Engineering Lead - HCM (East Coast, Remote)

IRIS Software Group is one of the UK's largest privately held software companies, trusted by 100,000+ businesses, schools, and accountancy firms to keep their operations running. Our software pays 1 in 6 UK employees, supports over 12,000 schools, and is relied on by 91 of the top 100 UK accountancy firms. We're a Great Place to Work® certified employer, recognized for our commitment to well-being, inclusion, and development—and we're growing fast.

About the role

We are looking to hire an Engineering Lead for our HCM product. This is a hybrid leadership role that combines technical leadership, agile delivery ownership, and people management. You will lead an autonomous engineering team building modern full-stack web applications using the latest UI frameworks, .NET Core backends, and cloud-native technologies across multiple jurisdictions.

Responsibilities

• Delivery Management
  • Scope, prioritize, and deliver against quarterly OKRs, weighing statutory/tax-year deadlines against the feature roadmap
  • Drive predictability and quality through agile practice and continuous improvement
  • Own stakeholder communication on progress, risk, and dependencies—including any risk to statutory deadlines
  • Balance workload, staffing, and hiring to sustain delivery while planning for growth
• Technical Leadership & Contribution
  • Own architecture for high-volume, time-critical pay-run processing—correctness, idempotency, and full audit trail on every calculation
  • Guide integration architecture with tax engines, ACH/e-filing, and third-party HCM/benefits providers
  • Set data governance and security standards for employee PII, compensation, and banking data (SOC 2, GDPR/CCPA)
  • Translate payroll and tax legislation changes into engineering requirements with Compliance and Legal
  • Drive quality culture—TDD/BDD, testing standards, code review—with extra rigor on calculation logic
  • Set responsible-AI standards for the team and delegate execution while holding technical accountability
• People Management
  • Line manage, coach, and run career development and performance reviews for direct reports
  • Build an inclusive team environment, removing blockers and resourcing for success

Requirements

• Technical Skills
  • Frontend Strategy: Strategic understanding of modern UI frameworks (e.g., Angular, React, Vue.js, Blazor)
  • Backend Leadership: Strong understanding of .NET Core, C#, ASP.NET Core Web APIs, REST, application architectures, and distributed systems
  • Data Architecture: Strategic knowledge of SQL, NoSQL, and data architecture decisions
  • AI-Assisted Software Engineering: Experience with integrating AI tools (Cursor, Copilot, Devin, Claude Code, etc.) in engineering practices to accelerate design, development, testing, and debugging. Using them critically and responsibly to improve quality, productivity, and decision-making.
• Experience
  • 6+ years in software engineering, with 1+ year formal people management or 2+ years technical leadership
  • Track record delivering complex Agile projects, ideally in a regulated or compliance-driven domain
  • Experience establishing code review standards and balancing technical excellence against delivery and statutory deadlines
  • Desirable: Direct experience in payroll, HCM, HRIS, or benefits administration software
  • Desirable: Multi-jurisdiction payroll/tax familiarity (UK PAYE, US federal/state/local, or equivalent)

Location

Remote (US) – this role requires East Coast location and Eastern Time working hours.

Benefits

• Impact: Your work will influence millions globally.
• Growth: Continuous learning and career development opportunities.
• Belonging: A culture that celebrates diversity and empowers every individual.

Pay

Compensation Range: $150K - $160K