Civil Aviation Authority
Development Team Lead
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Salary: Up to £71,957
Contract Type: Permanent
Security Level: SC
Location: Gatwick – Hybrid
Visa Restrictions: This position does not offer visa sponsorship
Closing Date: Friday 18th September 2026
Screening Calls: From w/c 21st September 2026
Interview Date: w/c Monday 5th October 2026
Please note that both a CV and a cover letter are required for any application detailing how you meet the person specification for the role as well as answering the below questions:
- What attracts you to this role?
- How does your experience and approach prepare you to succeed in this role?
We are the UK's aviation and aerospace regulator and recognised as a world leader in its field. Our activities are diverse, enabling the aviation industry to meet the highest safety standards, and we pride ourselves on our ability to adapt to the constantly evolving aviation environment.
The Role
We are looking for an experienced Development Team Lead to lead a team of six or more full-stack developers. This is a people leadership role with a strong technical focus, suited to someone who is comfortable setting direction, supporting delivery and remaining close enough to the work to provide practical guidance when needed.
As the Development Team Lead you will help the team deliver secure, reliable, and accessible digital services that support the CAA's regulatory responsibilities. The role will be approximately 60% leadership and delivery management and 40% hands-on technical work, although this will vary depending on the needs of the team and the work in progress. You will work closely with product, architecture, delivery, and other teams across the CAA to turn business needs into well designed, supportable services.
Core accountabilities
Development Team Leadership and Delivery
- Set the technical direction for the team and contribute to wider architectural decisions across our Next.js,.NET and Azure estate.
- Maintain good engineering practice across the software development lifecycle, including design, coding standards, peer review, automated testing, source control, CI/CD, deployment, and core hours support.
- Support the team to optimise developer velocity and code quality
- Help the team make sensible decisions about quality, technical debt, risk, and delivery, ensuring solutions meet CAA standards without unnecessary complexity.
- Encourage use of and oversee appropriate AI-assisted engineering tools, such as Github CoPilot, to improve delivery and quality, within agreed CAA security, information management, and governance controls.
Working Across Teams
- Work with Product Managers, UX Designers, QA, and operational teams to shape requirements, refine the backlog and agree realistic delivery plans.
- Build effective working relationships across the CAA, explain technical issues clearly and make sure risks, dependencies and delivery progress are understood.
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People Leadership and Team Development
- Lead, coach, and support a team of full stack developers through regular meetings, clear objectives, constructive feedback, and development planning.
- Create an inclusive environment where people take ownership, share knowledge, raise concerns early, operate with a try-fail mentality, and learn from delivery experience.
- Break down business requirements into an engineering design and vision by helping define clear outcomes for the team, managing competing demands and remove blockers that affect delivery.
About You
What we are looking for:
- 5+ years of experience of leading a software engineering team, as a Development Team Lead or hands-on Engineering Manager managing full stack engineers.
- Current or strong recent hands-on experience across full stack development. You should be able to review patterns, designs, and code, guide technical decisions and step into delivery work when needed.
- Knowledge of JavaScript or TypeScript frameworks, ideally React and Next.js.
- Knowledge of C#,.NET, and the development of APIs
- A sound understanding of software design, Git, automated testing, CI/CD, application security, accessibility, and the operation of services in Azure.
- Experience of working with product and delivery colleagues to shape requirements, refine user stories, plan work, and make clear technical trade-offs.
- Take an active role in planning, backlog refinement, stand-ups, reviews and retrospectives, raising delivery risks and technical concerns early.
- The ability to communicate clearly with technical and non-technical colleagues, including senior stakeholders, and to raise risks or challenge decisions constructively.
- A pragmatic and practical approach to problem solving, with evidence of helping teams deliver maintainable software while managing priorities, dependencies, and constraints.
Desirable experience:
- Experience of working across several teams or services, particularly where delivery depends on shared platforms, architecture, security, or operational support.
- Experience of improving or replacing legacy applications while continuing to maintain live services.
- Experience of engineering in a regulated, public sector or similarly controlled environment.
Additional Information
For many appointments within the CAA, these roles require access to operationally sensitive infrastructure and/or Nationally Protected information. For these roles the post holders must undergo National Security Vetting and achieve the appropriate level of clearance.
SC
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- To be vetted we will usually expect a reasonable period of residency in the UK so that meaningful checks can be undertaken. For this role this will need to be 5 years.
If you do not meet these requirements, we may not be able to accept your application.
For more information on CTC and SC clearance please visit - Vetting explained - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The CAA values high ethical standards and personal integrity among employees. If invited for interview you will be asked to complete a declaration of interest.
Relocation & Property
The CAA will be relocating from Aviation House (Our Gatwick Office) to new premises in a few years’ time. Our move is driven by strategic, operational and environmental considerations.
We will be moving to a new local home, up to a 15-mile radius of Aviation House, to minimise disruption for our valued colleagues and customers.
We are now working with colleagues and visitors to understand what we need in our new office, before we start our property search. We will sell Aviation House and land, vacate the site and move to new premises, but we do not expect to move before 2028
Inclusive Recruitment
We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and welcome applications from all backgrounds. As a Disability Confident employer, candidates who meet the minimum requirements will be guaranteed an interview. Find out more about the Disability Confident Scheme. If you require any adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know.
Use of Artificial Intelligence by candidates in the CAA recruitment process
We recognise that many of our candidates find Artificial Intelligence to be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be rejected on that basis.
Working With Us
Explore What We Offer section on our careers website to find out about our benefits and how we support work-life balance.
Our Values
Do The Right Thing, Never Stop Learning, Build Collaborative Relationships, Respect Everyone – For more information please Click Here
Closing Date: Friday 18th September 2026
Screening Calls: From w/c 21st September 2026
Interview Date: w/c Monday 5th October 2026
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
No recruitment agencies please.
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