
Sanderson Government and Defence
Software Engineer (Principal & Lead) - SC & DV
Job Description
Salary: £100,000 - 100,000 per year
Requirements:- Active SC clearance, with the ability to undergo DV clearance
- Proficiency in Java and experience with JVM-compatible languages such as Kotlin or Scala
- Experience with Kafka or a similar platform
- Experience working in Agile DevSecOps environments and with Zero Trust Architecture
- Experience integrating with backing services such as PostgreSQL, Redis or S3
- Knowledge of good engineering practices, including continuous delivery, clean code, documentation, defensive programming, automated testing and code reviews
- Experience using GitHub, GitLab or the Atlassian Suite for source control
- Experience with Test Driven Development and appropriate tools and frameworks
- Experience with microservice design patterns
- Experience with Big Data technologies
- Lead the development of backend platforms and services for secure clients using commercial and open-source technologies in private and public cloud environments
- Design, develop, document, deploy and enhance platform and service features to meet functional and non-functional business requirements
- Participate in the teams elaboration and estimation of user stories
- Build frequent, small releases to maintain team momentum
- Collaborate with engineers in cross-functional feature teams and provide mutual coverage
- Build, optimise and operate Continuous Deployment pipelines
- Maintain operational responsibility for the services owned by the team
- Atlassian
- Big Data
- Backend
- Cloud
- DevSecOps
- GitHub
- GitLab
- Support
- JVM
- Java
- Kafka
- Kotlin
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- Scala
- TDD
More:
We are partnering with a specialist organisation at the forefront of data modernisation across the public sector. The role is remote while holding SC clearance, then based on-site in Cheltenham four days per week once DV clearance is obtained. Salary is £90,000–£100,000 for Lead level and £110,000–£130,000 for Principal level. We value respect and equality, welcome applicants from all backgrounds and perspectives, and can provide support or adjustments during the recruitment process.
last updated 39 week of 2026
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About Sanderson Government and Defence

Sanderson Government and Defence
Cheltenham
IT
Skills & Technologies
Inferred from job description
Salary Insight
£100,000
This role
£85,000
UK median
This salary is 18% above the UK median for Lead roles (£85,000/yr).
Based on 2024–2025 UK technology sector benchmarks