Value Stream Engineering Lead

Location: London (Hybrid working, 3 office days per week) Employment Type: Permanent, Full Time Why Join Us? Annual bonus, cash car allowance and private medical insuranceLead engineering across a value stream building and evolving the next generation of digital products and services for The AAStay genuinely hands on with architecture, code and complex technical problem solving while shaping engineering direction and standardsWork within a modern, cloud native engineering environment where you can influence how scalable, resilient products are designed and delivered For over a century, The AA has been keeping Britain moving. Today, millions of drivers trust us to be there when it matters most, and we're equally committed to supporting the people who make that possible. With a 4.5 star Glassdoor rating, we've built a culture where colleagues are empowered to grow, collaborate and make a real impact for our customers on every journey. This has been recognised by Sunday Times “Best Places to Work” for the last two years. Job Description This is the Job We’re continuing to invest in our digital products and engineering capability, building and evolving technology that delivers better experiences and outcomes for our customers. We’re looking for a Value Stream Engineering Lead who combines deep technical expertise with hands on engineering leadership and can play a key role in shaping how our products are designed, built and delivered. Sitting at the heart of engineering delivery within a value stream, you’ll lead the development of scalable, end to end digital solutions while remaining actively involved in architecture, design, coding and technical problem solving. Working closely with Product and Architecture, you’ll guide teams across backend and frontend engineering, integrations and cloud technologies to turn ideas into robust, production ready solutions. Operating within a modern, cloud native environment, you’ll create the conditions for high performing engineering teams while continuously improving how value flows from idea through to customer delivery. You’ll raise technical capability, remove blockers and drive strong engineering standards while balancing delivery pace, quality, resilience and long term sustainability. Key Responsibilities Lead engineering across the value stream, remaining hands on across architecture, coding, debugging and technical decision making while ensuring delivery remains aligned with customer and business outcomesProvide technical leadership across modern software engineering, including Java and Spring Boot backend development and JavaScript frameworks such as Angular and React, guiding teams through architecture, design trade offs and complex implementation challengesDesign and evolve event driven, distributed and microservices based systems, including APIs and integrations, ensuring solutions are scalable, resilient and aligned with modern engineering practicesLead, coach and develop engineers across cross functional teams, actively unblocking complex technical and production issues while raising engineering capability and fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvementOwn and continuously improve engineering standards and practices across code quality, testing, CI/CD, observability, performance, DevOps, automation and secure, resilient system designPartner closely with Product and Architecture to optimise the flow of value from idea to delivery, identifying blockers and opportunities for improvement while ensuring solutions remain scalable, maintainable and commercially effective What Do I Need? You’ll Bring Deep hands on software engineering expertise across the full development lifecycle, with strong experience in Java and Spring Boot for backend development alongside modern frontend frameworks such as Angular and React, designing and delivering scalable end to end solutionsStrong experience designing and delivering event driven, distributed and microservices based architectures, including asynchronous messaging, APIs and integration across complex digital platformsProven hands on technical leadership, remaining comfortable reviewing architecture and technical designs, interrogating and contributing to code where needed, debugging complex production issues and coaching engineers through technical challenges in real timeStrong ownership of modern engineering standards and practices, including code quality, testing strategy, CI/CD, observability, performance optimisation, DevOps and secure, resilient system designExperience designing and delivering within modern cloud environments such as AWS, Azure or GCP, with a strong understanding of Agile and continuous delivery practices and how to build scalable, reliable and cost effective cloud native applicationsStrong engineering leadership and stakeholder capability, with experience leading cross functional teams and partnering with Product, Architecture and senior stakeholders to improve delivery, remove blockers and create scalable, maintainable and commercially effective solutions Additional Information Belonging at The AA At The AA, we value the unique perspectives, experiences and ideas that our people bring. We've nurtured a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected and empowered to do their best work. Through our employee communities and inclusion initiatives, we’ve created opportunities for people to connect, share experiences and influence positive change across the business. This is a place where your voice matters and where you can belong, grow and succeed. Driven By People, Rewarded By Benefits We believe in rewarding our people. That's why we offer a comprehensive benefits package including: 25 days' annual leave plus bank holidays, with the option to buy additional holidayUp to 7% employer pension contributionFree AA breakdown membership from Day One with 50% discount for family and friends, plus discounts on AA products including car and home insurance24/7 GP access and wellbeing support for you and your familyA wide range of employee discounts, including our popular car salary sacrifice scheme