Lead Engineer (Fintech)

TL;DR

Lead Engineer (Fintech): Leading technical strategy and architectural direction for greenfield lending systems with an accent on high-scale Java/Spring Boot services and cloud-native infrastructure. Focus on driving technical standards, mentoring senior engineers, and implementing robust, secure, and scalable solutions within a complex financial domain.

Location: Must be based in or able to commute to Cardiff, UK (Hybrid)

Salary: £78,000 base plus potential bonus up to £15,600

Company

A leading European financial technology business specializing in digital lending software with over 20 years of credit expertise.

What you will do

• Own the long-term technical strategy and architectural design for a core domain of the platform.
• Set and enforce technical standards for scaling, resilience, security, and observability.
• Lead and mentor senior engineers to raise the overall technical capability of the team.
• Drive the delivery of complex, greenfield projects while maintaining high momentum.
• Collaborate with engineering management on department-level strategy and hiring standards.
• Integrate AI-assisted development tools into team workflows while maintaining code quality and security.

Requirements

• Deep hands-on expertise in Java (25+) and Spring Boot.
• Strong experience with PostgreSQL, including schema design and data at scale.
• Proven track record of setting technical direction for complex, greenfield systems.
• Experience building and owning CI/CD pipelines and cloud-hosted systems on AWS.
• Strong grounding in observability tools like Prometheus and Grafana.
• Excellent communication skills to influence stakeholders and drive alignment across teams.

Nice to have

• Experience introducing AI coding tools like Claude into engineering teams.
• Understanding of software development in a regulated financial environment.
• Exposure to React and TypeScript for cross-cutting full-stack decisions.
• Familiarity with Keycloak and AWS S3.

Culture & Benefits

• Private health insurance and Employee Assistance Programme.
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, with options to purchase more.
• Pension scheme with employer contributions.
• Salary sacrifice schemes including cycle-to-work and electric vehicle programs.
• Monthly socials and charity events.
• Supportive culture focused on teamwork, integrity, and continuous development.