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Location: Newcastle upon Tyne Tyne and Wear Newcastle upon Tyne NE12 8BX
Salary: £80000 - £90000
Sector: Java  
Type: Permanent
Posted: 02/09/2026
Lead Back End Engineer Ronald James Group 2026-05-09

We’re working with a digital product organisation that builds large-scale, secure platforms within a highly regulated environment. The business has an open, collaborative culture where engineers are trusted to contribute at a high level, with a strong focus on technical quality, personal development, and long-term career progression.

Role Overview

Reporting into senior engineering leadership, the Lead Back End Engineer will act as the cornerstone of backend technical excellence. This role combines hands-on engineering, architectural ownership, and technical leadership to deliver scalable, secure, and maintainable backend services.

You’ll guide engineering practices across multiple teams, influence technology decisions, and help align backend strategy with wider business goals.

Key Responsibilities

  • Define and evolve backend architecture for scalability, maintainability, and performance

  • Set coding standards and champion secure development practices

  • Influence technology choices, frameworks, and tooling

  • Lead improvements to CI/CD pipelines, build processes, and operational workflows

  • Communicate technical risks clearly to non-technical stakeholders

  • Lead projects with a focus on strong systems design and engineering outcomes

  • Contribute to critical backend systems when required

  • Review and refine key codebases to ensure alignment with architectural goals

  • Provide technical oversight for major initiatives

  • Coach and develop engineers, strengthening backend capability across the organisation

  • Facilitate design discussions, code reviews, and technical problem-solving sessions

  • Build consensus on technical decisions across teams

  • Identify and address technical debt

  • Introduce new backend technologies and engineering practices

  • Drive improvements in reliability, scalability, and delivery speed

  • Stay up to date with backend technology trends

  • Share knowledge through internal workshops, presentations, and forums

  • Support recruitment and promote a strong engineering culture

  • Ensure backend systems align with recognised security and compliance standards

Key Skills & Experience

  • Strong experience building backend systems using Java (Java 11+) and Spring Boot

  • Proven ability to design and lead backend architecture for complex platforms

  • Strong experience with AWS

  • Experience with Kubernetes and containerised environments

  • Knowledge of Kafka and event-driven architectures

  • Experience designing RESTful APIs and microservice architectures

  • Strong understanding of SQL and NoSQL databases

  • Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines

  • Comfortable working in Agile teams using Git-based source control and tooling

  • Knowledge of recognised security and compliance frameworks

  • A natural technical leader who enjoys mentoring and influencing others

Apply Today!

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