At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the development of an AI-powered event platform and enhance infrastructure.
- Company: Join Grip, a cutting-edge tech company revolutionising event engagement.
- Benefits: Enjoy remote work, competitive salary, equity, and generous holiday leave.
- Other info: Collaborative international team with excellent career growth and mentorship opportunities.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in AI-driven software development and shape the future of events.
- Qualifications: Strong experience in software engineering and DevOps with a passion for innovation.
The predicted salary is between 75600 - 92400 £ per year.
Who are We? Grip is the AI-powered, end-to-end event platform built for engagement. The flexible system helps commercial event organizers boost revenue by establishing, maintaining and tracking relationships between participants over multiple events. This is possible because Grip goes beyond networking. It combines AI with billions of interactions happening across the platform with a powerful event management system, seamless registration and award-winning mobile event app so participants meet the right people at the right time.
The Team We’re hiring a Principal Software Engineer with strong experience across both software engineering and DevOps to join our Grip Engage team. Our engineers are building a best-in-class event engagement platform, powering AI matchmaking, our mobile event app, real-time networking and an AI assistant used by tens of millions of people. We turn event-day engagement into rich insights for event organisers.
This is a senior individual contributor role with two dimensions: deep product ownership within the Engage squad, and a wider platform remit working alongside other Principal Engineers and our VP of Engineering Ops to shape how we build and run infrastructure and pipelines across the organisation. We're an international team that places a strong emphasis on quality. We’re iterating fast and progressively refactoring our code as we add new features. Everyone in the team helps direct our technical strategy and prioritise projects.
We embrace building with AI to help us deliver faster, and better, and we’re looking for someone who is excited by this new era of software development and the opportunities it brings.
The Engage stack includes Javascript/TypeScript (NodeJS/Express, Python (Lambda & FastAPI) React Native), DocumentDB, Mysql, Postgres, Opensearch, Redshift and MongoDB. We use AWS for our cloud services and our infrastructure is managed with K8s, Terraform, Github Actions and Jenkins. We test with Jest and Cypress, and monitor our systems with Prometheus, Grafana and Sentry.
What We Offer Remote-first culture with an office in London Bridge (optional) Competitive salary, equity, and benefits 25 holiday days per year, sabbatical leave opportunities Company training and professional development budget Group life insurance and company health plan Real influence over technical direction platform-wide.
Career Path & Development We are highly invested in your growth. Your career development is a standing agenda item in regular check-ins with your manager. As a Principal Engineer at Grip, you’ll have real influence over technical direction platform-wide, opportunities to mentor across squads, and a clear progression framework. We use quarterly performance reviews to reflect on progress and set ambitious goals aligned with your aspirations.
Our Process Screening call Product/engineering case study — a problem statement and requirements, working together to understand how you’d approach implementation Technical assessment — system design and technical interview focused on data architecture, pipelines, and platform trade-offs Final round with our Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer — culture fit and alignment on vision.
Core Responsibilities We want a product-minded principal engineer who will:
- Take ownership of features from start to finish using agile methodologies, delivering with feature flags, tests and observability
- Work with our product team to refine plans and identify issues and opportunities
- Deliver features with security and performance in mind
- Champion high-quality communications including technical proposals and specifications, testing reporting, release planning and more
- Be happy working across the tech stack
- Contribute to the technical direction for the squad - driving architectural consistency, code quality, and engineering best practice
Platform & Infrastructure Beyond squad-level product work, you will take an active role in the health and evolution of Grip's wider platform:
- Work closely with our Principal Engineers and VP of Engineer Operations on our AWS infrastructure (EKS, ECS, EC2, Lambda, CloudFront, S3).
- Design and improve CI/CD pipelines, progressive delivery, and automated rollback workflows and help standardise these practices across squads
- Drive reliability monitoring and tighten how incidents are caught and resolved early
- Extend our observability stack (Prometheus, Grafana, Sentry, Datadog) and ensure meaningful coverage across services
- Own security posture improvements across the platform: vulnerability scanning, pen testing coordination, and enforcement of standards
- Contribute to cross-platform architectural standards, shared libraries, and internal tooling decisions
- Identify and lead progressive modernisation of legacy systems — migrating and consolidating without disrupting delivery
Principal Engineer (Software Engineering/Devops) employer: Grip
At Grip, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work culture that fosters innovation and collaboration. Our remote working model allows for flexibility while our commitment to employee growth ensures that you will have ample opportunities to develop your skills in project management and event technology. With significant travel opportunities to client events across North America and beyond, you'll gain invaluable experience and make meaningful connections in the industry.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Engineer (Software Engineering/Devops)
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Grip or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Grip.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Grip.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Grip that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Engineer (Software Engineering/Devops)
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Grip.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Grip and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at Grip
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Grip uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
