Lead Software Engineer - AI (Manchester)

Salary: £65,000 - 105,000 per year

Requirements:

• 12+ years of professional software engineering experience building and supporting enterprise-grade applications.
• Expert-level proficiency developing scalable backend services, APIs, and data-driven applications using Python.
• Hands-on experience developing modern, responsive, scalable web applications with React in production environments.
• Strong experience with TypeScript/JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and modern frontend development practices.
• Experience designing and developing RESTful APIs and integrating with third-party services.
• Solid understanding of software design principles, design patterns, object-oriented programming, data structures, algorithms, and scalable system architecture.
• Experience working with relational and NoSQL databases.
• Familiarity with Agile development methodologies and modern software delivery practices.
• Experience or familiarity integrating AI-powered capabilities into software applications, including LLM APIs such as OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Anthropic, or similar platforms.
• Understanding of prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), AI agents, and responsible AI practices, with the ability to evaluate and apply AI technologies to solve business problems.
• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams.
• Deep experience with Docker, Kubernetes/EKS, GitHub, sophisticated CI/CD pipelines, AWS/Azure, microservices, and cloud-native architecture would be an advantage.
• Experience championing AI, generative AI, intelligent automation, or developer productivity tooling in an engineering organization would be an advantage.
• Experience identifying practical AI use cases, defining guardrails, coaching peers, measuring outcomes, and scaling successful practices would be an advantage.
• Experience in principal engineer, tech lead, or architect roles, and a history of contributing to technical strategy or organizational direction, would be an advantage.
• Thought leadership through talks, writing, or community involvement would be an advantage.
• Financial services domain expertise, including experience with analytical workflows, regulatory processes, financial products, or credit ratings, would be an advantage.
• A track record of establishing practices, constructively challenging established patterns, and creating space for teams to innovate and take calculated risks would be an advantage.

Responsibilities:

• Define technical vision and design robust, scalable full-stack applications using Python and React.
• Guide architectural decisions, establish technical standards, and identify opportunities for AI, intelligent automation, and data-driven workflows to improve outcomes.
• Partner with product managers, analysts, and senior stakeholders as a trusted technical advisor.
• Mentor engineers across teams, facilitate technical discussions, and foster experimentation, learning, and psychological safety.
• Encourage experimentation, create and evaluate proofs of concept, promote approved AI tools and responsible usage, and help scale promising ideas into engineering practices.
• Implement CI/CD pipelines, conduct architecture reviews, solve performance and scalability challenges, and establish engineering best practices.
• Lead strategic technical initiatives across multiple teams, share learnings from AI pilots, and support peer-led adoption.
• Troubleshoot complex issues, maintain system performance at scale, balance strategic priorities, and deliver in fast-paced Agile environments.

Technologies:

• AI
• AI Agents
• AWS
• Architect
• Azure
• Backend
• CI/CD
• Cloud
• CSS
• Docker
• Frontend
• GitHub
• Support
• JavaScript
• Kubernetes
• LLM
• NoSQL
• Python
• RAG
• React
• TypeScript
• Web
• microservices
• DevOps
• Network

More:

We are seeking a Lead Software Engineer to join our global Ratings Technology team in Manchester or London, building mission-critical platforms and helping shape technology that supports how Fitch Ratings delivers insights. The role partners with product, analytics, and technology teams to modernize workflows and advance responsible AI adoption across teams. We offer strategic influence over architecture and product direction, training, certifications, conferences, mentorship, career paths, competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, hybrid flexibility, and a collaborative culture that values innovation and work-life harmony. Our offices include London, Manchester, and Toronto. Fitch Group is a global financial information services company operating in more than 30 countries and comprising Fitch Ratings, Fitch Solutions, and Fitch Learning. We value diverse perspectives and an open exchange of ideas. We are committed to providing objective, timely, independent, and forward-looking credit opinions, and employees are expected to avoid conflicts of interest; successful candidates will be asked to declare relevant securities holdings and potential conflicts before starting. We are an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer.

last updated 39 week of 2026