Principal IT Developer Leader

Principal IT Developer Leader (FTC, 12-months)

About Indra Group UK & Ireland

Indra is a leading global technology and consulting company, and a trusted technological partner for the core business operations of its clients worldwide. It stands at the forefront of key sectors including Transport, Defence, Air Traffic Management and Space, alongside advanced Information Technology services delivered through Minsait, and cutting-edge capabilities in Sovereign AI, Cybersecurity, and Cyberdefence via IndraMind.

The company’s business model is built around a comprehensive portfolio of proprietary products, combining strong innovation with a high-value focus for customers.

With more than 2,500 projects implemented across 50 countries and over 100 cities, Indra is a global benchmark in innovative transportation and mobility solutions. It is recognised as one of the world’s top three companies in public transportation management systems. Indra’s technology supports the daily journeys of over 78 million people, helping to reduce more than 10 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually, and helping save nearly 3,000 lives through improved traffic management and road safety.

Indra Group is paving the way to a more secure and better-connected future through innovative solutions, trusted relationships and the very best talent. Sustainability sits at the heart of its strategy and culture, driving efforts to address current and future social and environmental challenges.

In the 2024 financial year, Indra achieved revenues of €5.5 billion, over 60,000 professionals, maintained a local presence in 46 countries, and operated across more than 140 countries worldwide.

As the technological partner for its customers’ key operations, Indra is at the core of their business, and Indra’s four values guide everything we do:

Innovation - Our capacity for innovation, cutting-edge solutions, and specialised team of professionals enables us to drive a safer, more connected future through technology.

Trust - We work with strength, commitment, and reliability, delivering quality solutions to build trust with customers, employees, partners, investors, and society.

Connection - We harness the power of collaboration, connect ideas and solutions, and adapt to our customers’ needs, supporting them on the path to a better future.

Foresight - We anticipate future needs to make the world safer and more connected, transforming our experience and knowledge into solutions for a better tomorrow.

About the Project

Transport for London (TfL) has awarded Indra a long-term contract to operate, develop, enhance and expand ticketing and access control systems across London’s transport network through to 2034, with extension options to 2039.

This programme covers the maintenance, operation and evolution of a large-scale, complex ecosystem, including turnstiles, validators, ticket machines, sales terminals, back-office systems, payment gateways, IT infrastructure and cybersecurity that supports over 8.6 million daily journeys.

Therefore, Indra will become TfL’s strategic technology partner to guarantee the operation and evolution of the world’s largest and most sophisticated ticketing system. Following a transition period of approximately two years, Indra will serve as the sole provider across the network that includes more than 8,500 buses, nearly 400 Underground stations, around 300 rail stations (Overground, DLR, Elizabeth Line and suburban services), 4,000 Oyster Card outlets, seven customer service centres, and 24 river boat boarding points.

Drawing on over 30 years of experience in urban public transport solutions, Indra will manage and evolve all aspects of the system. The project also envisages, in partnership with TfL, the implementation of new technologies to develop the system, make it more efficient and automate key processes; in short, to jointly create the next generation of the ticketing system for London.

Role overview

The Principal IT Developer Lead is responsible for leading the design, development and continuous improvement of enterprise applications and platforms. The role combines technical leadership, software delivery oversight and stakeholder management, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable and aligned with business objectives. The successful candidate will lead development teams, drive best practices and support the successful delivery of strategic technology initiatives.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and mentor development teams, promoting collaboration, technical excellence and continuous improvement.
• Define solution designs and architectural approaches that meet business and technical requirements.
• Manage the full software development lifecycle, including requirements gathering, design, development, testing, deployment and support.
• Work closely with cross-functional teams, including Engineering, Infrastructure, Operations and Test teams, to deliver robust solutions.
• Drive Agile delivery practices, facilitating sprint planning, reviews, retrospectives and daily stand-ups.
• Support CI/CD adoption, automation initiatives and DevOps best practices.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, including solution designs and implementation guides.
• Manage technical risks, ensuring appropriate governance and controls are in place for system changes.
• Lead incident resolution activities for complex technical issues and support root cause analysis where required.
• Contribute to technology roadmaps and strategic planning, ensuring solutions remain aligned with business needs and industry trends.
• Support bid activities and project initiatives by providing technical expertise and solution input.
• Monitor application performance, availability and capacity, identifying opportunities for optimisation and improvement.

Requirements

Essential

• Proven experience leading software development teams in complex enterprise environments.

• Strong experience developing applications using Microsoft technologies, including C#, .NET, ASP.NET, Web APIs and related frameworks.
• Solid understanding of object-oriented design principles and software engineering best practices.
• Experience working within Agile/Scrum delivery environments.
• Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines, release management processes and automated deployment practices.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to engage both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience designing and developing solutions using Microsoft SQL Server or other relational database technologies.
• Knowledge of cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure and/or AWS.
• Experience producing high-quality technical, design and support documentation.
• Ability to identify process inefficiencies and drive continuous improvement initiatives.

Desirable

• SCRUM Master certification or equivalent experience.
• ITIL Foundation certification or equivalent knowledge.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code, configuration management and DevOps practices.
• Exposure to application monitoring and observability tools within enterprise IT environments.
• Relevant Microsoft, cloud or software engineering certifications.

Education

• Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, Engineering or a related discipline, or equivalent professional experience.

Benefits

• Holidays: 25 days per annum + 8 days bank holidays (options to buy/sell days).
• Pension – 4% employee and 4% employer.
• Private medical insurance (including dental & optical).
• Life assurance.
• Income protection.
• Employee assistance programs.
• Flexible/remote working options.
• Charitable initiatives.
• Social events (formal & informal).
• Learning and development programs.
• Innovative & collaborative work environment.

Indra is an equal employment opportunity employer. Applicants are considered without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, origin, disability or other characteristics protected by law.