Lead Developer
Skills
About the role
About The Role
FDM is a global business and technology consultancy seeking a Lead Developer (Java/ AWS) to work for our client within the Public Sector. This is initially a 9 month contract with the potential to extend and will be a remote role.
Our client is seeking an experienced Lead Developer to lead engineering delivery across a dual-track programme, covering both a legacy platform and a new cloud-native service.
This is a hands-on leadership role requiring someone who can bring a team together, improve engineering discipline, and confidently lead low-level design and delivery across both legacy and modern systems.
You’ll lead two key workstreams:
Legacy system support – a Java 8 backend service with JSP components
New service – a modern Java 21, AWS-based platform built in collaboration with architects
Alongside delivery, you’ll play a critical role in raising team capability, improving collaboration, and ensuring strong engineering standards are applied consistently.
Responsibilities:
Lead and coordinate engineering activity across both workstreams
Provide hands-on technical leadership, particularly on complex design and delivery challenges
Drive low-level design quality, ensuring solutions are robust, maintainable, and scalable
Improve team collaboration and ways of working, reducing siloed delivery
Increase delivery consistency and engineering throughput
Work closely with architects, principal developers, and wider stakeholders to align on technical direction
Ensure solutions are secure, compliant, and cost-effective, particularly within AWS
Support onboarding, mentoring, and upskilling across the team
Promote good engineering practices, standards compliance, and use of approved tooling
Encourage responsible use of AI and tooling, with strong emphasis on engineering judgement and validation
About You
What we're looking for:
Strong technical leadership
Proven experience leading engineering teams in complex environments
Confident owning technical decisions and guiding delivery
Design capability
Strong experience producing and reviewing low-level designs
Able to translate architecture into clean, implementable solutions
AWS experience
Practical experience building services in AWS
Understanding of cost-aware and efficient cloud design, particularly with Lambda
Team and delivery focus
Ability to improve team collaboration and engagement
Track record of driving delivery momentum and resolving blockers
Comfortable mentoring engineers and raising capability
Stakeholder engagement
Proactive in working with architects and senior technical stakeholders
Knows when to escalate issues and seek support early
The environment
Public sector delivery
Mix of legacy systems and modern cloud-native services
Opportunity to influence engineering standards, team maturity, and delivery practices
Focus on improving collaboration, quality, and technical confidence across the team
Technical Skills:
Essential:
Java (8+) with Spring Boot
AWS (S3, Lambda, GuardDuty)
Docker
SQL, MongoDB
Desirable:
PostgreSQL
Node.js / TypeScript
HTML5 / CSS3
Kubernetes
Jenkins / Concourse
Terraform
Nice to Have:
Perl or Golang (for legacy/service transition context)
Karate, Cucumber, Playwright (testing)
This role would suit a hands-on Lead Developer who enjoys improving underperforming environments, leading from the front technically, and building stronger, more collaborative engineering teams.
About Us
FDM is an award-winning global leader in tech and business talent solutions, backed by more than 35 years of industry experience. We have centres across Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, and a global workforce of over 2500 employees. FDM has shown exponential growth throughout the years, firmly establishing itself as an award-winning employer, currently listed on the FTSE4Good Index and as a 2026 Financial Times UK ‘Best Employer’.
Diversity and Inclusion
Why join us
Career coaching, mentoring and access to upskilling throughout your entire FDM career
Assignments with global companies and opportunities to work abroad
Opportunity to re-skill and up-skill into new areas, develop non-linear career paths and build a skillset within your field
Annual leave and work-place pension
Questions about this role
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