Principal Developer & Team Lead

Location:

Cambridge/Hybrid with 40-60% of time in the office

Contract:

Permanent

Hours:

Full time 35 hours per week As a team lead with strong technical instincts you're ready to take the next step with more scope, more shaping of what gets built, more influence over how things are done but you're not ready to put down your tools. We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world-leading academic publisher and assessment organisation and a proud part of the University of Cambridge.

You'll lead transitions taking place in our organisation: migrating legacy enterprise applications to cloud-native AWS architectures, while helping us establish two practices from close to scratch including Site Reliability Engineering and AI development. About the role Alongside that broader technical leadership, you'll be the principal developer on a focused project within the programme deep ownership of a specific delivery, hands-in-the-code, designing and building it end-to-end.

You'll spend most of your time close to the code: setting direction, setting the standard in design and review, and writing code alongside the team. You'll also be the line manager for a small team of developers. We're not looking for a fully formed people leader we're looking for someone who cares about the people around them and wants to grow into that part of the role.

You'll have support and development to grow into it over time. The bulk of your focus is on the technical work. You'll be the principal developer on a focused project within the migration programme your own delivery to design, build and own. Around that, you'll lead the wider migration to AWS, build the Dev Ops automation and observability that lets SRE practices take hold, and establish the standards for how we use AI responsibly in education products.

You'll set the technical bar through code reviews, design conversations and your own contributions not from a distance. On the team side, you'll be the line manager for a small team of developers: one-to-ones, development conversations, helping people find their next step. As you settle in, you'll take on more of the wider people work recruitment, performance, identifying where the team needs to grow in AI/ML and SRE.

We'll support you to learn this side of the role; we don't expect you to arrive with it fully formed. You'll deliver in agile squads alongside architects, product owners, technical leads, SREs and infrastructure teams, and you'll be the technical voice in stakeholder conversations about what's possible. This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the selected candidate to typically spend 40-60% of their time collaborating and connecting face-to-face at their dedicated location.

Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including other work arrangements should you require adjustments due to a disability or long-term health condition. About You A current or recent team lead ready to step up technically. The bar that matters most:
You've led developers before, formally or informally, and people have grown around you You're fluent in two or more modern languages and you still write code regularly You've worked with AWS (or an equivalent cloud) in anger not just touched it You understand CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and what observability actually means in production You can hold a conversation about event-driven architecture, microservices and security in cloud environments at a level beyond the textbook You communicate clearly with engineers and non-engineers, and you're open to growing the people-leadership side of the role with support If you meet the above minimum requirements, we encourage you to apply.

Your application will be even stronger if you can also demonstrate the following desirable criteria:
Hands-on exposure to AI/ML in production systems Experience helping establish SRE or observability practice early on A track record of modernising legacy systems without breaking them What this role offers someone taking the next step Genuine scope from the start you'll be shaping the SRE function and AI practice, not inheriting someone else's blueprint, while owning a focused project as principal developer that keeps you firmly in the code.

A small team to lead and learn from. A leadership team that expects you to stay close to the code, and that will support you to grow as a people leader at your own pace. And work that has real reach the systems you help build serve millions of learners, teachers and researchers worldwide. We are a Disability Confident (DC) employer that is committed to equality and inclusion ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all.

The DC scheme's Offer of an Interview commitment applies to applicants who opt in, and disclose a disability or a long-term health condition, and who best meet the minimum criteria for the role. In instances where interviewing all qualifying candidates is not…