Lead Java Engineer

.

Lead Full-Stack Software EngineerTier 1 Investment & Business Banking Location: Manchester (Hybrid)
Engagement: Contract-to-Permanent
Rate: Inside IR35 via Umbrella

Overview A leading Tier 1 financial institution is expanding its Manchester technology hub and seeks an experienced Lead Full-Stack Software Engineer to play a pivotal role in the transformation of its digital business banking platforms.

This position offers a rare opportunity to enter on a high-value contract while transitioning into a permanent senior leadership role within a globally recognised organisation. The successful candidate will combine technical authority, architectural vision, and people leadership in a complex, regulated environment.

Key ResponsibilitiesTechnical & Modernisation Leadership • Lead the modernisation of large-scale legacy systems, transitioning from monolithic architectures to scalable, API-driven microservices.

• Drive architectural best practices across performance, reliability, security, and maintainability.

Engineering Leadership & Delivery • Provide hands-on technical leadership while mentoring and managing a large offshore engineering team (20+ developers).

• Own engineering standards, code quality, and delivery outcomes across distributed teams.

Cloud & Platform Transformation • Oversee the migration of enterprise platforms from legacy middleware (e.g., WebSphere) to containerised Kubernetes environments across GCP, AWS, or internal cloud platforms (IKP).

• Champion DevOps practices, automation, and CI/CD maturity.

Stakeholder & Architecture Engagement • Act as a senior technical interface between engineering, architecture, product, and business stakeholders.

• Translate complex regulatory and financial requirements into low-level technical designs and implementation plans.

Full-Stack Development Leadership • Design and build secure, high-performance applications using Java 17+, Spring Boot, and Angular.

• Set standards for frontend engineering, API design, and backend service orchestration.

Data & Platform Evolution • Support the modernisation of legacy SDLC tooling and data platforms.

• Lead or contribute to complex data migrations, including Elasticsearch upgrades and distributed data pipelines.

Technology StackBackend • Java 17+, Spring Framework, Spring Boot

• Microservices & RESTful API design

Frontend • Angular, TypeScript

• HTML5, CSS3, SASS

Cloud, DevOps & Infrastructure • Kubernetes (GKE / IKP / AWS EKS)

• Docker, Terraform


• CI/CD: GitHub Actions, Jenkins

Messaging, Streaming & ETL • Apache Kafka

• Apache Flink, Apache Beam


• Redis

Databases • PostgreSQL

• Oracle


• MongoDB

Security & Compliance • OAuth 2.0, Okta

• Enterprise security scanning: Checkmarx, Aqua Security


• Strong understanding of banking-grade security and regulatory control frameworks

Candidate ProfileExperience & Background • Proven experience within Tier 1 financial institutions (e.g. Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Barclays, or equivalent).

• 20+ years' experience in enterprise Java and web-based platforms.

Leadership & Influence • Demonstrated success leading large engineering teams across onshore and offshore models.

• Strong ability to coach, mentor, and develop senior engineers while influencing technical strategy.

Technical Excellence • Deep expertise in Agile delivery (Scrum/Kanban), TDD, and enterprise design patterns.

• Track record of delivering complex system transformations in regulated environments.

Education • MSc in International Banking & Finance and/or

• BSc in Computer Information Systems (or equivalent)

Why Join? • Play a visible leadership role in large-scale digital transformation

• Transition from contract flexibility to permanent leadership


• Work within a globally recognised Tier 1 banking environment


• Influence architecture, people, and platform strategy at enterprise scale

This listing is from reed. View original listing ↗