Lead Developer

Salary: Competitive, dependent on experience

Working Pattern: Monday to Friday, hybrid working with three days per week in our London office

About Us

Praetorian Connections Ltd (PCL) is a leading provider of language-enabled Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), supporting geopolitical, security, and risk-focused decision making. We deliver high-quality OSINT reports and intelligence analysis across countries, regions, and thematic areas. With a team of around 150 talented professionals, we have grown year-on-year to become a trusted partner for clients seeking clarity and confidence in a complex global landscape.

As we continue to expand, we’re now seeking a Lead Developer to join our growing development team. This is a superb opportunity to be at the forefront of OSINT development, and to shape and lead the development of new capabilities.

The Role

The Lead Developer will provide technical leadership within the Data & Technical Development Team, taking responsibility for the design, architecture and delivery of bespoke software platforms and tools. This includes defining technical direction, development standards and system architecture for platforms that support OSINT data collection, processing, analysis and visualisation.

Alongside strategic and architectural responsibilities, the role is highly hands-on. The Lead Developer will actively contribute to coding and development, helping to build business platforms, automation capabilities and technical solutions that meet operational requirements.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of bespoke platforms supporting OSINT data collection, processing, automation and analytical workflows.
• Define the technical architecture for new development projects, including infrastructure, data pipelines and platform integrations.
• Write and maintain production-grade code for internal tools and platforms.
• Responsible for direction to the development team in terms of technical implementations and coding approaches.
• Guide the adoption of agentic coding and AI-assisted development tools to accelerate software development workflows.
• Lead the integration of APIs and external data sources relevant to OSINT operations.
• Implement scalable data pipelines and processing systems for structured and unstructured data.
• Oversee code quality, testing standards, documentation and deployment practices.
• Support the mentoring and technical development of junior developers within the team.
• Ensure systems are reliable, secure and scalable across cloud infrastructure environments.

About You

You have a strong mixed portfolio of technical literacy, and depth of experience leading development workstrands; ideally combined with OSINT or general intelligence understanding. You are looking for an interesting and challenging role, where your creativity, passion for technical development, and depth of experience will allow you to lead the development of cutting edge capabilities.

You have an eye for detail, and for technical opportunities, and want to apply these to make a real difference in a business that provides critical intelligence insights. You are a proactive and highly motivated individual who wants to build and lead a high performing team.

We’re looking for someone who brings:

• Over five years of demonstrable experience in technical development management roles, ideally in OSINT or related to online data and platforms.
• Strong technical literacy and focussed understanding of the contemporary online, data, and AI landscapes.
• Good understanding of intelligence methodologies and outputs.
• Outstanding communication and relationship building skills.
• A passion for innovation and building new technical exploits and workflows.

Why Join Us?

At Praetorian, you’ll join a collaborative, forward-thinking organisation where integrity, curiosity, and professionalism drive everything we do. You’ll be part of a team that values innovative and agile thinking.

We offer a supportive working environment, competitive remuneration, and the opportunity to make a genuine impact on the global intelligence landscape.