At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead engineering for digital services, ensuring user needs are met through innovative solutions.
- Company: Join NICE, a key player in health and care guidance, making a difference for millions.
- Benefits: Enjoy flexible working, generous NHS pension, and exclusive discounts.
- Other info: Be part of a diverse team with tailored development opportunities.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by shaping the future of digital health services.
- Qualifications: Proven experience in leading complex digital projects and strong technical leadership skills.
Location: Manchester
Salary: £66,582 to £77,368 a year
This role qualifies for a 12.5% per annum recruitment and retention payment, in addition to the Band 8B base salary.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is seeking a Principal Engineer to provide senior leadership across the engineering, deployment, and production operation of digital applications and services. This is a strategic role focused on ensuring services are technically robust and designed to meet real user needs. You will lead the engineering of modern, high-quality live services, applying best practice in product development and user-centred design from early discovery and prototyping through to secure, scalable, and maintainable production environments.
Working across the full product lifecycle, you will partner with NICE Business Service Owners, designers, and stakeholders to translate user needs, service outcomes, and policy intent into accessible, reliable, and well-engineered digital services. You will act as a senior technical authority, ensuring that user-centred design is realised through sound engineering decisions and that services meet recognised standards for accessibility, usability, and performance.
Main duties of the job
A key part of the role is ensuring innovation and emerging technologies are adopted in a responsible, user-focused way, delivering measurable improvements to live services. Reporting to the Associate Director of Engineering, you will lead technical direction across one or more teams and provide oversight across multiple programmes. You will balance hands-on technical expertise with strategic leadership, governance, and people management.
- Leading engineering delivery across large or complex digital services, ensuring successful transition from prototype to production
- Owning and assuring technical decision making, governance and delivery processes across the product lifecycle
- Setting and maintaining engineering standards aligned to GDS Service Standard, accessibility, security and DevOps best practice
- Partnering with product and design leads to translate user centred design into robust, scalable digital services
About us
The Engineering team at NICE designs, builds, and runs the digital services that underpin nationally relied upon health and care guidance used by millions of people. The team creates secure, reliable software that supports both internal guidance production and public-facing services such as the NICE website, BNF, and Clinical Knowledge Summaries. Engineers work collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams, applying DevOps and secure by design principles to continuously improve live services and deliver meaningful digital outcomes.
Generous NHS Pension - Secure your future with one of the most rewarding pension schemes in the UK
Flexible working - Enjoy a healthy work-life balance with options like remote working, compressed hours and flexible start/finish times
Exclusive discounts - Save on shopping, dining and more with a Blue Light Card
Time to recharge - Start with 27 days' annual leave plus bank holidays
Inclusive staff networks - Join supportive communities like Women in NICE, Race Equality Network, Disability Advocacy and NICE and Proud - we celebrate diversity
Tailored development - Grow your career with personalised learning and development opportunities
Job responsibilities
To be considered for this role, you should be able to particularly demonstrate the person specification criteria in the job advert in your application. However, applicants should be able to demonstrate all essential criteria through the entirety of the recruitment process to be considered for the job.
Please note that this role may not be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route. Please refer to the Direct Gov website for further information regarding eligibility.
Please note this vacancy may be closed early if sufficient suitable applications are received so we encourage an early application.
Experience
Essential
- Significant experience leading delivery of complex digital products and services through the full delivery lifecycle
- Proven ability to provide senior technical leadership while working closely with product and design disciplines
Experience
Desirable
- Experience setting and assuring technical standards across multiple teams or services
Essential Skills/Knowledge
- Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence at senior levels
- Strong people leadership skills, including managing and developing senior technical professionals
- Highly skilled in modern software engineering, cloud platforms, DevOps and agile delivery
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
To Apply
If you feel you are a suitable candidate and would like to work for NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), please proceed through the following link to be redirected to their website to complete your application.
Principal Engineer in Manchester employer: NICE
NICE is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work environment in Manchester where innovation meets user-centred design. With flexible working options, generous annual leave, and a robust NHS pension scheme, employees are supported in achieving a healthy work-life balance while growing their careers through tailored development opportunities. The inclusive culture fosters collaboration across multidisciplinary teams, ensuring that every engineer contributes to meaningful digital outcomes that impact millions of lives.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Engineer in Manchester
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to folks in your industry on LinkedIn or at local meetups. A friendly chat can open doors that a CV just can't.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare for interviews by researching the company and its projects. Knowing what NICE is up to will help you tailor your answers and show you're genuinely interested.
✨Tip Number 3
Practice makes perfect! Do mock interviews with friends or use online platforms. The more comfortable you are, the better you'll perform when it counts.
✨Tip Number 4
Don't forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, we love seeing candidates who take that extra step.
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Engineer in Manchester
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application:Make sure to customise your application to highlight how your experience aligns with the Principal Engineer role. Use keywords from the job description to show that you understand what we're looking for.
Showcase Your Leadership Skills:Since this role involves senior technical leadership, don’t forget to share examples of how you've successfully led teams or projects in the past. We want to see your ability to influence and guide others!
Highlight User-Centred Design Experience:We’re all about creating services that meet real user needs. Be sure to include any relevant experience you have with user-centred design principles and how you've applied them in your previous roles.
Apply Early!:This vacancy may close early if we receive enough suitable applications, so don’t wait! Head over to our website and submit your application as soon as you can to ensure you don’t miss out on this opportunity.
How to prepare for a job interview at NICE
✨Know Your Stuff
Make sure you brush up on your technical knowledge, especially around modern software engineering, cloud platforms, and DevOps practices. Be ready to discuss how you've led complex digital products through their entire lifecycle.
✨Showcase Leadership Skills
Prepare examples that highlight your experience in providing senior technical leadership. Think about times when you've influenced stakeholders or managed senior technical professionals effectively.
✨Understand User-Centred Design
Familiarise yourself with user-centred design principles and be prepared to discuss how you've applied these in past projects. This role is all about ensuring services meet real user needs, so demonstrate your understanding of this approach.
✨Engage with Stakeholders
Practice articulating how you've engaged with various stakeholders in previous roles. Highlight your excellent communication skills and how you've influenced decisions at senior levels, as this will be crucial for the Principal Engineer position.
