Principal Software Engineer (Java, AWS)

Overview

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will be responsible for designing, building and running front-end and/or back-end software solutions in an agile delivery squad. This role is hands-on; you will be actively involved in designing, implementing and running the products and services that your squad is responsible for. You will help shape best practices in software engineering, then coach other squad members into driving and ensuring high quality solutions.

What you'll be doing

• Lead the full software development lifecycle, including coding practices, frameworks, technical debt, and operations within your squad
• Collaborate with Engineers, Product Owners, Business Analysts, and Architects to design and deliver industry-leading systems
• Influence and implement engineering standards and tools, driving adoption across squads and tribes
• Design and build software that balances commercial needs with the future tech roadmap
• Take ownership of code quality, non-functional requirements (performance, security, scalability), and best practices for logging, monitoring, and alerting
• Drive improvements in continuous integration and deployment processes
• Identify and mitigate risks, obstacles, and issues impacting technical products
• Provide run support for technical products within your squad
• Mentor and coach other engineers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement
• Champion engineering successes internally and externally to build our brand and attract talent
• Stay ahead of the curve by understanding the external technology landscape and applying insights to enhance our engineering practices

About You

• Extensive experience in building, integrating, and managing complex software architectures, ideally across multi-cloud environments
• Strong hands-on experience with Java, Spring, AWS components, and CI/CD tools (e.g., GitLab CI)
• Proven ability to mentor and guide less experienced engineers
• Passionate about code quality, testing, and engineering best practices
• Skilled in building applications with security, reliability, scalability, and high availability from the ground up
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills
• Degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience
• Comfortable sharing knowledge and stories internally and externally to strengthen our engineering brand

Benefits

• Flexible, hybrid working model
• Inclusive culture and environment
• £1,000 flexible benefits allowance to suit your needs
• 30days holiday + bank holidays
• Udemy learning access
• Up to 25% discount on Very.co.uk
• Matched pension up to 6%
• More benefits can be found on our career site

How To Apply

Please note that the talent acquisition team are managing this vacancy directly, and if successful in securing this role, you will be required to undertake a credit, CIFAS, Right to Work checks and if a specific requirement of your role a DBS (criminal records) check. If there is anything you need to disclose in relation to these checks prior to them being undertaken, including any unspent criminal convictions, please let the team know.

What happens next?

Our Talent Acquisition team will be in touch if you're successful so keep an eye on your emails. We will arrange a short call to learn more about you, as well as answer any questions you have. For this role after meeting our Talent Acquisition Team you can expect a 2 stage process.

First Stage - A Technical Interview, we will ask you to complete a take home task which we will use as the basis for the conversation, we will dig deeper into some of your decisions (60-90 minutes on Teams)

Second Stage - Behavioral Interview, this interview focuses more on your softer skills, how you like to work as part of a Software Engineering Team (60 minutes onsite)

If you'd like to know more about our interviews, you can find out here.

Equal opportunities

We're an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

Additional details

• Seniority level: Associate
• Employment type: Full-time
• Job function: Other
• Industries: IT Services and IT Consulting

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Locations and timelines vary, with recent postings in Wigan, Southport, Daresbury, and Liverpool areas.