

Application Platform Lead in RTG Technology, Technology Directorate
Permanent
Full time
Location - Leeds
Role overview
The Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) service sits at the centre of the UK’s financial system, settling on average £800bn per day and operating as UK Critical National Infrastructure. This role provides an opportunity to lead application engineering for a service where reliability, resilience and engineering quality genuinely matter.
RTGS operates within a highly secure environment and follows a product centric operating model, combining strong operational accountability with an automation first approach to testing, deployment and live service operations. Continuous improvement and the reduction of obsolescence are core to how the service is designed, delivered and evolved.
As an Application Platform Lead , you will lead engineering across application product teams within RTGS. You will develop technical leaders, establish clear standards for engineering quality and operability, and drive sustained improvements in how applications are built, tested, released and operated in production.
This is a senior leadership role for an experienced engineering manager or an established Technical Team Lead, who is ready to take the next step into a broader engineering management role. You will bring a strong technical background, proven people leadership capability, and the credibility to engage on complex application design and delivery trade offs in a regulated, high availability environment.
A day in the role
Your day might begin with a review of delivery and service health across the application teams — understanding what’s progressing, where teams are blocked, and where risk may be emerging.
You may have 1:1s with Technical Team Leads or senior engineers, coaching through delivery and people challenges, supporting career development, and strengthening leadership capability across teams.
As you are accountable for application engineering outcomes, you will spend time looking across teams to identify systemic improvement opportunities — for example where automation could reduce manual effort, where testing or release discipline could be strengthened, or where technical debt is impacting reliability, cost or delivery flow.
You will work closely with Product Owners, Architecture and Platform Engineering to shape delivery plans, clarify trade offs, and ensure work is well prepared and operationally ready in a regulated, high availability environment.
If an incident occurs, you will support calm and effective decision making under pressure, then ensure learning is translated into concrete improvements that reduce the likelihood of recurrence.
Towards the end of the day, you may contribute to governance, audit or leadership discussions, ensuring engineering standards, tooling, evidence and practices remain strong and sustainable.
Flexible Working Options
This role is open to flexible working patterns, these may include:
Opportunities in Leeds
We’re excited to be growing our presence in Leeds, a city we’ve been connected to for nearly 200 years! Our modern, accessible office in the City Centre offers a supportive, flexible working environment. The majority of roles, including this one, are now available in Leeds, giving you the chance to build a meaningful career outside of London while contributing to our mission from a dynamic and growing location. You’ll work collaboratively with London-based colleagues in a hybrid model, with regular opportunities to travel into the London office to meet and connect together in person.
Want to learn more? Discover what makes our Leeds office such a dynamic place to work by visiting our Leeds page for more details.
Role Requirements
RTGS settles on average £800bn per day and is Critical National Infrastructure.
As an Application Platform Lead within the RTGS Technology team, you will report to the RTGS Technology Product Lead. You are an integral part of the team running and evolving this mission critical service.
You will be accountable for capacity planning and balancing demand across live service, change initiatives and continuous improvement work, ensuring teams can deliver sustainably while maintaining service stability.
You will act as a senior escalation point for application engineering during live service incidents, including out of hours where required.
You will also be accountable for the tooling and technology used within application teams, ensuring it is appropriately governed, well maintained, cost aware, and aligned with engineering standards and compliance expectations.
You will represent application engineering in audit, assurance and regulatory reviews, working with relevant partners to ensure controls, evidence and compliance artefacts are robust, accurate and kept up to date.
Where required, you will support recruitment and resourcing decisions, including contributing to business cases for permanent or contingent resources.
You are someone who will:
Minimum Criteria
We’re looking for someone who has demonstrable experience in:
Essential Criteria
We are interested in hearing from candidates who can:
Desirable Criteria
It would also be beneficial, but not necessary, to have:
This is a people management role. You will be responsible for day to day management of the team and for defining roles and responsibilities. You will develop your team through sharing information effectively, coaching and communicating a clear vision to ensure that your staff are productive, engaged and motivated to deliver the area's aims. This will include setting clear goals and smart stretching objectives that are aligned to those of the team, division and directorate. You will also be responsible for managing all staff-related matters that may arise including performance, absence and sickness.
Number of direct reports: 10-15
Our Approach to Inclusion
The Bank values diversity, equity and inclusion. We play a key role in maintaining monetary and financial stability, and to do that effectively, we believe we need a workforce that reflects the society we serve.
At the Bank of England, we want all colleagues to feel valued and respected, so we're working hard to build an inclusive culture which supports people from all backgrounds and communities to be at their best at work. We celebrate all forms of diversity, including (but not limited to) age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status. We believe that it’s by drawing on different perspectives and experiences that we’ll continue to make the best decisions for the public.
We welcome applications from individuals who work flexibly, including job shares and part time working patterns. We've also partnered with external organisations to support us in making adjustments for candidates and employees in the recruitment process where they're needed.
For most roles where work can be carried out at home, we aim for colleagues to spend half of their time in the office, with a minimum of 40% per month. Subject to that minimum requirement, individuals and managers should work together to find what works best for them, their team and stakeholders.
Finally, we're proud to be a member of the Disability Confident Scheme. If you wish to apply under this scheme, you should check the box in the ‘Candidate Personal Information’ under the ‘Disability Confident Scheme’ section of the application.
Salary and Benefits Information
We encourage flexible working, part time working and job share arrangements. Part time salary and benefits will be on a pro-rated basis as appropriate.
We offer a salary as follows: £64,480 - £72,540
In addition, we also offer a comprehensive benefits package as detailed below:
National Security Vetting Process
Employment in this role will be subject to the National Security Vetting clearance process (and typically can take between 6 to 12 weeks post offer) and the passing of additional Bank security checks in accordance with the Bank policy. Further information regarding the vetting and security clearance requirements for the role will be provided to the successful applicant, and information about how the Bank processes personal data for these purposes, is set out in the Bank's Privacy Notice.
The Bank of England welcomes applications from all candidates, but as a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) approved sponsor, we have a responsibility to comply with the Immigration Rules and guidance. As such, our ability to employ individuals who require sponsorship for immigration purposes is limited. The Bank cannot guarantee that you and / or the role you are applying for will be eligible for sponsorship and that any application made to UKVI will be successful. Eligibility will therefore be considered on a case by case basis.
This role closes on 27th May 2026.
The Application Process
Important: Please ensure that you complete the ‘work history’ section and answer ALL the application questions fully. All candidate applications are anonymised to ensure that our hiring managers will not be able to see your personal information, including your CV, when reviewing your application details at the screening stage. It’s therefore really important that you fill out the work history and application form questions, as your answers will form a critical part of the initial selection process.
The assessment process will comprise of two interview stages; the first a technical round, the second a competency round.