Lead Software Developer - Contract
Rate: £529 per day (Inside IR35)
Contract Length: 6 months (Initial)
Location: Fully Remote
Clearance: SC Eligibility Preferred
Overview
We are seeking an experienced Lead Software Developer (SFIA Level 5) to support the development and evolution of AI platforms, tooling, and technical foundations that enable the rapid and secure delivery of AI-driven solutions.
This role will be responsible for designing, implementing, and optimising AI development environments, cloud-native platforms, integration services, and automation capabilities. The successful candidate will combine strong software engineering expertise with hands-on experience across AI platforms, cloud infrastructure, DevOps practices, and enterprise-scale technology delivery.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, build, and maintain AI development, testing, and experimentation environments.
- Evaluate and recommend emerging AI tools, frameworks, and technology platforms.
- Develop integration services, APIs, and orchestration capabilities to support AI solutions.
- Support deployment, monitoring, observability, and operational readiness activities.
- Assess infrastructure requirements, licensing implications, and platform costs.
- Create reusable technical accelerators, templates, reference architectures, and development assets.
- Implement security controls, governance standards, and operational guardrails.
- Drive continuous improvement of AI platforms through optimisation and automation.
- Provide technical leadership and guidance to cross-functional teams.
- Champion engineering best practices across software development and cloud delivery.
Essential Skills & Experience
- Strong software engineering background with experience in enterprise-scale application development.
- Hands-on experience with AI platforms such as AWS Bedrock, Microsoft Foundry, and related AI services.
- Knowledge of Azure AI Services and cloud-native architecture patterns.
- Experience building and consuming APIs, microservices, and integration solutions.
- Strong understanding of DevOps principles, CI/CD pipelines, and Infrastructure-as-Code.
- Experience with containerisation technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
- Knowledge of cloud cost optimisation and consumption management.
- Experience implementing security, monitoring, logging, and operational support frameworks.
- Strong understanding of automation, orchestration, and platform engineering principles.
- Experience working within Agile delivery environments.
Desirable Experience
- Government or public sector project experience.
- Experience supporting AI proof-of-concepts through to production deployment.
- Exposure to LLM orchestration frameworks and AI engineering tooling.
- Experience working with multi-cloud environments.
- Knowledge of platform reliability, resilience, and scalability best practices.
Personal Attributes
- Strong technical curiosity and passion for emerging technologies.
- Pragmatic approach to balancing innovation, risk, cost, and delivery outcomes.
- Comfortable operating within evolving and ambiguous environments.
- Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
- Excellent stakeholder communication and collaboration abilities.
- Self-motivated with a strong sense of ownership and accountability.
- Committed to delivering high-quality, scalable, and secure solutions.
Contract Details
- Role: Lead Software Developer (SFIA 5)
- Rate: £529 per day Inside IR35
- Location: Fully Remote
- Contract: 6 months Initial Contract
- Start Date: ASAP
This is an excellent opportunity for a senior software engineering professional to play a key role in shaping AI platform capabilities and accelerating AI adoption within a large-scale digital transformation programme.