Staff Software Engineer

Staff Software Engineer Overview

Axon is hiring a Staff Software Engineer to join its London team and contribute to a mission-driven organization focused on public safety, justice, and building technology that helps protect life. The company describes its work as fast-moving, meaningful, and highly collaborative, with an emphasis on ownership, technical excellence, and long-term impact. This position sits within DEMS, a critical product area where reliability, security, and usability are especially important.

Role overview

In this senior individual contributor role, you will help shape the technical direction of one or more DEMS domains. The work centers on building durable, scalable systems and solving difficult customer problems in partnership with senior engineers, staff engineers, engineering managers, product managers, and designers. The role calls for strong system design judgment, the ability to see architecture holistically, and a willingness to raise the quality bar through thoughtful technical leadership.

You will be expected to contribute not only through your own engineering output, but also by reviewing designs, mentoring other engineers, improving decision-making, and helping teams converge on practical solutions that are high quality and sustainable. The position is suited to someone who enjoys reducing ambiguity, solving hard technical problems, and building systems that can withstand real-world operational demands. Axon also emphasizes that this role contributes directly to products that support better outcomes in public safety.

What you will do

• Provide technical leadership across one or more DEMS areas and help define the direction of the platform over the long term.
• Establish a strong engineering standard through architecture guidance, deep technical insight, and careful design reviews.
• Work closely with Engineering, Product, Design, and other partner teams to solve complex and unclear technical challenges.
• Design, build, and evolve backend services, APIs, data movement patterns, and integrations that power mission-critical workflows.
• Identify architectural and operational risks, then lead improvements in reliability, monitoring, performance, and overall service quality.
• Mentor engineers across teams and actively help develop future technical leaders.
• Improve engineering productivity by introducing better patterns, simplifying complicated systems, and supporting strong execution.
• Write code directly when needed, especially in areas where hands-on contribution has the most impact or where the risk is highest.
• Partner with engineering leadership on long-range technical strategy while balancing product goals, delivery commitments, and engineering health.
• Help teams make sound technical decisions and align around solutions that are resilient, secure, maintainable, and scalable.

Working arrangement

This position is based in Axon’s London office and uses a hybrid schedule. The team expects in-person collaboration from Tuesday through Friday, while Monday can be worked remotely. The company notes that this arrangement may be adjusted if an approved workplace accommodation is in place. Axon says it values in-office collaboration as a way to support teamwork, mentorship, and shared success.

What you should bring

• At least 15 years of experience in software engineering.
• A track record of building and scaling complex software products in collaborative environments.
• Deep knowledge of backend systems and distributed system design.
• Experience with cloud platforms and running production services.
• Experience influencing technical direction across multiple teams or across a broad product area.
• Strong understanding of system design principles, including reliability, performance, observability, and security.
• Experience working with relational databases and/or NoSQL databases.
• A history of writing clean, maintainable code suitable for production use.
• The ability to shape technical outcomes and organizational direction without relying on formal authority.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Experience that would be especially valuable

• Background in enterprise SaaS, mission-critical systems, compliance-sensitive environments, or workflow-heavy platforms.
• Experience with evidence management, records systems, chain-of-custody concepts, or other systems that require a high level of trust in the data.
• Experience with hybrid architectures, on-premises systems, or cloud-connected product designs.
• Familiarity with backend languages and platforms such as Java, Go, C#, Python, or similar technologies.

Compensation and benefits

• Competitive base salary plus RSUs.
• A pension plan with employer matching.
• Private health insurance and cash plan coverage.
• 30 days of paid holiday, in addition to UK public holidays.
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave.
• GymPass membership.
• Life assurance and income protection.
• Support for career growth and wellness.

Additional information

Axon encourages candidates to apply even if they do not meet every listed qualification, noting that strong mission alignment and relevant experience may still make someone a great fit. The company also states that the job description is not exhaustive and may change as business needs evolve.

The posting includes several employment and compliance-related notices. Some roles may require legal eligibility to work in a firearms environment. Applicants are asked to provide information used to evaluate candidacy, and Axon explains that it may request accommodation support during the recruiting process. The company also includes export-control-related screening language because certain technical data may be subject to U.S. regulations.

Axon states that it is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to diversity, inclusion, and fair hiring practices. It also provides a warning about phishing and says it will not ask candidates to pay for any part of the hiring process or make offers through informal messaging platforms without a formal interview process.

How to apply

Applications are submitted through Axon’s Greenhouse hiring system. The form requests standard candidate details such as name, contact information, location, resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, and website. It also asks questions about UK work authorization, whether sponsorship is needed now or in the future, identity and work authorization verification, age, export-control eligibility, and other employment-related disclosures. Candidates submit the application directly through the online form.

Degree Requirement: Not Specified

Visa Sponsorship May be