Lead Technologist

Job description & person specification

Title: Lead Technologist

Department: Digital

Reports to: Digital Innovation Lead

Job purpose summary:

As Lead Technologist, you'll own the technical direction for our innovation product portfolio, leading development of operational intelligence systems, real-time monitoring tools, decision-support platforms and customer-facing experiences. Working embedded with operational, data science, and commercial stakeholders, you'll translate complex requirements into production-ready systems that drive efficiency, safety, and service quality in a live operational environment.

Key responsibilities and accountabilities:

  • Drive technical architecture across the product pipeline - from real-time data processing and predictive analytics through to automated operations and intelligent alerting.
  • Lead delivery of production ML/AI systems, working closely with data science and operational teams to deploy models that create measurable business value.
  • Own integrations with operational and enterprise systems, ensuring reliable data flows and system interoperability across complex environments.
  • Run technical discovery and proof-of-concept validation for new capabilities, scoping feasibility and defining delivery roadmaps with cross-functional stakeholders.
  • Coach and develop internal technical capability, setting engineering standards and building a culture of quality, rigour, and continuous improvement.
  • Balance rapid experimentation with production-grade engineering - shipping reliable, maintainable systems while operating in a high-stakes operational context.
  • Create and pitch technical proposals, writing clear business cases that balance speed, risk, and value.
  • Support recruitment and team growth, providing technical assessment, knowledge transfer, and structured onboarding.
  • Manage vendor relationships and technical partnerships, ensuring integrations meet operational and security requirements.
  • Contribute to delivering a great guest experience by performing your role with accuracy and efficiency. Recognising that every task whether guest facing or behind the scenes contributes to supporting the company’s overall LLA Way Strategy and service standards.
  • Proactively and positively promote the LLA Way initiatives and projects with all employees and the wider airport community.

Our tech-stack

You'll be hands-on across technical architecture, proof-of-concept development, and production deployment. Meaningful experience with a subset of these technologies is essential:

  • TypeScript (application development, API services)
  • Python (ML/data pipelines, automation, scripting)
  • SQL (data modelling, querying, optimisation)
  • Azure (cloud services, serverless functions, managed services)
  • Infrastructure as Code (Pulumi preferred, or similar tooling)
  • Full-stack JavaScript frameworks (React, Next.js, or similar modern frameworks)
  • Real-time data processing and event-driven architectures
  • ML/AI deployment patterns (model serving, monitoring, retraining pipelines)
  • APIs & integrations (REST, GraphQL, third-party connectivity)
  • CI/CD pipelines and automated deployment

Knowledge, skills, and experience required:

  • Proven delivery track record - you've shipped production data/AI systems in operational, regulated, or high-stakes environments (transport, logistics, utilities, healthcare, or similar).
  • Systems integration experience - comfortable working with legacy enterprise systems and managing complex data flows across multiple sources.
  • Active leadership and initiative - you identify opportunities, shape strategy, and drive outcomes. You don't wait to be told what to do. This is not just a heads-down coding role.
  • Outstanding communication - you translate complex technical concepts for operational teams, present to senior stakeholders, and write clear proposals that get buy-in. You're as comfortable in the boardroom as you are in the codebase.
  • Stakeholder management - experience working embedded with non-technical teams (operations, safety, commercial) and building trust across the organisation. You understand their world and can bridge the gap between technical possibility and operational need.
  • Coaching mindset - comfortable building capability in others, running technical workshops, and operating as both IC and team lead. You raise the bar for everyone around you.
  • Commercial and operational awareness - you understand trade-offs between speed, risk, and business value. You bring a pragmatic lens to scope decisions and project economics.
  • Proactive problem-solving - you anticipate blockers, see around corners, and shape solutions before issues escalate. You thrive in ambiguity and take ownership of outcomes.
  • Comfortable operating in a fast-moving environment with evolving priorities while maintaining technical rigour and quality standards.

This job description is intended to give an appreciation of the role and the range of duties and responsibilities to be undertaken. It does not attempt to detail every activity. Specific tasks and objectives will be agreed on an ongoing basis. The post holder will be required at all times to perform any other reasonable tasks, as requested by the Line Manager, in order to meet the operational needs of the business.

For any further information, please contact the Human Resources department at [email protected]. London Luton Airport Operations Ltd collects your personal information when you submit your application. For more details about the personal information LLA collects, how we collect it, why we need it, what we do with it, how long we keep it, and what your rights are, please see our privacy notice at www.london-luton.co.uk/privacy-notice.

LLA is committed to fostering, promoting, and preserving a culture of diversity, equality, and inclusion as we carry out our mission. We will always be respectful and seek to learn from those different from ourselves. We strive to be an equal opportunity employer, and we are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee has a negative experience for being who they are. We welcome all applications!

LLA is well connected by public transport, with a range of travel discounts and support services available to staff. For more information visit: London Luton Airport Staff Travel Information

To apply:

If you wish to apply for this role, please send your CV, highlighting your knowledge, skills, and experience relevant to the Lead Technologist job description, to [email protected] using the reference LT2708 in the subject line.

In the body of your email, please include:

  • Salary expectations
  • Notice period / availability to start
  • Right to work in the UK and any sponsorship requirements
  • Your GitHub username

Application process

  1. Submit your CV, GitHub username, salary expectations, notice period/availability, and right-to-work information to [email protected].
  2. During the first week of September, shortlisted candidates will be sent a coding challenge, which must be completed by the specified deadline.
  3. Candidates who successfully complete the coding challenge will be invited to attend an interview at our Luton office with members of the Innovation Team, including the current Lead Technologist.