Software Engineering Team Lead Hybrid - 2 days a week in Bristol Salary - Up to £75,000 We’ve partnered with a leading technology-driven fintech-focussed data automation consultancy to help them find an exceptional Software Engineering Team Lead. This is a hands-on technical leadership role focused on high-performance back-end systems, ideal for someone who thrives in a collaborative, engineering-led environment. Key Responsibilities as Software Engineering Team Lead: Hands-on Development – Write high-quality, well-tested Java code and set a strong technical standard within the team. Technical Leadership – Champion best practices in architecture, performance tuning, and maintainability. System Design – Drive the design of complex, scalable systems with a strong focus on security and reliability. Code Reviews & Mentorship – Support team growth through thoughtful code reviews and technical guidance. Continuous Improvement – Identify opportunities to improve performance, adopt new technologies, and refactor legacy systems. Cross-functional Collaboration – Work closely with Product, UX, and other engineering teams to deliver meaningful features. Team Support – While not a pure management role, you will have a few direct reports and be expected to mentor and support their development. Required Skills & Experience: Expert-level Java experience (Java 17 preferred), including multithreading, concurrency, and performance tuning. Strong background with Spring Boot, REST APIs, and Microservices architecture. Proven experience designing and building scalable, high-performance software systems. Solid understanding of relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL). Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, testing best practices, and version control systems. Experience working within an Agile development environment. Desirable Skills: Experience in Financial Services or other regulated environments. Frontend exposure (e.g., React) – not essential but beneficial. Familiarity with Kotlin or openness to working with Kotlin-based services. Messaging systems such as Kafka or RabbitMQ. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, or Azure). Understanding of DevOps and infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible). Exposure to NoSQL technologies (e.g., MongoDB, Redis) in read-optimized or thin-client use cases. Ideal Candidate Attributes: Passionate about writing clean, scalable, and efficient code. A problem solver who can dig deep into technical challenges and deliver high-quality solutions. Strong communicator, capable of engaging with both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Self-driven with a continuous improvement mindset – eager to enhance both the codebase and team capabilities. What’s on Offer? Work on modern Java projects with a strong focus on quality and scalability. A high-impact leadership role that remains hands-on. Opportunity to mentor and upskill fellow engineers. A collaborative, engineering-first culture that values innovation and clean architecture. If you're a Software Engineering Team Lead specialising in Java — we’d love to hear from you.