Lead Software Engineer ( Python & Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9)

Overview

We are seeking an experienced SC Cleared Lead Software Engineer to join a secure, mission-critical central government programme.

This role combines technical leadership with hands-on engineering, leading a team of developers responsible for building, improving, and maintaining secure software solutions running on Red Hat Linux platforms. The successful candidate will bring strong engineering discipline, introduce structure to development practices, and ensure applications are robust, secure, and production-ready.

You will play a key role in guiding development standards, managing a team of engineers, and ensuring software is delivered to the highest security and operational standards expected within government environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of software engineers delivering secure applications on Red Hat Linux platforms

• Provide technical leadership and direction across the full software development life cycle

• Introduce structure, engineering discipline, and best practice across development teams

• Oversee the design, development, and optimisation of Python-based applications

• Ensure code quality through reviews, standards, and mentoring developers

• Support the transition of development solutions into secure production environments

• Ensure applications are hardened in line with secure coding and government security standards

• Collaborate with security, infrastructure, and architecture teams to ensure compliance with relevant frameworks (eg NCSC guidance, Secure by Design)

• Implement and oversee CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices

• Define testing strategies including automated, integration, and security testing

• Contribute to architectural decisions and technical documentation

• Support continuous improvement of engineering practices and team capability

Essential Skills & Experience

• Active SC Clearance

• Proven experience leading or managing software engineering teams

• Strong commercial experience developing in Python

• Experience developing and deploying applications on Red Hat Linux environments

• Proven experience transitioning applications from development into secure production environments

• Experience implementing secure coding practices and application hardening

• Strong understanding of modern software engineering and development standards

• Experience with Git and modern development workflows

• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices

• Experience working within government or highly regulated environments

Desirable Skills

• Experience working in secure or classified environments

• Experience with containerisation technologies such as Docker or Kubernetes

• Exposure to cloud environments (AWS, Azure or similar) within secure settings

• Experience implementing automated testing frameworks

• Understanding of Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

Personal Attributes

• Strong technical leadership and mentoring capability

• Methodical and structured approach to engineering delivery

• Security-first mindset when designing and delivering solutions

• Excellent communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders

• Comfortable operating in controlled, compliance-driven environments

This is an excellent opportunity for a technical leader who enjoys building high-performing engineering teams and delivering secure, production-grade systems within a critical government programme.