Senior/Lead Software Engineer (Java) in Manchester

Job Description

Senior/Lead Software Engineer (Java)
Permanent
Manchester-based (Hybrid with 3 days in the office)
Salary DOE - £95,000 - £145,000 + attractive benefits + bonus

The client is continuing to scale their engineering presence in the UK as part of a broader US-UK expansion. They have recently closed another deal in Greater Manchester, and this is one of the first hires for a team that is expected to grow quite quickly.

This is a role for a Senior Software Engineer with a focus on Back End development with Java as the primary . It involves improving and extending existing systems, with the possibility of building new interfaces while ensuring the platform continues to scale effectively.

Essential Skills

• Strong Back End engineer; AI development is not a core requirement.
• Java, SQL, AWS
• Can clearly articulate deep system-design thinking, especially around architectural trade-offs, scalability, caching, and how design decisions evolve in practice
• Tooling: Cursor, Claude Code (used, but not the focus)
• React is beneficial but not essential
• There will be Backend-heavy work
• Interfaces, frameworks, infrastructure pipelines
• Provider integrations and APIs
• Brownfield development and Legacy plumbing
• Solving scaling and growth-related problems

Responsibilities

• Initial focus is as a senior individual contributor, with strong technical ownership however they can also be a team lead as this role could move into a team lead position.
• Candidates who have experience in larger SaaS or software environments, and who have seen where systems or teams begin to strain at scale, are particularly attractive.

Working Pattern

• Hybrid working: 3 days per week in the office is the minimum
• Agile delivery environment.
• Strong emphasis on practical impact rather than theory.