You will be responsible for

Practice development, around half your time:

• Owning the Future Systems Engineering proposition: what we sell, how we describe it, how we price it, and how it changes over time.
• Deciding what we should be able to do in three years that we cannot do today, and building the offerings, approaches and skills that get us there.
• Leading Softwire's thought leadership on systems engineering: writing, speaking at events, taking part in industry forums, and directing a pipeline of content produced by colleagues.
• Coordinating the systems engineering Community of Practice, and developing the skills and standards of engineers across our accounts.
• Building and directing a small pod of hands-on technical consultants who take practice ideas from proposition through to first delivery.

Client work and go-to-market, around half your time:

• Leading the technical shaping of bids and pitches that call on Future Systems Engineering: running early-stage client conversations alongside Client Directors, setting the solution direction, and writing the technical sections of proposals.
• Running discovery engagements yourself: workshops, technical assessments, architecture and modernisation strategies, written recommendations for client boards.
• Setting up major engagements for success, making sure the delivery team understands the client's need and the context behind it, then supporting them through the work.
• Building strong relationships with senior client stakeholders, and using them to find further areas where we can add value.
• Mentoring and coaching colleagues in both technical and consultancy skills.

About you

You’ll be well described by many of the following:

• You have 8+ years experience in technical roles, including at least 4 years in an agency or consultancy context. You understand how consultancies win, price, and scope work.
• You have designed and delivered systems at scale in demanding environments, and you can speak with authority about non-functional requirements: performance, resilience, security, cost.
• You are fluent in modern cloud architecture, including serverless and event-driven designs, and you can explain to a sceptical client where those approaches pay off and where they do not.
• You have a working understanding of how AI is changing engineering practice and platform requirements, and an interest in developing it further.
• You are commercially fluent. You think about business drivers, procurement, contracting models and margin, and you can connect an engineering decision to its commercial consequence.
• You are comfortable in ambiguous contexts, deciding on incomplete information across competing stakeholder agendas, and distilling disparate needs into clear, practical solutions with broad buy-in.
• You follow the market closely: vendor strategies, pricing shifts, regulatory change, emerging techniques, and what clients are starting to ask for. You can turn scattered signals into a clear position on what we should do about it.
• You have excellent consulting and advisory skills. You hold peer-level conversations with C-suite executives about business strategy and tell them something they did not already know. You present comfortably, write well, and can build a compelling message.
• You have pre-sales experience in an agency or consultancy context, and you want more of it. Client Directors own the commercial relationship; you enjoy shaping the opportunity with them and showing prospective clients we are a good fit.
• You have built, or want to build, a public profile in systems engineering: writing for a trade publication, speaking at a conference, contributing to a standards body, or sitting on a working group. It makes up a good part of the role.
• You are a leader: you understand how to inspire people to follow you and to create the conditions for success across teams you have no formal authority over.
• You are collaborative, and your default approach is to work as a team, openly sharing information, resources and comms. You see all other colleagues as allies, and you are comfortable in a culture which values and rewards collective success over personal attribution.
• You take a can-do approach and don't mind getting your hands dirty and leaning into issues and opportunities that you identify. You don't need a perfect environment to thrive, and you are comfortable taking ownership of situations and problems with a positive approach to addressing them.

What we offer

Softwire operates transparent pay scales and a profit share scheme based on role and overall company performance.

• Base salary based on experience, ranging from £110,400 to £124,200
• Average profit share of between £19,000 and £25,250, depending on your experience and company performance.
• Pension: an additional 5% of salary.
• 25 days annual leave, with the option to buy and sell.
• Time off for company-wide morale events, and time off for charitable activities.
• Free annual eye test, income protection, cycle to work, electric vehicle lease schemes, and payroll charity donations.

Flexibility: We are a flexible employer who understands that being committed to a job is not the same as sacrificing everything for it: holiday is holiday; if you need flexibility for life stuff, that's not a problem; and we don't expect (or want) long hours. We believe in a good work/life balance.