Principal Software Engineer
Location: Belfast or Remote (Northern Ireland based)
Type: Permanent
Salary: Competitive, senior level package
Overview
We are hiring a Principal Software Engineer to play a key role in shaping the technical direction, delivery standards, and long term evolution of a large scale, cloud connected platform. This is a highly influential role operating at the intersection of architecture, product strategy, and engineering execution.
You will work on a platform that processes real time data at scale in a distributed systems. The role is suited to an engineer who combines strong hands on technical judgement with the ability to influence teams, drive alignment, and deliver change across multiple initiatives.
The Role
As a Principal Engineer, you will be responsible for setting technical direction, shaping roadmaps alongside Product and Design, and ensuring high quality delivery across multiple teams. You will operate as a senior technical partner to leadership, while remaining close to the engineering challenges that matter most.
Key Responsibilities
Define and influence platform roadmaps, technical priorities, and delivery plans across multiple teams and initiatives
Partner closely with Product, Design, and Senior Leadership to align technical direction with business strategy
Drive architectural decision making for core platform capabilities including resource tracking, product information management, and access control
Lead discovery, evaluation, and adoption of new platforms and technologies to solve complex system challenges
Design and champion scalable patterns for integration, implementation, and developer enablement across teams
Establish and evolve engineering best practices, including CI/CD, trunk based development, and ownership models
Identify systemic delivery issues and lead initiatives to improve reliability, throughput, and developer experience
Act as a key contributor to hiring, interview design, and assessment of senior technical talent
Mentor senior engineers and support the development of technical leadership across the organisation
Technical Focus Areas
Distributed systems and cloud native architectures
Workflow orchestration and durability in complex platforms
Authorisation and access control at scale, including relationship based models
CI/CD strategy, trunk based development, and platform reliability
Data integrity, PII handling, and testing strategies across environments
What We're Looking For
Extensive experience operating at Principal or Staff Engineer level in complex software environments
Proven ability to influence technical direction across multiple teams and products
Strong architectural judgement with the ability to articulate trade offs, constraints, and long term impact
Experience working closely with Product and Design to shape roadmaps and outcomes
Hands on experience with modern cloud platforms and distributed systems
Track record of driving engineering change and improving delivery maturity
Comfortable operating in ambiguous problem spaces with high ownership and accountability
Nice to Have
Experience introducing or scaling workflow orchestration platforms
Background in access control, authorisation systems, or security focused platforms
Experience working with IoT, telemetry, or real time data systems
Exposure to developer enablement through tooling, runbooks, and internal education
Why This Role
Significant influence over platform direction and engineering standards
Opportunity to shape how teams build, deploy, and operate software at scale
High trust role working closely with senior leadership
Complex, meaningful technical challenges with real world impact
This is an excellent role with a scaling company that can boast one of the most talented Engineering Teams in NI. Feel free to reach out to Ryan Quinn directly for more information.
