Lead Java Developer - 6 months - Remote - £570 Inside

Job Title: Lead Java Developer
Rate: £400 (Inside IR35)
Duration: 6 months
Location: Remote - 1 Day Onsite Per Week in Manchester OR Leeds
Clearance: BPSS
Stages: 2 Stages

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and delivery of Java and Node.js-based applications within a modern cloud environment.

• Provide hands-on coding, code reviews, and mentoring to other engineers within the team.

• Define and enforce engineering standards, code quality, and DevOps practices.

• Collaborate with architects and product teams to align development with solution design and business objectives.

• Contribute to technical roadmaps, identifying opportunities for innovation, automation, and optimisation.

• Ensure software is built with scalability, security, and performance in mind.

• Support CI/CD pipelines and modern development workflows using Git, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or similar tools.

• Troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues across the application stack.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Proven experience as a Lead Software Engineer/Technical Lead on large-scale software delivery projects.

• Strong, hands-on experience in Java (Spring Boot) and Node.js (Express, NestJS, or similar).

• Solid understanding of microservices architecture and API development.

• Experience deploying and running applications on AWS, Azure, or GCP.

• Strong grasp of DevOps principles, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation).

• Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

• Ability to mentor engineers and drive technical excellence across teams.

Desirable

• Experience in the public sector or working with GDS-aligned projects.

• Knowledge of containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes).

• Familiarity with event-driven architecture, Kafka, or AWS SNS/SQS.

• Understanding of security best practices and API authentication (OAuth2, OpenID Connect).