Full job description Description
Lead Software Engineer (Full Stack)
Location: Farnborough, with flexibility to work from home dependent on business demands
Salary: £61,500 - £78,800
The Role:
The Software Engineer will play a critical role in both the sustainment of the current environment and the delivery of new capabilities. The selected individual will develop solutions to complex technical issues and problems that impact multiple areas or disciplines; regularly employ ingenuity and creativity to develop new technical solutions and systems to achieve functional objectives.
As a Software Engineer in Leidos, you will be immersed in one of our key programmes. On behalf of our central government customer, you will have direct impact on the current and future iterations of one of our most important pieces of critical national infrastructure.
This is a senior technical leadership role. The individual will be customer-facing, help drive delivery, lead technical decision-making, collaborate with engineers and architects, and act as the visible technical representative of the software team.
Key Responsibilities
*Provide senior technical leadership for the software team collaborating with architects to contribute to and understand solution approach, guiding implementation, and making sound engineering decisions that balance delivery, quality, and operational risk.
*Provide technical leadership across delivery and engineering practices, ensuring agreed standards and processes are applied consistently throughout the project lifecycle.
*Act as a customer-facing technical lead: clearly communicate status, risks, trade-offs, and technical recommendations, and represent the software team in technical discussions and reviews.
*Develop, debug, test, document, and deploy software enhancements aligned with the Software Development Strategy.
*Lead full-stack delivery, covering: *Backend services and APIs implemented in Java
*Modern single-page applications implemented using React/TypeScript or equivalent frameworks

*Drive strong engineering practices across the team: *Ensure adherence to established code review standards
*Ensure defined quality gates are consistently met for the project
*Promote clean, maintainable, well-documented code

*Guide system design and development by analysing information needs, system flows, data usage, and work processes, and translating these into practical implementation approaches.
*Own technical oversight for ensuring the build and deployment pipeline is continuously validated and fit for purpose for the project, working with engineers and supporting roles to ensure defined CI/CD processes, quality gates, and security scanning requirements are consistently met.
*Determine operational feasibility by evaluating requests, requirements, problem definitions, solution options, and their impact on operational systems.
*Collaborate closely with other engineers, architects, and the test team to ensure new and modified software is fully verified prior to promotion.
*Oversee and enable test automation within the scope of the project: *Ensure engineers deliver unit and integration tests as a standard part of development
*Support and coordinate automation activities, with the test team retaining ownership of overall outcomes

*Support and continuously improve Agile delivery practices, including planning, estimation, backlog refinement, and delivery cadence.
*Ensure effective use of development tooling and processes, including CI/CD pipelines and integrated security scanning.
*Mentor and support other engineers, helping to raise technical capability and consistency across the team.
*Effectively communicate with internal stakeholders and external customers, influencing technical decisions through clear, concise, and well-reasoned input.
What does Leidos need from me?
*10+ years of software engineering experience, including substantial hands-on delivery using: *Java (Java 8 and modern Java versions such as 17 and 21)
*REST API design and implementation

*Modern SPA development experience (required) using React and TypeScript, Angular, or Vue.
*Proven experience operating as a technical leader, including: *Leading technical decision-making
*Guiding and mentoring engineers
*Representing the software team in customer and stakeholder engagements

*Strong understanding of design patterns and a solid, structured approach to software development.
*Demonstrated experience writing unit and integration tests as a normal part of delivery.
*Familiarity with Agile software development processes and working within iterative delivery models.
*Familiarity with the Atlassian tool suite (e.g. Jira, Bitbucket, Bamboo), or equivalent tooling, with a solid understanding of CI/CD concepts, workflows, and practices.
*Experience ensuring compliance with code review standards, quality gates, CI/CD pipelines, and security scanning processes.
Desirable Skills and Experience
*Familiarity with integration and architectural patterns (e.g. adapters, orchestration patterns such as saga).
*3+ years C/C++ experience.
*Perl, Python, and/or bash scripting experience.
*Experience contributing to or supporting test automation initiatives (UI and/or API).
Clearance Requirements: Successful candidates will be required to be willing and able to obtain UK Security Clearances - this requires a minimum of 5 years residency in the UK
What we do for you:
At Leidos we are PASSIONATE about customer success, UNITED as a team and INSPIRED to make a difference. We offer meaningful and engaging careers, a collaborative culture, and support for your career goals, all while nurturing a healthy work-life balance.
We provide an employment package that attracts, develops and retains only the best in talent. Our reward scheme includes:
• Contributory Pension Scheme
• Private Medical Insurance
• 33 days Annual Leave (including public and privilege holidays)
• Access to Flexible benefits (including life assurance, health schemes, gym memberships, annual buy and sell holidays and a cycle to work scheme)
• Flexi-Time Working
Commitment to Diversity:
We welcome applications from every part of the community and are committed to a truly diverse and inclusive culture. We foster a sense of belonging, welcoming all perspectives and con