Principal Engineer - Full Stack Java

Description

This role sets technical direction for client-facing solutions that support the rollout and ongoing development of a client-facing product.

You will set the technical vision for complex, business-critical capabilities across the platform, focusing on systems that scale, stay secure, recover well and perform strongly.

You will shape engineering strategy and standards and make sure complex features, integrations and production fixes are delivered on time against programme and client commitments.

The role combines hands-on engineering with broad influence across teams. You will work with architecture, product, delivery, QA, operations and client stakeholders on roadmaps, technology risk and cross-system problems, and encourage sensible use of AI-assisted development tools.

Responsibilities

• Define the technical vision, architecture and engineering strategy for the company's international processing application and its integrations.
• Lead the design and evolution of scalable back-end services, front-end components, RESTful APIs and enterprise integrations.
• Provide principal-level leadership across several workstreams so solutions are robust, secure, maintainable, performant and aligned with business and technology goals.
• Own complex technical decisions on architecture, integration, data design, resilience, scalability, security, supportability and technology risk.
• Lead delivery of critical capabilities, strategic enhancements, urgent production fixes, remediation work and complex cross-system change to meet client and programme deadlines.
• Set up, evolve and promote engineering standards covering architecture, coding, code reviews, automated testing, documentation, security, observability, release readiness and operational excellence.
• Oversee solution designs, code, test strategies and deployment approaches to keep them consistent with agreed architecture and standards.
• Act as the senior technical authority for complex production incidents, leading root-cause analysis, defining lasting fixes and improving resilience and reliability.
• Drive adoption of containerisation, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, deployment automation and modern DevOps practices across the engineering lifecycle.
• Mentor and coach Technical Leads, Senior Engineers and development teams to build technical skill, engineering discipline and knowledge sharing.
• Work with product, delivery, QA, architecture, operations and client stakeholders to shape roadmaps, manage dependencies, resolve technical risks and support delivery.
• Support and improve settlement-related workflows, including trade confirmations, reporting, books and records, and collateral management.
• Provide technical leadership for solutions across the securities trade lifecycle, including Debt, Equity and Financing Transactions.
• Keep improving engineering practice, platform architecture, automation, quality, performance, security, operational support and use of AI-assisted tools.

Requirements

• 12+ years of professional software development experience, with substantial hands-on work in Core Java, Spring and Spring Boot.
• Proven experience as a Principal Engineer, Solution Architect, Lead Architect or senior technical leader, owning technical strategy, platform architecture, engineering governance and complex programme delivery.
• Strong Java and Spring skills are essential, including designing and delivering large service-oriented or microservices back-end systems.
• Strong SQL skills are essential, with extensive work on large relational databases, including MS SQL Server and Sybase.
• Hands-on Docker and Kubernetes knowledge is essential, covering containerised application design, deployment, configuration, scaling, resilience and support.
• Full-stack capability, with experience setting technical direction across front-end, back-end, API, data and integration layers.
• Extensive experience designing, governing and integrating RESTful APIs, distributed services and enterprise applications.
• Demonstrable experience designing and supporting high-volume, real-time or time-sensitive systems, with a firm grasp of performance, resilience, availability and reliability.
• Proven ability to define architectures and make complex design decisions with attention to scalability, security, maintainability, observability and long-term evolution.
• Extensive experience setting engineering standards, running architecture and code reviews, improving delivery practices and resolving complex technical and production issues.
• Strong experience with automated testing, quality engineering, CI/CD and deployment automation, and building quality into every stage of development.
• Experience with Git, Eclipse, IntelliJ, Visual Studio, JIRA and Confluence.
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder management and leadership skills, with the ability to influence senior technical and non-technical people and explain complex ideas clearly.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, IT or a related field.
• Desirable: JavaScript experience, including giving technical direction for front-end components and full-stack delivery.
• Good to have: Python experience.
• Preferred: Understanding of the securities trade lifecycle, including Middle Office and Back Office processes.
• Preferred: Knowledge of settlements processing, trade confirmations, reporting, books and records, collateral management and clearance and settlement workflows.
• Preferred: Understanding of the full software development lifecycle, from requirements and architecture through testing, user acceptance, release and production support.
• Preferred: Experience in SAFe Agile delivery environments.
• Preferred: Experience defining or evolving enterprise architecture, platform roadmaps, cloud-native engineering or modernisation strategies.
• Preferred: Experience leading technical delivery in complex, regulated, deadline-driven client environments.
• Preferred: Experience driving cross-team technical transformation, engineering maturity, or reliability and performance improvement.

Conditions

This is a hybrid role, and the team meets in person as needed.

The company may use AI-based tools to help review applications, but all hiring decisions include human review, and any falsified or misrepresented information leads to disqualification.

The company is committed to an inclusive workplace where everyone can bring their own perspective.