Technical Solutions Engineer (contract)

We are seeking a hands-on Contract Technical Solutions Engineer to support the design and delivery of a modern client application, initially centred on TypeScript, Next.js, PostgreSQL, and Payload CMS.

This role would suit an intermediate or experienced software engineer who can own defined technical workstreams, contribute to solution design, collaborate with client stakeholders, and deliver working software. The individual does not need to be an established Solution Architect, but should be able to think beyond individual development tasks and consider how application, data, integration, security, scalability, and operational requirements fit together.

We are particularly interested in engineers who understand that successful delivery extends beyond writing code. The contractor should apply secure development, testing, quality, scalability, maintainability, and collaborative delivery practices throughout the engagement.

The contractor will work with senior technical and delivery colleagues across requirements clarification, technical design, prototyping, implementation, testing, and handover. Dedicated DevOps and hosting specialists may support infrastructure design, provisioning, deployment, and production operations.

Scope of the Engagement

Application Engineering

Design, develop, test, and maintain application functionality using TypeScript, Next.js, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, and Payload CMS.

Build and integrate REST APIs and third-party or client systems.

Use Docker to support consistent local development and testing.

Develop prototypes and proof-of-concepts to validate approaches.

Produce readable, maintainable, secure, documented, and well‑tested code.

Participate in pull requests, code reviews, defect resolution, and technical quality activities.

Requirements and Solution Design

Participate in client workshops, discovery sessions, and solution discussions.

Clarify business needs, user journeys, technical constraints, and non‑functional requirements.

Translate agreed requirements into technical designs, estimates, implementation tasks, and working software.

Contribute to decisions covering application design, data models, APIs, integrations, identity, security, performance, scalability, and supportability.

Produce proportionate technical documentation, diagrams, specifications, and decision records.

Communicate confidently in English with technical and non‑technical stakeholders.

Secure, Reliable Delivery

Apply Secure Software Development Lifecycle practices and security‑by‑design principles.

Follow secure coding practices and demonstrate awareness of common application and API risks, including OWASP guidance.

Consider authentication, authorisation, input validation, secrets, dependency security, data protection, and access controls.

Follow agreed Git workflows, peer review standards, testing requirements, and dependency management practices.

Identify technical and security risks, assumptions, blockers, and dependencies promptly.

Design and implement software with appropriate consideration of performance, scalability, resilience, maintainability, and operational support.

Use suitable automated and manual testing approaches.

Contribute to effective error handling, logging, monitoring requirements, and operational diagnosis.

Collaborate with DevOps, hosting, security, and other specialists where platform expertise is required.

AI Enablement

Contribute to AI‑enabled application features and integrations where required.

Integrate AI platforms, APIs, or Large Language Model services using secure and maintainable patterns.

Use AI‑assisted development tools responsibly where permitted.

Consider privacy, security, reliability, and human oversight when implementing AI functionality.

Delivery Collaboration

Work effectively within an Agile delivery model using Jira and Git‑based source control.

Contribute to planning, estimation, backlog refinement, demonstrations, and delivery updates.

Collaborate with engineering, architecture, design, project management, QA, DevOps, hosting, security, and client teams.

Take ownership of agreed deliverables and communicate progress, dependencies, risks, and blockers clearly.

Required Skills and Experience

Commercial experience delivering modern software applications.

Strong software engineering fundamentals and practical understanding of maintainable application design.

Practical TypeScript experience, or strong experience in a comparable modern language with the ability to work quickly in a TypeScript stack.

Experience consuming, designing, or implementing APIs and integrations.

Experience working with relational databases and data models.

Working knowledge of Secure Software Development Lifecycle principles and security‑by‑design.

Awareness of common application and API security risks, including OWASP guidance.

Understanding of authentication, authorisation, secure coding, data protection, and dependency management.

Experience using Git‑based source control, pull requests, and peer review processes.

Experience applying appropriate testing and software quality practices.

Awareness of performance, scalability, resilience, maintainability, and supportability considerations.

Experience working within Agile delivery and tools such as Jira.

Ability to take ownership of defined deliverables with appropriate support from senior technical colleagues.

Ability to understand ambiguous requirements and help shape practical technical solutions.

Strong English communication skills, including workshops, written documentation, and project updates.

Ability to collaborate and communicate progress, dependencies, risks, and blockers proactively.

Direct experience with every listed technology is not required. Strong engineering fundamentals, adaptability, secure delivery practices, and the ability to contribute to wider solution decisions are more important than complete stack alignment.

Nice to Have

Beneficial but not essential:

Payload CMS or another headless CMS platform.

Next.js and React, or a comparable modern web stack.

AI service integration, Large Language Models, Retrieval‑Augmented Generation, or agentic workflows.

Requirements workshops, technical discovery, and solution documentation.

CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment processes.

Infrastructure as Code, Terraform, cloud identity/security, Kubernetes, serverless, or cloud‑native patterns.

Hosting operations, secrets management, DNS, certificates, load balancers, monitoring, logging, and observability.

Advanced performance optimisation, caching, asynchronous processing, or distributed systems.

Infrastructure and hosting experience is advantageous but not the primary focus. The contractor is expected to collaborate effectively with dedicated DevOps and hosting specialists rather than own every aspect of infrastructure and production operations.

Expected Engagement Outcomes

Working, tested, secure, and maintainable software delivered against agreed priorities.

Technical designs and prototypes that validate the selected implementation approach.

Consistent application of SSDLC, code review, testing, and collaborative delivery practices.

Clear visibility of technical progress, decisions, risks, dependencies, and assumptions.

Appropriate consideration of security, scalability, resilience, supportability, and data protection.

Effective collaboration with client stakeholders and internal delivery specialists.

Sufficient documentation, handover, and knowledge transfer to support ongoing ownership of the solution.

Candidate Profile

This engagement is likely to suit someone who:

Is a capable, hands‑on engineer interested in the wider solution and client context.

Can work independently on defined areas without being expected to act as the sole solution or infrastructure authority.

Understands that security, testing, quality, scalability, and maintainability are part of everyday software engineering.

Is comfortable contributing ideas, challenging assumptions constructively, and seeking guidance where appropriate.

Communicates technical subjects clearly in English to different audiences.

Balances delivery pace with software quality, security, and maintainability.

Enjoys moving between requirements, design, prototyping, implementation, and technical problem‑solving.

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