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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Principal Software Engineer - **Company:** Rocket Ltd - **Location:** UK (Remote available) - **Experience:** Expert - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** C (Programming Language), Amazon Web Services, Automation of Tests, Microsoft Azure, C++ (Programming Language), COBOL (Programming Language), Code Review, Software Debugging, DevOps, Programming Tools, Distributed Systems, Middleware, Performance Tuning, Scrum Methodology, Pl/i, Software Engineering, Systems Architecture, System Testing, Virtual Machines, Concurrency, HybridCloud, Cloud Migration, Legacy Systems - **Published:** July 11, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.totaljobs.com/job/principal-software-engineer/rocket-software-job107673850 ## About the Role * 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including leadership over complex, multi-team technical initiatives. * Deep expertise in systems-level software development , such as compilers, runtimes, operating systems, or infrastructure-level platforms. * Strong background in mission-critical, high-availability software (e.g., financial services, telecom, government, or core enterprise platforms). * Demonstrated experience with COBOL, PL/I, C, or C++ -or significant experience in other lower-level languages with a willingness to dive into COBOL domain internals. * Proven track record building or modernizing enterprise-grade tooling, middleware, or distributed systems . * Ability to decompose legacy architectures, assess modernization paths, and design scalable solutions., * Experience with mainframe-to-cloud migration, workload replatforming, or runtime compatibility layers. * Familiarity with Azure, AWS, or hybrid cloud architectures. * Understanding of static and dynamic language runtimes, compiler pipelines, and virtual machine internals. * Prior technical mentorship or architectural leadership spanning multiple scrum teams. * Strong diagnostic skills for debugging low-level performance, memory, concurrency, or runtime issues. Who You Are * A pragmatic engineer who balances ideal architecture with real-world constraints. * Passionate about long-term maintainability and operational excellence. * Comfortable working with legacy systems and excited about evolving them for the future. * A collaborator who elevates teams through mentorship and cross-functional alignment. * Someone who thrives in a technically rich, complex domain where your expertise has large-scale impact. Why Join Us? * Influence the future of mission-critical modernization technologies used worldwide. * Work with a highly experienced engineering organization with deep domain expertise. * Opportunity to shape architecture and product direction across multiple major portfolios. * A culture that values technical depth, thoughtful engineering, and long-term product stewardship. ## Description In this role, you will influence architecture across multiple product lines, guide engineering best practices, and help define the future of our platform as customers modernize decades-old workloads into more agile, distributed and environments. You will partner closely with senior engineering leaders, product managers, and domain experts to drive innovation at scale., * Architect, design, and implement core components within our COBOL development tools, runtime environments, and mainframe replatforming infrastructure. * Provide technical direction across multiple engineering teams building compilers, runtimes, middleware, and large-scale distributed systems. * Drive modernization strategies for legacy application ecosystems, including cloud migration, workload transformation, and hybrid deployment scenarios. Hands-On Engineering * Own complex technical domains end-to-end, from design through production, balancing long-term architecture with immediate product needs. * Build highly reliable, scalable, and secure infrastructure software used in mission-critical enterprise environments. * Conduct deep code reviews, troubleshoot production issues, and mentor engineers in system-level design and performance optimization. Cross-Functional Impact * Collaborate with product management to shape roadmap priorities and translate customer challenges into technical solutions. * Work with System Test, DevOps, and release engineering to ensure high-quality, low-risk releases across a diverse product portfolio. * Introduce and champion engineering excellence practices, including automated testing, performance benchmarking, observability, and maintainability. ## Related Videos - [Navigating the Corporate Jungle: Life as a Developer in a large Company](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/621-navigating-the-corporate-jungle-life-as-a-developer-in-a-large-company) - [Developer’s Perspective: Overview of the Tezos Blockchain Ecosystem](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/237-developer-s-perspective-overview-of-the-tezos-blockchain-ecosystem) - [Fireside Chat with Lea](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/551-fireside-chat-with-lea) - [From DevOps to Scaled DevOps: How We’re Rebuilding Continuous Delivery as a Platform](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100018-from-devops-to-scaled-devops-how-we-re-rebuilding-continuous-delivery-as-a-platform) - [Next Level Enterprise Architecture: Modular, Flexible, Scalable, Multichannel and AI-Ready?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1017-next-level-enterprise-architecture-modular-flexible-scalable-multichannel-and-ai-ready) - [Crew Management System for Airlines: Plan duties for pilots & flight attendants worldwide](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1444-crew-management-system-for-airlines-plan-duties-for-pilots-flight-attendants-worldwide) ## Related Articles - [Fully Remote Software Engineer Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/447-fully-remote-software-engineer-jobs) - [The 12 Best Jobs for Software Engineers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/401-the-12-best-jobs-for-software-engineers) - [Is Software Engineering Hard?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/448-is-software-engineering-hard) - [Where To Find Software Engineering Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/396-where-to-find-software-engineering-jobs) - [What is Software Engineering?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/289-what-is-software-engineering) - [How to Answer the Interview Question: “Why Do You Want to Be a Software Engineer?”](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/392-how-to-answer-the-interview-question-why-do-you-want-to-be-a-software-engineer)