Software Engineering Manager - UCX; Web

About HL and the opportunity We're building the next generation platform for one of the UK's largest financial services companies, trusted by over 2 million clients and managing c.£150 billion in assets. This is your opportunity to shape technology that will redefine how people invest and achieve financial freedom. You will build our green field next generation Unified Client Experience (UCX) frontend and web applications that will streamline client journeys across a range of products and services.

It's an exciting opportunity to design, architect and build a modern frontend from scratch using React, AWS technologies and latest design patterns including micro front ends, module federation and industry best practices to modernize and transform our savings and investment platform. The UCX team consolidates the efforts of the whole organisation, transforming client journeys and delivering on HL's vision to give people financial freedom.

You will work with like-minded people from business, product and engineering functions to develop and refine client journeys covering onboarding, KYC, account management and investment workflows in a secure and compliant environment. By joining us, you'll help deliver innovative and scalable solutions that make investing easier and more accessible to millions of users across the UK. Be part of HL's future.

Be part of the future of investing. Shape it with us.

• Recruit, lead, and develop an agile team of 5-7 front-end and web engineers (React) across a mix of seniority levels.
• Own people management responsibilities including hiring, onboarding, line management, performance management, coaching, mentoring, and career development.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performance team culture focused on continuous improvement and psychological safety.

• Provide hands‑on technical leadership for the design and delivery of greenfield front‑end web applications using React and AWS technology stack. Solid experience & knowledge of React and Web development is a must‑have.
• Define and uphold front‑end engineering standards, best practices, and architectural principles.
• Lead technical decision‑making, balancing short‑term delivery needs with long‑term maintainability and scalability.
• Ensure applications are performant, accessible, secure, and compliant with relevant standards and regulations.

• Lead the integration of front‑end platforms with backend services using GraphQL APIs, and third‑party systems to deliver seamless end‑to‑end user experiences.
• Collaborate with backend, platform, and Dev Ops teams to ensure well‑designed interfaces and reliable deployments.

• Take ownership of the agile software development lifecycle, including backlog refinement, Scrum ceremonies, CI/CD pipelines, release processes, and production deployments.
• Promote iterative delivery with a strong focus on customer outcomes, rapid feedback loops, and measurable value.
• Ensure high code quality through code reviews, automated testing, and shared ownership of technical outcomes.

• Work closely with Product Managers, Designers, and business stakeholders to align technical delivery with product strategy and customer needs.
• Communicate technical concepts, trade‑offs, and progress clearly to both technical and non‑technical audiences.

• 10+ years of commercial experience building web and front‑end applications and at least 4+ years leading engineering teams.
• High proficiency in React and AWS cloud technology stack is essential, with a strong grasp of front‑end design patterns and best practices.
• Strong understanding of modern front‑end architecture, including state management, routing, navigation, performance optimisation, module federation, microservice architecture and accessibility standards.
• Experience designing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines, using version control effectively, and working within modern development workflows.
• Solid understanding of secure API integration, authentication and authorisation flows, and modern UI architecture (GraphQL experience…