At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the technical direction of a large-scale API platform and mentor engineering teams.
- Company: Global tech business impacting millions with innovative consumer experiences.
- Benefits: Up to £110,000 salary, bonus, flexible hybrid work, and strong career development support.
- Other info: Join a collaborative culture focused on long-term impact and innovation.
- Why this job: Shape architecture and influence teams while working with cutting-edge technologies.
- Qualifications: Experience in large-scale distributed systems, API design, and cloud environments.
The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.
We're looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join a global technology business whose platforms underpin consumer experiences used by millions of people every day. This is an established, scaled business with a genuinely global reach and this role sits at the heart of their core engineering capability.
This isn't a purely strategic seat. You'll have genuine technical authority over a business-critical API platform while staying close to the engineering, partnering with skilled squads to solve complex distributed systems challenges at scale.
Key Responsibilities:
- Set the technical direction for a large-scale API platform across both synchronous and event-driven services
- Lead architectural design across a modern, cloud-native stack
- Drive continuous improvement across security, observability, performance, and long-term maintainability
- Mentor and develop engineers and technical leads across multiple teams
- Work closely with Product and Delivery leadership to keep engineering strategy aligned with broader business goals
- Champion strong engineering fundamentals — testing, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and clean architecture
- Identify practical ways to bring emerging technologies, including AI tooling, into everyday engineering workflows
Key Requirements:
- A strong track record delivering large-scale distributed systems in cloud environments
- Deep knowledge of API design - REST and GraphQL, and substantial hands-on experience with Kafka in a production environment
- Solid cloud platform experience, particularly AWS, and comfort with containerised infrastructure
- Proficiency in TypeScript across a modern backend stack
- Experience leading and influencing across multiple engineering teams, not just within a single squad
- A genuine care for code quality, sustainable architecture, and long-term thinking over short-term delivery
- A collaborative, mentoring leadership style that brings the best out of the people around you
- An interest in how AI is changing the way engineering teams work
- Enterprise CRM experience would be an advantage
What's on Offer:
- Salary Up to 110,000 plus bonus
- Genuinely flexible hybrid working arrangements
- Generous parental leave and family-friendly policies
- Strong support for career development and progression
This is the right role for a Principal Engineer who is ready to move beyond squad-level impact and take on something bigger - shaping the architecture, the team, and the direction of a platform that matters at real scale.
Unfortunately, due to the high volume of applications, not everyone will be able to receive detailed feedback.
Principal Engineer employer: Formula Recruitment Limited
Join a forward-thinking global business in the travel and experiences sector, where your role as a Business Analyst will be pivotal in driving transformation across diverse projects. With a hybrid working model based in London, you'll enjoy a dynamic work culture that fosters collaboration and innovation, alongside competitive salary and benefits, including an annual bonus and flexible perks. This is an exceptional opportunity to grow your career in a supportive environment that values your contributions and encourages professional development.
Contact Details:
Formula Recruitment Limited Recruitment Team
