Lead Software Engineer

Lead C++ Software Engineer – Technical Delivery

London – Hybrid | £80,000–£95,000 + bonus and excellent benefits

What if your next move gave you more ownership—not just more tickets?

I’m working with a growing cybersecurity technology business developing high-assurance products that allow governments, critical infrastructure and other security-conscious organisations to access potentially dangerous digital content without exposing their own networks.

Their technology combines specialist hardware with cross-platform endpoint software, creating a secure barrier between users and hostile content. Demand is growing, new markets are opening, and several important product enhancements now need to be delivered.

They are looking for a talented modern C++ engineer to take ownership of the endpoint software at the heart of this product.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys solving difficult technical problems but wants to go beyond writing code. You’ll remain hands-on while taking wider responsibility for design, planning, coordination, testing and release.

You don’t need to be a Delivery Manager—and this isn’t a move away from engineering.

What will you be doing?

You’ll work on complex native software supporting Windows, Linux, Android and iOS, helping users access secure browsing and remote-working technology.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Designing and developing complex software in modern C++.
• Owning technically challenging features from initial design through testing and release.
• Translating an established product roadmap into scoped, achievable engineering work.
• Coordinating delivery across a small team and keeping dependencies visible.
• Working closely with Product, QA, Customer Success and other engineering teams.
• Managing releases and addressing risks before they become delays.
• Improving testing, automation, maintainability and product usability.
• Mentoring other engineers and helping the team make sound technical decisions.
• Exploring how AI-assisted development tools can improve engineering speed and quality.

The role could suit someone already operating as a Lead Engineer, but it could equally work for an ambitious Senior Engineer who has naturally become the person trusted to take ownership and get difficult work delivered.

What are we looking for?

The essentials are:

• Strong, recent experience developing complex software in modern C++.
• Systems-level design or architecture experience involving multiple interacting components.
• A solid understanding of concurrency, IPC, networking, performance, algorithms and secure software.
• Evidence that you have owned a complex product, component or feature through to release.
• The confidence to work autonomously and make progress when the answer is not immediately obvious.
• An appetite for planning, prioritisation and delivery responsibility while remaining hands-on.
• A technical or scientific degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related subject.

Strong candidates could come from industries such as:

• Fintech or electronic trading
• Gaming or game-engine development
• Cybersecurity or endpoint protection
• Defence and secure communications
• Telecoms and networking
• Virtualisation, VDI or remote-access technology
• Embedded or industrial software
• Medical or other safety-critical products
• Media, graphics or low-latency systems

Additional experience with Qt, Java/Kotlin, Android NDK/JNI, Swift, Objective-C, Python, GitLab, Docker, Kubernetes or automated testing would be welcome, but nobody is expected to match every technology.

What matters most is engineering depth, curiosity and evidence that you can take responsibility for an outcome—not simply complete the tickets assigned to you.

This role will suit you if you want to continue writing sophisticated software while gaining greater influence over how products are designed, coordinated and delivered.

It will not suit someone who wants to move completely away from coding—or someone who only wants to code without wider ownership.

London hybrid working (2 days on site)

Bonus, pension, private medical insurance, dental cover, income protection and additional benefits

Interested in hearing more? Apply directly or message me privately for a confidential conversation.

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