Principal Software Engineer

This is not a step away from engineering. It's the opposite.

• 80% hands-on engineering - designing, building, and solving complex problems at scale
• 20% leadership - guiding and elevating a team of Principal Engineers
• Driving architecture, engineering standards, and technical direction across multiple product areas
• Tackling high-complexity, high-impact work that sits outside the scope of standard squads

You'll operate as a technical authority, influencing how systems are designed, built, and evolved across the organisation. What makes this different

• You're working alongside other Principals, not carrying the standard "lone architect" burden
• A dedicated team focused on solving the hardest problems, not BAU delivery
• Real ownership of engineering quality, scalability, and long-term platform direction
• Backed by a business making serious, long-term investment in technology

• Deep expertise in C# / .NET (Core/modern)
• Strong experience building distributed, scalable systems
• Cloud-first mindset (Azure ideally)
• Proven ability to operate at Principal level - influencing beyond your immediate team
• Comfortable leading and mentoring high-calibre engineers
• Someone who still loves being hands-on and close to the code

£100,000 - £110,000 + 30% bonus + car allowance (up to £9,000) Hybrid - Manchester (central) We're partnered with a large-scale SaaS enterprise building out a high-performing engineering function at the heart of a major platform transformation. This is a Principal-level role within an elite engineering team ("Arete") - a group of highly capable engineers brought together to solve the most complex technical challenges across the platform.