Senior Software Developer

Job Title: Lead Software Developer

Location: Hybrid (Upper-Heyford office, three days per week)

About Smedley Group

Smedley Group builds the technology platforms behind a new generation of motor sport and high-performance engineering ventures. Our flagship venture, FAT Karting League (FKL), is an electric karting series disrupting the pathway from karting to F1—removing 95% of traditional costs, taking the UK and US by storm, with plans to expand to 50+ markets in the next five years. The technology we build powers race operations, real-time telemetry, analytics, and the operational tooling behind the group's growth, with further technology‑led ventures planned beyond FKL.

We build software that has to perform in demanding, real‑time environments and we are looking for engineers who want to see their work used at the trackside, on the screen, and across the business.

As Lead Software Developer, you will build the software platform behind Smedley Group’s motor sport and technology ventures.

The role sits between technical leadership and hands‑on delivery. You will lead a small developer team, set engineering standards, review technical decisions and remain actively involved in the codebase.

You will work across race operations tooling, real‑time data, telemetry, analytics, internal dashboards, integrations and AI‑enabled workflow tools. The work you build will be used directly by operators, engineers, management teams and trackside staff.

This role is suited to someone who combines strong software engineering fundamentals with practical delivery pace: an engineer who can architect systems, write production code, mentor others, use AI tools intelligently and ship reliable software in a fast‑moving environment.

• Lead, mentor and review the work of a small developer team.
• Set standards for code quality, testing, documentation, architecture and deployment.
• Review pull requests, challenge technical decisions and ensure the team ships maintainable production software.
• Help shape the development culture as the technology function scales.
• Define architecture, technical standards and engineering direction across the platform suite.
• Translate product and operational requirements into clear technical designs, implementation plans and delivery roadmaps.
• Make pragmatic architecture decisions that balance scalability, reliability, security and delivery pace.
• Act as the senior technical decision‑maker on design trade‑offs and complex technical issues.
• Design, build and maintain production‑grade applications, APIs, dashboards, data tools and operational systems.
• Work across back‑end systems, integrations, data workflows and front‑end applications where required.
• Work with stakeholders across operations, engineering, finance, commercial and leadership to turn business problems into reliable software.
• Build tools that support real‑time data, telemetry, analytics, reporting and operational decision‑making.
• Identify opportunities to use AI‑enabled workflows, automation and internal tools to improve speed, quality and business efficiency.
• Help embed practical AI‑assisted development methods across the team.
• Build CI/CD pipelines, standardise deployment processes, observability, testing and developer tooling.
• Continuously improve engineering processes as the platform and business scale.

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Physics or a related technical discipline, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong proficiency in Python, including production‑grade application development.
• Experience designing, building and maintaining APIs, services and data‑driven applications.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, clean code, testing and scalable system design.
• Experience reviewing code, mentoring developers or leading technical delivery in a small team.
• Practical use of AI, LLMs or agentic development tools in day‑to‑day software development.
• Ability to work directly with non‑technical stakeholders and turn ambiguous requirements into working software.

• Experi…