At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead engineering strategy, drive innovation, and mentor talent in a dynamic tech environment.
- Company: Join PEXA UK, a forward-thinking company shaping the future of engineering.
- Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, generous leave, wellness days, and professional development opportunities.
- Other info: Collaborative culture with excellent career growth and AI innovation focus.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by driving architectural decisions and embracing emerging technologies.
- Qualifications: Extensive experience in large-scale systems and strong leadership skills required.
The predicted salary is between 100000 - 120000 £ per year.
We’re looking for a Principal Engineer to help shape the future of engineering at PEXA UK. In this technical leader role you will work closely with the UK CTO and engineering leadership team to define technical strategy, drive architectural decisions, champion innovation, and build the engineering capabilities that support our next phase of growth.
What You’ll Be Doing
- Technical Strategy & Architecture
- Define and execute engineering strategy across multiple teams and domains.
- Drive architectural decisions that balance business priorities, scalability, security and long‑term sustainability.
- Design solutions that support future growth and evolving customer needs.
- Identify and address technical risks across the organisation.
- Engineering Excellence
- Establish and evolve engineering standards, best practices and quality frameworks.
- Drive improvements in performance, reliability, security and developer productivity.
- Champion modern software engineering principles and continuous improvement.
- Support the evolution of platform, infrastructure and service architecture.
- AI & Emerging Technology
- Lead the evaluation and adoption of emerging technologies and AI capabilities.
- Drive the integration of AI tools and practices that enhance engineering effectiveness.
- Explore and implement modern AI‑powered development workflows, coding assistants and agentic systems.
- Help shape PEXA’s approach to AI innovation and organisational adoption.
- Leadership & Mentorship
- Mentor and coach engineers across all levels, from emerging talent to senior technical leaders.
- Foster a culture of technical excellence, curiosity and continuous learning.
- Lead technical discussions, knowledge‑sharing initiatives and engineering communities of practice.
- Contribute to hiring and technical assessment processes.
- Collaboration & Business Impact
- Partner with Product, Design and Business leaders to align technical strategy with organisational goals.
- Translate business objectives into technical roadmaps and engineering outcomes.
- Influence decision‑making at executive level through clear communication and technical insight.
- Represent PEXA externally within the technology community and industry forums.
About You
You’ll bring significant experience designing and delivering large‑scale distributed systems, a track record of defining technical strategy and driving organisation‑wide engineering outcomes, and strong experience working across multiple teams, platforms and stakeholders. You have a proven ability to balance technical excellence with commercial priorities and communicate effectively at all levels of the organisation.
Technical Expertise
- Node.js, Python and Kotlin
- Modern frontend technologies
- Cloud platforms such as AWS and Azure
- Microservices and distributed architectures
- Containerisation and cloud‑native development
- Security architecture and secure software development practices
- Performance, scalability and reliability engineering
Strong interest in the evolving AI landscape, including AI‑assisted software development tools, agentic AI frameworks and modern approaches to context engineering and AI‑enhanced developer productivity.
Nice to Have
- Experience within financial services, property technology or other regulated industries.
- Exposure to DevSecOps, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) or Platform Engineering environments.
- Knowledge of AI frameworks and technologies such as Anthropic Claude, LangGraph, Hugging Face, LiteLLM or Pydantic AI.
Benefits
- Annual Leave: 25 days per year (increasing to 27 days after 5 years), plus Bank Holidays.
- Annual Leave Purchase: Option to purchase up to 1 working week of additional leave.
- Wellness Days: 4 paid days per year to rest and recharge.
- Paid Volunteer Day: 1 paid day per year to volunteer at a charity of your choice.
- Pension scheme (Aviva): 6% employer contribution, 4% employee contribution.
- Life Assurance: 4× basic salary.
- Health Flex Pot via Benifex: £800 flexible benefit to spend on health options of your choice.
- Additional Benifex perks: voluntary opt‑in for benefits such as Activity Pass, Perkbox discounts, Beauty and Fitness Discount Card, Cycle to Work, Motor Breakdown, Will Writing, or enhanced coverage of benefits provided by the company.
- Critical Illness Cover: 1× basic salary.
- Group‑wide Equity Plan: Eligibility for participation in the group‑wide employee share plan, subject to annual invitation.
- Enhanced Maternity/Adoption Pay: Up to 20 weeks full pay.
- Enhanced Paternity Pay: Up to 4 weeks full pay.
- Performance‑based Incentive Scheme: Eligibility for a discretionary Short Term Incentive plan, based on job role and level.
- Learning & Development: Access to LinkedIn Learning and reimbursement of professional membership costs.
- Additional employee assistance programme and wellbeing resources, eye‑test vouchers and VDU glasses contribution.
- Office Space: Use of PEXA office workspaces in Leeds and Thame.
Principal Software Engineer in Leeds employer: PEXA Group Limited
At PEXA UK, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer that fosters a culture of innovation and technical excellence. As a Principal Software Engineer, you will not only lead the charge in shaping our engineering strategy but also benefit from a supportive work environment that prioritises employee growth through mentorship, continuous learning opportunities, and a comprehensive benefits package including wellness days and flexible health options. Join us in Leeds or Thame, where your contributions will directly impact our mission while enjoying a balanced work-life experience.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Software Engineer in Leeds
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Get out there and connect with folks in the industry. Attend meetups, tech conferences, or even local events. You never know who might be looking for someone just like you!
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! Create a portfolio or GitHub repository showcasing your projects. This is your chance to demonstrate your technical expertise and innovative solutions, especially in areas like AI and cloud platforms.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for those interviews! Research the company, understand their tech stack, and be ready to discuss how you can contribute to their engineering strategy. Practice common technical questions and scenarios related to distributed systems.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets noticed. Plus, we love seeing candidates who are proactive about their job search!
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Software Engineer in Leeds
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application:Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter to highlight your experience with large-scale distributed systems and technical strategy. We want to see how your skills align with our needs at PEXA UK!
Showcase Your Leadership Skills:As a Principal Engineer, you'll be mentoring others and driving architectural decisions. Share examples of how you've led teams or projects in the past, and how you foster a culture of technical excellence.
Highlight Your Technical Expertise:Don’t forget to mention your experience with Node.js, Python, and cloud platforms like AWS or Azure. We’re keen on seeing how you’ve applied these technologies in real-world scenarios.
Apply Through Our Website:We encourage you to submit your application through our website. It’s the best way for us to keep track of your application and ensure it gets the attention it deserves!
How to prepare for a job interview at PEXA Group Limited
✨Know Your Tech Inside Out
Make sure you’re well-versed in the technologies mentioned in the job description, like Node.js, Python, and cloud platforms. Prepare to discuss your experience with these tools and how you've used them to drive architectural decisions and improve engineering standards.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Skills
As a Principal Engineer, you'll be expected to mentor and lead teams. Be ready to share examples of how you've fostered a culture of technical excellence and continuous learning in your previous roles. Highlight any initiatives you've led that improved team performance or collaboration.
✨Align Technical Strategy with Business Goals
Understand how your technical expertise can align with business objectives. Prepare to discuss how you've translated business needs into technical roadmaps in the past. This will show your ability to influence decision-making at an executive level.
✨Stay Ahead of Emerging Technologies
PEXA is looking for someone who can lead the adoption of AI and emerging tech. Brush up on the latest trends in AI-assisted development tools and be prepared to discuss how you've integrated such technologies into your work to enhance engineering effectiveness.
