C++ Engineer

A growing technology business is hiring a Lead Software Engineer (C++) to take ownership of its backend engineering function and help shape the next phase of its platform.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone with deep C++ experience who enjoys combining technical delivery with mentoring, architecture and modern AI adoption. You'll work closely with Product, Front End and R&D teams to improve platform performance, engineering quality and development velocity.

Role: Lead Backend Engineer

Salary: Up to £70k depending on experience

Location: Birmingham, hybrid working, 2 to 3 days per week onsite

What you'll be doing:

• Lead the development and evolution of scalable backend systems and APIs.

• Take technical ownership of backend projects from planning through to production delivery.

• Work closely with Product Managers, Architects and Engineers to define technical requirements.

• Lead and mentor a team of backend engineers, supporting their development and technical progression.

• Drive improvements across architecture, performance, reliability and observability.

• Identify bottlenecks and optimise database queries, services and system performance.

• Evaluate and implement AI-powered tools to improve engineering productivity and software quality.

• Help shape the adoption of LLMs, AI-assisted development and modern AI engineering practices across the team.

• Lead sprint planning, stand-ups and retrospectives alongside Product and Delivery teams.

• Champion secure coding, testing, code review and engineering best practice.
  
  

What you'll need:

• Strong commercial experience as a Lead Backend Engineer, Senior Backend Engineer or similar technical leadership role.

• Expert-level C++ experience with strong knowledge of the standard library, STL containers and algorithms.

• Experience designing and maintaining scalable backend services and APIs.

• Strong understanding of database systems and performance optimisation.

• Previous experience leading, mentoring or coaching software engineers.

• Experience working within Agile engineering environments.

• Hands-on experience developing, integrating or deploying AI or Machine Learning-powered solutions.

• Familiarity with LLMs, AI-assisted development tools and modern AI frameworks.

• Understanding of AI architecture including prompt engineering, vector databases, RAG and AI service integration.

• Experience evaluating and introducing AI tools that improve developer productivity.

• Strong problem-solving skills with a proactive and pragmatic approach to engineering.
  
  

Nice to have:

• Experience contributing to hiring and onboarding technical teams.

• Exposure to hardware-integrated software, access control, security or workforce management platforms.

• Experience improving engineering observability, reliability and secure development practices.
  
  

This role would suit an experienced C++ engineer who wants to combine hands-on development with technical leadership and play a key role in introducing modern AI capabilities into an established engineering environment.