Software Engineer Technical Lead at Sanderson, England, £700 per day

Outside IR35 Contract: Engineering Lead – Pensions Platform (Next-Gen Greenfield Build) - FTSE100 Wealth & Asset Management Firm

• Rate: £700 per day - Outside IR35
• Location: London or South West UK - HQ
• Duration: Long Term Multi-Year Programme - (6 Months Initial + Extension)
• Working Arrangement: Remote Flexibility - Ideally 1-2 Days p/w

Our client is building a next-generation platform for a leading UK financial services organisation, trusted by millions of clients and managing significant assets. This is a rare opportunity to shape technology that will redefine how people invest and achieve financial freedom.

You will play a pivotal role in creating a greenfield, next-generation pensions platform that streamlines client journeys across a broad range of products and services. This role combines deep technical leadership with people leadership, allowing you to design, architect, and guide the build of a modern cross-platform application from scratch using the latest design patterns and industry best practices.

This is a 60% hands-on technical leadership / 40% people leadership role.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership:

• Collaborate with Product and Architecture teams to define high-level technical designs and development work packages
• Lead solution design, architectural deep-dives, API design, and code reviews (non-coding role)
• Design and build modern, scalable, and secure cross-platform applications from the ground up
• Ensure best practices in agile delivery, DevOps, secure engineering, and operational support
• Own your team’s services, ensuring they are secure, reliable, scalable, and continuously improved

People & Delivery Leadership:

• Shape, lead, and inspire an engineering squad of up to 8 engineers
• Provide structured leadership to drive delivery consistency, productivity, engagement, and wellbeing
• Recruit, develop, and retain high-calibre engineers
• Foster a high-performance culture with psychological safety at its core
• Champion continuous learning, inclusion, and cross-functional collaboration

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Translate complex technical concepts into business-friendly language
• Influence decision-making at senior levels
• Partner closely with Product Managers and senior stakeholders to align engineering outcomes with business and client value
• Promote a culture of technical excellence, innovation, and purpose within a regulated environment

Technology Stack

New Stack:

• Java / Spring Boot
• Oracle
• React
• React Native
• Linux & Windows environments

Legacy Exposure (nice to have, not required):

• PHP
• COBOL

Skills & Experience

Essential:

• Strong financial services domain experience
• Proven experience leading engineering teams
• Strong background in solution architecture and system design
• Experience delivering modern digital platforms at scale
• Ability to operate effectively in regulated environments

Highly Desirable:

• Pensions domain expertise
• Asset or fund management experience
• Custody and ledger experience
• Wealth management experience with asset/fund exposure

Ideal Candidate

• A technical leader who enjoys shaping greenfield platforms
• Comfortable balancing architecture, delivery, and people leadership
• Strong communicator who can influence at senior levels
• Passionate about building high-quality, secure, scalable systems
• Motivated to create meaningful impact in financial wellbeing