Lead Software Engineer

About the role

The Pod Lead Engineer is a hands‑on software engineering specialist who leads a small, outcome‑focused delivery pod of 4–5 Pod Engineers. The role combines deep technical contribution with day‑to‑day pod leadership, enabling faster delivery through AI‑assisted / AI‑orchestrated SDLC practices. The Pod Lead Engineer is accountable for technical direction, delivery execution, and engineering quality, while maintaining high standards of security, compliance, and operational excellence.

What you’ll be doing

1) Hands‑On Delivery Leadership (Core)

• Lead a 4–5 engineer pod by building software alongside the team, taking ownership of design, coding, reviews, and integration while breaking work into small, deliverable increments using modern engineering practices (CI/CD, automated testing, code quality gates).

2)AI‑Enabled SDLC Execution

• Embed AI across SDLC stages (requirements, design, build, test, deploy, operate) to accelerate solution design, safely generate/refactor code, create tests/automation, and support reviews and documentation.

• Establish pod‑level practices to maximize productivity with clear human accountability for decisions and release readiness, while maintaining required gates (e.g., quality checks, approvals) aligned to organizational standards.

3)Technical Direction & Engineering Quality

• Act as the pod’s technical authority, defining architecture (within guardrails), patterns, component design, and integration approach.

4)Pod Management (Small Team Leadership)

• Coach engineers in AI‑native ways of working (prompting, evaluation, safe AI use) while driving continuous improvement through retrospectives, root cause analysis, and measurable cycle‑time and quality gains.

5)Stakeholder Alignment & Outcome Ownership

• Partner with the Senior Manager, AI Engineering and business/product stakeholders to clarify outcomes, scope, constraints, and acceptance criteria, translating needs into clear technical milestones and deliverable increments.

• Provide transparent updates on progress, risks, dependencies, and mitigation actions to ensure strong alignment and end‑to‑end outcome ownership.

6)Governance, Risk, and Responsible Engineering

• Ensure adherence to security, data protection, and engineering governance standards while proactively managing risks from AI‑assisted development (e.g., licensing, security vulnerabilities, hallucinated code, weak tests).

Essential Skills / Experience

• Strong experience as a senior software engineer / technical lead / engineering specialist delivering production systems.

• Solid engineering fundamentals: API design (REST), data modelling, testing strategy, CI/CD, secure coding, reliability practices.

• Proven expertise in Java or .NET or Python along with UI and backend technologies like React, Flutter, PostgreSQL, Neptune DB.

• Strong credentials in Cloud environments like AWS.

• Proven experience leading small delivery groups (e.g., squad/pod/team) and delivering iteratively.

• Practical experience using AI development tools (Copilot, Amazon Kiro, Claude Code, agent workflows, automated test generation, AI‑assisted documentation).

Desirable Skills / Experience

• Experience working in AI‑assisted / agentic delivery models or rapid delivery “pods” / cohort models.

• Familiarity with governance practices that support quality and assurance in delivery environments (e.g., gate reviews, readiness checks).

About Us

BT is the UK’s leading communications group and the holding company behind some of the country’s most recognised brands – including BT, EE, Openreach and Plusnet. Our purpose is as simple as it is ambitious: we connect for good. Our customers include consumers, small, medium and large businesses, public sector organizations and other communications providers.

Having come through the most capital-intensive phase of our fibre investment, our focus now is on what comes next – simplifying how we operate, using technology and AI to work smarter, and organizing ourselves to serve customers better and grow sustainably. Group teams shape strategy, policy, brand, capital allocation and transformation, helping the whole organization perform at its best.

We have a singular culture that unites all our people: we are customer-first challengers, who are committed, clear and connected. These behaviours unite us as one team to deliver for our colleagues, our customers, our stakeholders and the …