Lead Engineer

Lead Engineer (Java, APIs & Cloud) 💰 £470-485/day (Inside IR35) | 📅 12-Month Contract 📍 Edinburgh (Hybrid) Our client is seeking experienced Lead Engineers to join a major digital transformation programme within a customer-focused digital and communications platform. This is a hands-on technical leadership role where you will lead Agile feature teams delivering scalable API and microservices solutions while remaining actively involved in design, development, deployment, and engineering excellence. The successful candidate will combine strong software engineering expertise with leadership capability, acting as a player-coach to mentor developers, drive best practices, and deliver cloud-native solutions across modern API platforms and customer-facing services. Key Responsibilities • Lead Agile feature teams delivering high-quality software solutions and customer-focused features • Design, develop, test, and deploy scalable APIs, microservices, and backend services • Provide technical leadership, coaching, and mentoring across engineering teams • Drive engineering best practices across development, testing, deployment, and operations • Develop solutions aligned with the organisation's technical strategy and architecture standards • Collaborate with Product Owners, Architects, and stakeholders to deliver business outcomes • Support and improve CI/CD pipelines, DevOps processes, and automation initiatives • Participate in architecture reviews, sprint planning, and technical design discussions • Ensure solutions are secure, resilient, scalable, and maintainable • Work hands-on alongside engineers to deliver high-quality customer-driven software Required Skills & Experience • 10+ years of software engineering experience • Strong hands-on experience with: o Java 8+ o Spring Framework o Spring Boot o RESTful APIs o Microservices architecture o Apache Kafka • Strong experience designing and developing API-led solutions • Experience working with API Gateways and API Management platforms • Strong understanding of distributed systems and event-driven architectures • Experience working with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), AWS, or Azure • Strong knowledge of: o BDD/TDD o JUnit o Automated testing frameworks • Experience across the full software development lifecycle • Strong understanding of DevOps practices and CI/CD pipelines • Experience working within Agile delivery environments • Strong understanding of cloud-native engineering and deployment practices • Experience leading engineering teams and driving technical delivery Desirable Skills • Experience with Apigee X, IBM API Connect, or similar API management platforms • Exposure to Node.js and React.js • Experience within Financial Services or large enterprise environments • Knowledge of cybersecurity principles and secure software development practices Please apply with your CV and we'll be in touch, thank you!