Job Description Principal / Lead EngineerPython / Cloud / Terraform / IAM / DevOps / infrastructure-as-a-code IaC Location: London / Hybrid x2 days We are seeking an experienced Principal / Lead Engineer to join a highly ambitious organisation building a large-scale, mission-critical data and technology platform. This is a unique opportunity to join at the earliest stages of a major programme and play a key role in shaping its technical foundations.Working closely with the CTO and a small team of senior engineers, you will lead the design and implementation of core infrastructure, establish engineering standards and practices, and make architectural decisions that will have long-term strategic impact.If you enjoy solving complex technical challenges, influencing technology strategy, and creating robust engineering foundations, this role offers an exceptional opportunity to make a lasting impact.Lead the design and implementation of foundational platform infrastructure and engineering capabilities Define architectural patterns, engineering standards, and best practices that will guide future development Establish and maintain core engineering tooling, including source control, CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, and automated testing frameworks Platform Engineering Design and implement identity and access management solutions with robust authentication and authorisation controls Implement networking, monitoring, and security controls for highly secure environments Act as a senior technical contributor within a high-performing engineering team Mentor engineers and help establish a strong engineering culture as the organisation grows Strong software engineering expertise in Python, including backend development, automation, and infrastructure tooling Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud platform (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud) Experience designing and building authentication and authorisation systems, including modern identity standards and policy-based access controls Solid understanding of data storage architectures and the trade-offs between different storage and query patterns Experience establishing CI/CD pipelines and engineering best practices within modern software environments Experience building secure, highly regulated, or mission-critical platforms Familiarity with federated architectures and distributed data access models Background working within complex stakeholder environments undergoing significant transformation
