Principal / Senior Software Engineer

seek.com.au; City of Melbourne; Remote; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

seek.com.au is seeking a Principal / Senior Software Engineer to shape architecture and technical direction for an established Australian platform. This role is predominantly remote with a Melbourne preference, and involves TypeScript/Node.js, React Native and AWS.

You’ll stay hands-on while influencing architecture, security, and engineering standards, mentor engineers, and own technical outcomes with senior leadership. There are no direct reports.

Qualifications

• Experience building production software at scale.
• Strong ownership and architectural decision-making.
• Hands-on with TS/JS stack and modern frontend/mobile stacks.
• Experience with AWS and IaC (Terraform).
• Track record delivering reliable, secure software.

Responsibilities

• Influence architecture and technical direction across applications and services.
• Remain hands-on across TS, Node.js and React Native.
• Solve scalability, performance, reliability, and cost challenges.
• Make pragmatic architectural and technology decisions.
• Modernise existing systems incrementally and avoid large rewrites.
• Improve security and engineering standards.
• Mentor engineers and raise technical capability.

Skills

TypeScript

JavaScript

Node.js

React Native

AWS

Terraform

API architecture

SQL design

CI/CD

Security & privacy

Tools

AWS

Terraform

Job description

Take genuine ownership of architecture and technical direction

Melbourne VIC | Remote-First | Permanent
TypeScript / Node.js | React Native | AWS | Terraform

An established and growing Australian technology business is looking for an experienced Principal / Senior Software Engineer to take on a highly influential position within its engineering team.

This is an opportunity for either an established Principal Engineer or an accomplished Senior/Lead Engineer ready to step into broader technical ownership.

You'll remain hands-on while helping shape architecture, engineering standards and technical direction across an established software platform.

This is an individual contributor position with no direct reports – ideal for someone who wants senior-level influence while remaining close to the technology.

The position is predominantly remote, with a preference for someone based in Melbourne who can occasionally spend time with the wider team in the office. There is no regular weekly office requirement.

The Role

Working closely with senior technology leadership and the wider engineering team, you'll help solve some of the more complex technical challenges across an established platform as it continues to evolve and scale.

You'll:

• Influence architecture and technical direction across multiple applications and services

• Remain hands-on across TypeScript, Node.js and React Native

• Solve complex problems around scalability, performance, reliability and cost

• Make pragmatic architectural and technology decisions

• Modernise existing systems incrementally rather than relying on large-scale rewrites

• Work extensively across AWS and Infrastructure as Code environments

• Improve security, privacy and engineering standards

• Act as an escalation point for complex production issues

• Identify opportunities to simplify systems and reduce duplicated engineering effort

• Contribute to longer-term technical roadmaps and priorities

• Mentor engineers and help raise technical capability across the team

• Balance hands-on engineering with broader architectural ownership

About You

We're open to speaking with experienced Senior, Lead, Staff or Principal-level engineers who have built and operated production software and are comfortable taking ownership beyond individual features.

Ideally, you'll bring strong commercial experience across:

• TypeScript / JavaScript

• Node.js

• React Native

• AWS

• Terraform / Infrastructure as Code

• API and backend architecture

• SQL and relational database design

• CI/CD and modern deployment practices

• Mobile application development and release processes

• Designing and operating production software at scale

• Modernising existing or brownfield platforms

• Application security and privacy

• Technical mentoring and architectural decision-making

Commercial PHP experience would be advantageous, although we're equally interested in strong engineers who are comfortable taking ownership of technologies outside their primary stack.

Additional Experience of Interest

Exposure to any of the following would be highly regarded:

• Multi-tenant SaaS platforms

• High-volume transactional applications

• Subscription or recurring billing systems

• App Store and Google Play release engineering

• Video or media platforms

• Data pipelines and complex integrations

• ERP integrations

• Internationally distributed software products

• Security, privacy and regulatory compliance

Why Consider This Opportunity?

This isn't a role where you'll simply be handed tickets from a predefined backlog.

You'll have the opportunity to influence how an established platform evolves, solve meaningful technical problems and work closely with senior technology leadership on the decisions that shape the engineering environment.

You'll have:

• Genuine influence over architecture and technical direction

• Direct access to senior technology leadership

• Complex, real-world engineering challenges

• The opportunity to remain genuinely hands-on

• A modern TypeScript, React Native, Node.js and AWS environment

• Scope to improve engineering standards and practices

• An established platform with continued growth ahead

• A predominantly remote working environment

• Flexibility without a regular weekly office requirement

• The opportunity for a strong Senior/Lead Engineer to step into broader Principal-level ownership

Melbourne-based candidates are preferred due to occasional in-person collaboration, although strong candidates elsewhere in Australia may also be considered.

Requires Australian Full Work Rights. No Sponsorship Available.

If you're an experienced software engineer who enjoys solving difficult technical problems, improving established systems and having genuine influence over technical direction, we'd be keen to hear from you.