Principal Software Engineer

Here at Gousto, we are on a mission to become the UK & Ireland's most loved way to eat dinner, and for every meal to leave the planet better off. Gousto is changing how people shop, cook and eat food at home. It’s an incredibly exciting time to join our team – and we’re a friendly bunch! We’re proud to be one of the fastest-growing companies in the UK. Powered by data and a love of food, we’re a recipe box company that’s disrupting the sector, and we’re passionate about our diverse team and our customers. All of our people are responsible for the success of Gousto, and we’re passionate about creating an inclusive environment for all to thrive. Our guiding values - Dream, Deliver and Care - show our commitment to innovation, our ambition to hit goals at speed, and our deep respect for the people we work with.

As a Principal Software Engineer, you’ll report to the Head of Software Engineering and play a key role in shaping the technical direction of our Technology division. You will operate across tribes and platforms, influencing architecture and engineering strategy at organisational level. You will work closely with senior engineering, product and leadership stakeholders to solve systemic challenges that span multiple domains. This role is an opportunity to shape long‑term technical direction, strengthen engineering capability, and raise the bar for quality, resilience and effectiveness across Gousto. Success in this role means creating clarity in complex environments, aligning teams around shared technical direction, and delivering meaningful business impact through technology.

What you’ll do:

• Define and guide architectural direction across multiple teams and platforms
• Solve complex, cross‑domain technical problems with significant business impact
• Influence long‑term technical strategy while enabling near‑term delivery
• Identify and address systemic technical risks, constraints and dependencies
• Partner with senior engineering and product leaders to align technical and business priorities
• Evolve engineering practices to support scale, reliability and sustainable delivery flow
• Mentor Staff and Senior Engineers to strengthen technical leadership capability
• Foster an inclusive engineering culture focused on quality, learning and continuous improvement

Who You Are:

• Demonstrate deep expertise in designing and operating large‑scale distributed systems
• Influence architectural decisions across multiple teams or domains with credibility and clarity
• Navigate ambiguity and define structure in complex problem spaces
• Align technical strategy with business priorities and measurable outcomes
• Communicate trade‑offs and recommendations clearly to senior stakeholders
• Apply strong judgement when balancing scalability, resilience, speed and cost
• Bring a systems‑thinking mindset to organisational and technical challenges
• Champion high engineering standards, inclusive collaboration and long‑term thinking

Whether it’s creating diversity in our recipes or building new teams, we care about our people and the opportunities they have at Gousto. Across our business we lead with inclusivity and strive for equity in all we do; working hard to ensure Gousto is an environment where you can be totally yourself. Everyone is welcome and we’re looking for applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences. For our roles outside of Operations, most of our people spend 1 or 2 days in our offices every week, combining the benefits of flexibility and time together with colleagues. We want to enable you to do your best work, and if you require additional flexibility, please talk to us about it. We understand that some individuals may require reasonable adjustments to fully participate in the interview process. Please tell us what you need, and we will make every effort to accommodate.