Lead Engineer

 Location: US Remote
 Reports to: Engineering Director
 Direct Reports: 6–8 (Engineering & QA)

About IRIS Software Group

IRIS Software Group is one of the UK’s largest privately held software companies, trusted by over 100,000 customers across 135 countries. For more than 45 years, we’ve helped organisations make better business decisions by reducing admin, improving efficiency, and giving people more time to focus on what matters.

Our software powers payroll for one in six UK employees, supports 12,000+ schools and academies, and is trusted by the majority of the UK’s top accountancy firms. We’re also the UK’s largest third-party online tax filer with the Government.

We invest heavily in modern, cloud-based platforms, supported by our Centres of Excellence in India and Romania, and we’re proud winners of multiple industry awards across Payroll, EdTech, Cloud, and Technical Innovation.

Just as importantly, we’re recognised as a Great Place to Work, including awards for Tech, Wellbeing, and Women.

The Role

We’re looking for a Lead Engineer to take ownership of a single, autonomous engineering team. This is a hands-on leadership role that blends technical expertise, agile delivery ownership, and people leadership.

You’ll shape technical direction, drive high-quality delivery, and build a culture of ownership and continuous improvement — all while staying close to the code.

This role brings together responsibilities traditionally split across Engineering Manager, Lead Engineer, and Agile Delivery Manager.

What You’ll Be Doing

 Delivery Ownership (around 40%)

• Own delivery outcomes for your team — quality, predictability, and pace
• Drive agile practices to improve flow, visibility, and continuous improvement
• Communicate clearly with stakeholders on progress, risks, and dependencies

 Technical Leadership (around 40%)

• Stay hands-on with coding, reviews, and architectural decisions
• Improve reliability, scalability, resilience, and technical debt management
• Define and document technical decisions, patterns, and team ways of working
• Explore and introduce tools and practices that improve velocity, quality, and observability

People Leadership (around 20%)

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of engineers and QA
• Support career growth, development plans, and succession planning
• Foster strong collaboration across Product, Design, and Platform teams

What We’re Looking For

Essential Experience & Skills

• 6+ years in software engineering, with 2+ years in a technical or team leadership role
• Strong experience delivering complex software using Agile methodologies
• Recent, hands-on experience in a modern SaaS environment
• Experience building and operating cloud-based, internet-facing systems at scale
• Strong understanding of CI/CD, DevOps principles, observability, and production support
• Excellent communication, prioritisation, and stakeholder management skills

Technical Stack (experience across much of the following):

• C#, .NET / .NET Core, Microsoft .NET stack
• Azure (AKS, Service Bus, cloud infrastructure)
• React, Blazor, Web APIs
• SQL Server
• Microservices & containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes)
• TDD and modern engineering best practices
• Exposure to AWS (Lambda, SQS/SNS, EC2, Fargate) is beneficial

Nice to Have

• Experience in regulated or complex domains (finance, health, govtech, etc.)
• Line management or mentoring experience
• Exposure to platform engineering or shared services
• Experience using AI tools to enhance engineering productivity

Why Join IRIS?

• Work on software used by millions across the UK and globally
• Lead real technical decisions — not just people or process
• Invest in your growth with modern tech, tooling, and learning opportunities
• Join an inclusive, award-winning workplace that genuinely values wellbeing