Principal Software Consultant in Leeds

Full Time Leeds, United Kingdom

Audacia is an award‑winning technology consultancy specialising in software engineering, data, AI and cloud. We have established a reputation as thought‑leaders and innovators, working as a trusted partner to deliver complex large‑scale technology solutions with clients including global agriculture companies, regulatory bodies, multinational energy providers and international automotive manufacturers.

Role Overview

As a Principal Software Consultant, you will shape, validate, and define technology solutions across engineering, data, AI and cloud. You will engage early with clients to understand their challenges, run discovery activities, define solution approaches, and provide strategic technical direction throughout the project lifecycle. You’ll work within an internal consultancy team made up of Business Analysts, Data Scientists and fellow Consultants. We trust our teams, so you’ll be given autonomy and ownership over your work, supported with the tools, people and culture you need to thrive. We operate collaboratively and transparently, both with colleagues and with clients. You’ll also benefit from regular progression reviews and opportunities to lead teams or move into management roles. You’ll be part of a community here, with people who are passionate about technology and who enjoy spending time together inside and outside of work.

Responsibilities

• Engage with clients from the earliest stages - leading presales conversations, understanding their needs, validating feasibility, and shaping viable technical and strategic solutions.
• Help clients navigate complex technology decisions, balancing business value, technical direction, and delivery constraints.
• Lead discovery processes, define functional and non‑functional requirements, and design scalable, secure solution architectures.
• Review approaches, identify risks, and create artefacts that support successful delivery.
• Act as a strategic advisor, setting solution direction and ensuring architectures align with client operating models.
• Run exploratory workshops, develop adoption roadmaps, and deliver proof‑of‑concepts to evaluate feasibility and impact.
• Support clients in shaping modern data strategies, evaluating technical approaches, and validating integration or analytics potential through PoCs.
• Operate as a senior advisor - communicating trade‑offs clearly and ensuring solutions are technically coherent and commercially viable.
• Translate complex technical concepts into clear business language to support strategic decisions.
• Undertake technical due diligence, assess existing systems and SDLC maturity, and provide recommendations for improvement.
• Work to deadlines and provide progress updates throughout all projects.
• Build a deep understanding of client business processes and objectives.
• Make confident, evidence‑based recommendations on tools, technologies and approaches.
• Produce proposals including recommendations on commercial and costing decisions.
• Build and maintain strategic relationships across all levels of client organisations, positioning Audacia as a long‑term partner.
• Lead presales engagements, validating early‑stage ideas and shaping feasible solutions.
• Conduct full discovery processes, capturing functional, non‑functional and technical requirements.
• Design and document solution architectures, including PoCs and feasibility assessments.
• Deliver technical due diligence assessments on systems, development processes and engineering practices.
• Recommend improvements to SDLCs, including DevOps, QA and security standards.
• Lead AI strategy and adoption conversations, run workshops, and identify high‑value opportunities.
• Deliver AI‑focused PoCs and pilot implementations.
• Support development of data strategies and modern data architectures.
• Deliver data‑focused PoCs to validate integration and analytics capabilities.
• Shape cloud architectures that underpin engineering, data and AI solutions.
• Provide guidance on cloud platform selection, infrastructure setup and governance.
• Ensure cloud strategies align with client security, compliance and operational requirements.
• Lead commercial conversations with authority and credibility, tailoring proposals to suit varying client constraints.
• Communicate trade‑offs and long‑term implications of technical and commercial decisions.
• Own the full proposal process, from scoping to submission.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, including navigating complex client structures and identifying key influencers.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent attention to detail with a focus on quality and continuous improvement.
• Willingness to self‑learn and quickly adapt to new technologies and ways of working.

Required Experience

• Minimum 7 years commercial experience.
• Strong business analysis and problem‑solving skills.
• Experience working in a consultancy or client‑facing environment.
• Ability to collaborate with stakeholders to understand business needs.
• Demonstrable experience shaping technical solutions or delivering feasibility assessments.
• Experience leading discovery, solution design or early‑stage shaping activities.

Desired Experience

• Experience across data and AI domains, including delivering AI strategies, PoCs or feasibility assessments.
• Experience producing high‑level solution designs and collaborating with delivery teams to define estimations.
• Ability to communicate complex technical topics effectively to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Experience supporting presales or business development activities.
• Experience across varied software development technologies and approaches.
• AI/LLM application development, including prompt engineering, RAG architectures, and agent-based workflows.