Job Title: Lead Software Architect
Salary: £68,600 to £91,700
Location: Cambridge, UK Hybrid
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time, 35 hours per week
Overview
Are you passionate about shaping technology that delivers impact at scale?
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and motivated Lead Software Architect to help evolve digital platforms that support learners, lecturers, and researchers globally. This role offers the chance to influence the technical foundations of widely used digital products, ensuring they remain scalable, secure, and future-ready.
About the Role
As Lead Software Architect, you will take ownership of software architecture and engineering delivery across a product or platform area.
Working at the intersection of architecture, product, and engineering, you will translate solution designs and product priorities into well-structured, deliverable software. You will ensure technical direction is robust and delivery is maintained from planning through to production and live operation.
You will provide technical leadership across the full engineering lifecycle, including backend and frontend architecture, infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, and operational readiness. While not primarily hands-on coding, the role requires strong engineering expertise, including the ability to review code, challenge design decisions, and support engineering teams when needed.
A key aspect of the role is leading the adoption of AI-enhanced engineering practices. You will guide teams in using AI-assisted tools across planning, development, and testing, focusing on practical and responsible use that improves quality, efficiency, and maintainability.
You will collaborate closely with architects, product owners, and UX teams to ensure requirements are technically sound, well-defined, and effectively delivered.
Key Responsibilities
Own the software architecture for a product or platform area, ensuring scalability and long-term sustainability
Drive engineering delivery from planning through to production
Translate solution designs into actionable engineering plans with clear scope and dependencies
Provide technical leadership to distributed engineering teams
Remove blockers and make pragmatic technical decisions to maintain delivery momentum
Define and uphold engineering standards, patterns, and best practices
Lead adoption of AI-assisted development tools and practices
Oversee operational readiness, including infrastructure, CI/CD, and monitoring
Evaluate technology and tooling decisions, including build vs buy considerations
This is a hybrid role, typically requiring % of time in a collaborative office environment. Flexible working arrangements may be considered.
About You
You are a senior software architect or engineering leader with a proven track record of delivering complex platforms or digital products end-to-end.
You are comfortable engaging with both technical and non-technical stakeholders and bring strong communication skills, sound judgement, and a pragmatic mindset.
You have experience:
Translating product and solution designs into engineering delivery
Leading distributed teams
Balancing technical quality with delivery pace in complex environments
Additional experience in content platforms, education technology, modern web stacks, or introducing new engineering practices would be beneficial.
Benefits
28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
Private medical, dental, and health insurance
Discretionary annual bonus
Pension scheme
Life assurance
Sustainable travel initiatives
Flexible benefits package
Recruitment Process
Application with CV and short questions
Initial screening call
First-stage interview with engineering and product stakeholders
Final-stage interview with senior leadership
Successful candidates will be subject to background checks where required.
Additional Information
The organisation is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process and welcomes applications from candidates of all backgrounds. Adjustments can be made during the recruitment process where needed.