KO2 Embedded Recruitment Solutions Ltd
Lead Software Engineer
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Lead Software Engineer – Linux
Location: Salford — Hybrid, 3 days/week minimum in office
Salary: Up to £65,000 + Benefits
The Role
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced, technically-led Software Engineer to join a leading global supplier of industrial equipment to the food and beverage market. This is a genuinely significant project: the business is undertaking a large-scale migration of its core platform from Windows to Linux, and you'll provide the technical leadership to make it happen.
This is not a people-management role — it's about technical leadership. You'll be the architect-level authority the team looks to, someone who's been through a Windows-to-Linux migration before and can bring that hard-won experience to guide roughly 30–40 team members through the transition, while remaining genuinely hands-on with the code yourself.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide technical leadership and guidance to a development team currently working in Windows, as they transition to developing for Linux
- Bring architect-level Linux expertise to shape the platform's technical direction — ideally from having led or been closely involved in a similar migration previously
- Get hands-on with modifying existing C# code to run on Linux, alongside embedded C/C++ development
- Liaise closely with the company's Germany office, who have led the Linux platform project, to ensure alignment between platform and application development — including occasional travel to Germany
- Work collaboratively with the applications team leader to develop platform architecture and take full advantage of a Debian-based Linux platform
- Elicit requirements from stakeholders, produce technical specifications and documentation
- Support defect identification and resolution alongside the Software Test Team
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Essential Experience
- Architect-level experience with Linux — genuine, hands-on "been there, done it" migration experience is essential
- Strong hands-on embedded Linux background, with proficiency in C/C++
- Minimum 3 years' commercial object-oriented development experience in a C-like language (C++ or C#)
- Minimum 5 years' experience developing for embedded Linux systems, with in-depth system architecture knowledge
- Experience developing for resource-constrained embedded platforms
- Experience with git version control on large-scale applications
- Comfortable providing technical (not line-management) leadership to a sizeable team while staying hands-on with development
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Desirable
- Experience modifying or porting C# applications to run on Linux
- Development within the Debian ecosystem, including CI/CD
- Experience with GUI/HMI applications for embedded Linux
- Familiarity with Microsoft Visual Studio, XAML/WPF (MVVM)
- Agile methodologies such as SAFe
- Knowledge of M2M protocols (Fieldbus, industrial Ethernet, MQTT)
What's on Offer
- Salary up to £65,000 + benefits
- Hybrid working, 3 days/week minimum in the Salford office
- The chance to lead a major, high-visibility technical migration on next-generation products
- Close collaboration with an international platform development team, including travel to Germany
If you've genuinely led a Windows-to-Linux migration before and want to bring that experience to a business investing seriously in its next-generation platform, we'd love to hear from you.
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