Lead Application Architect

About the role

Bestway is modernising its application estate towards cloud-native architecture. We are looking for a hands-on Lead Application Architect to own application-level design, define our engineering standards, and introduce AI-assisted development practices across the team.

You will sit between our Solution Architects, who define high-level designs, and the development team, who deliver them. You will turn HLDs into well-documented, implementable designs (Low-Level Design) and make sure the code that results is consistent, secure and maintainable.

About Bestway

Bestway Group is a diversified multinational family owned business with annualised turnover in excess of £4.5 billion. Starting off as a chain of retail convenience stores, the Group has grown to become a diversified multinational business with interests across the wholesale, pharmacy, real estate, cement and banking sectors. The Group is also the largest overseas investor in Pakistan.

Owned by the Pervez, Choudrey and Sheikh families, Bestway Group was founded in 1976 by Sir Anwar Pervez OBE H Pk, who remains Chairman. Serving over 12 million customers and employing over 28,000 individuals, the Group supports and serves communities through its operations across the UK, Pakistan and the Middle East

Responsibilities

• Application & low-level design: Own component-level (C4 Level 3) and code-level (C4 Level 4) design and LLDs for our applications. Translate Solution Architects' HLDs into clear implementation designs, and make sure the team understands the why behind each decision and the constraints that apply.

• Architecture governance: Write and maintain Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), run design reviews, and work with the Technology Design Authority (TDA) so that application-level decisions are traceable and consistent.

• Engineering standards: Define Java coding standards covering exception handling, stream/resource handling, structured logging (Application Insights) and security-first practices. Automate them through project templates, linters and CI quality gates rather than manual policing.

• AI-assisted development: Lead the adoption of AI tools across the SDLC (code generation, code review, refactoring, test generation, documentation, legacy code analysis). Define guidelines for usage, review of AI-generated code, and security and IP protection, and measure the impact on delivery speed and quality.

• Cloud-native modernisation: Guide the move of legacy applications to Azure Container Apps. Build reusable reference implementations covering health checks, secret management (Azure Key Vault), stateless design and containerisation best practices.

• Mentorship: Coach junior and mid-level developers through code reviews, pairing and technical guidance, and help build a culture of engineering excellence and continuous improvement.

• Quality: Work with the QA Lead to embed automated testing (unit, integration, contract) into the standard delivery pipeline.

The Ideal Candidate

• Significant experience in software engineering, with substantial production experience in Java and Spring Boot and in microservices architecture.
• Proven experience designing applications at component and code level, and documenting them (C4 model, LLD, ADRs).
• Experience building applications on Azure (e.g. Key Vault, Storage, Service Bus) and a solid grasp of containerisation and cloud-native principles.
• Working knowledge of CI/CD (Docker, GitHub Actions) from a developer's perspective.
• Strong understanding of REST API design and OAuth2 / OpenID Connect.
• Strong commitment to automated testing, and the ability to set testing standards the team can adopt.
• Hands-on experience with AI coding assistants, and a practical view on using them safely and effectively.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to explain technical trade-offs to developers, architects and business stakeholders.
• Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent experience.

Desirable

• Node.js experience.

• Experience with FusionAuth or other identity providers; transactional email (SendGrid, DMARC).

• Experience leading or mentoring engineering teams, or line management.

• Microsoft Azure certifications (e.g. AZ-204, AZ-305).

• Experience modernising legacy applications

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Pension
• 22 days annual leave, plus bank holidays
• Onsite parking
• Life assurance

We understand that no applicant ever ticks every box so please do consider applying should some or most of the above apply. Bestway Group is an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity and inclusion. We welcome people of different nationalities, backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. We want strong, and diverse teams built from talented individuals with different backgrounds identities and experiences.

If this is of interest to you and you would like to learn more, please do get in touch, we are looking forward to hearing from you.