Technical Lead-AWS

Role: Technical Lead

Type: Contract

Location: London (Hybrid)

Job Spec

Application Modernization Leadership

• Lead end-to-end modernization of enterprise Java applications into AWS cloud-native, microservices and event-driven architectures.
• Define the modernization roadmap, target architecture, transition states, technical standards and engineering guardrails.
• Drive API-first design, domain-driven design, serverless adoption and decomposition of monolithic applications.
• Own technical decisions, architecture reviews, non-functional requirements and resolution of cross-workstream dependencies.
• Ensure solutions meet scalability, availability, security, maintainability and operational readiness objectives.

AWS Cloud Architecture & Engineering

• Design and implement containerised workloads using Amazon ECS, AWS Fargate, Docker, Application Load Balancer and Amazon ECR.
• Design serverless and event-driven solutions using AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, EventBridge, SQS, SNS and AWS Step Functions.
• Apply AWS services including Amazon S3, CloudWatch, CloudTrail, IAM, Secrets Manager, Systems Manager, AWS Config, VPC, Route 53 and PrivateLink.
• Define resilient deployment patterns, observability, security controls, backup, recovery and production support models.
• Provide hands-on support for solution prototypes, complex defects, performance bottlenecks and production readiness.

Software Engineering

• Provide hands-on technical leadership across Java 11/17+, Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, REST APIs, Python and TypeScript.
• Define coding standards, reusable components, design patterns, secure development practices and code review processes.
• Guide teams on microservices, distributed systems, asynchronous integration and fault-tolerant application design.
• Contribute directly to critical code, proof-of-concepts, technical spikes and root-cause analysis when required.
• Mentor developers and ensure consistent engineering quality across distributed teams.

Database Architecture & Hands-on DBA Responsibilities

The Technology Lead must bring strong hands-on database architecture, engineering and DBA capability, with particular depth in Amazon DynamoDB and Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL.

Amazon DynamoDB

• Design DynamoDB data models aligned to application access patterns, scale, latency and consistency requirements.
• Apply single-table and multi-table design approaches, including partition keys, sort keys, GSIs and LSIs.
• Configure and optimise capacity models, auto scaling, TTL, point-in-time recovery, Streams and Global Tables where appropriate.
• Diagnose hot partitions, throttling, inefficient access patterns and cost or performance issues.
• Plan and execute data migration, validation and operational support for high-volume serverless workloads.

Amazon Aurora PostgreSQL

• Provide hands-on architecture, administration and operational support for Aurora PostgreSQL and PostgreSQL environments.
• Design schemas, data models, indexing strategies, partitioning and database standards for transactional workloads.
• Perform SQL tuning, execution plan analysis, query optimisation, workload troubleshooting and performance remediation.
• Design high availability, replicas, failover, backup, restore, patching, maintenance and disaster recovery arrangements.
• Lead database migration from Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL or other legacy platforms using appropriate AWS migration services and tools.
• Implement database security, encryption, access controls, secrets management, auditing, retention and archival policies.

Broader Database Capabilities

• Strong knowledge of relational and NoSQL data modelling, transaction management and consistency patterns.
• Experience supporting mission-critical, high-volume systems with demanding availability and performance requirements.
• Hands-on monitoring using Amazon CloudWatch, Performance Insights and database-native diagnostic tools.
• Ability to assess when to use Aurora PostgreSQL, DynamoDB or other AWS data services based on workload characteristics.

DevOps, Automation & Platform Engineering

• Design and govern CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, Git, GitHub Actions, AWS CodePipeline and AWS CodeBuild.
• Automate infrastructure and application deployment using Terraform and/or AWS CloudFormation.
• Embed automated testing, code quality checks, vulnerability scanning, policy controls and release approvals into delivery pipelines.
• Establish container image management, environment promotion, rollback, configuration and secrets-management standards.
• Define monitoring, logging, tracing, alerting, SLOs and operational dashboards for cloud-native workloads.
• Drive DevSecOps practices and continuous improvement across engineering and operations teams.

Customer Engagement & Delivery Leadership

• Act as the primary technical point of contact and trusted advisor for customer architects, engineering leaders and programme stakeholders.
• Lead discovery sessions, architecture workshops, design reviews, technical governance forums and steering discussions.
• Translate business and operational requirements into clear, scalable and pragmatic technical solutions.
• Communicate architecture decisions, delivery progress, dependencies, risks and mitigation actions to technical and executive audiences.
• Provide clear written documentation, presentations and recommendations, adapting the level of detail for each stakeholder group.
• Lead, mentor and coordinate architects, developers, DevOps engineers, cloud engineers and database specialists across workstreams.
• Support estimation, planning, resource shaping, technical proposals and delivery assurance.

Mandatory Skills & Experience

Capability Required experience

Cloud & Architecture AWS architecture; ECS; Fargate; Lambda; API Gateway; microservices; serverless; event-driven architecture; distributed systems

Application Engineering Java; Spring Boot; Spring Cloud; REST APIs; Python; TypeScript; hands-on coding and code reviews

Databases DynamoDB; Aurora PostgreSQL; PostgreSQL; RDS; SQL tuning; data modelling; migration; backup and recovery; hands-on DBA

DevOps & Automation Jenkins; Git; CI/CD; Docker; Terraform and/or CloudFormation; automated testing and security scanning

Leadership Architecture governance; technical decision-making; mentoring; delivery leadership; risk management

Customer Communication Strong workshop facilitation, consulting, stakeholder management, presentation and written communication skills