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.