Good understanding of DevOps and CI/CD practices.
• Proven technical leadership and stakeholder management experience.
• Experience managing technical risks, issues and dependencies.
• Strong communication, planning and coordination skills.

Desirable Experience

• Experience in Aerospace, Defence, Automotive or other highly regulated industries.
• Familiarity with Model-Based Development environments.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Microsoft Azure DevOps certification.

Why Apply?

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Project Engineer / Technical Project Engineer / Software Engineering Lead to work on sensitive, high-profile UK defence and aerospace programmes.

Key details at a glance:

£70-£80 per hour | Inside IR35 | 6-month rolling contract | Reading | 50%+ onsite | Active SC mandatory | DV preferred | Sole UK Nationals only

If you have the required clearance and technical delivery experience, we would be keen to hear from you.