Principal Apps Engineer

The Sun; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Maternity leave up to 18 weeks full basic salary

Private medical insurance

Discounted gym memberships

Access to exclusive events and competitions

Generous pension scheme

25 days holiday plus bank holidays

Job summary

The Sun is looking for a Principal Apps Engineer in Greater London. You will lead technical conversations, maintain code quality, and develop features for mobile applications. Strong expertise in mobile development and TDD is essential. This role also includes responsibilities in team management and strategic direction. Benefits include generous leave, private medical insurance, and access to training resources. Join us in creating impactful digital news experiences.

Qualifications

• Proficiency in both modern and legacy languages for mobile development.
• Strong understanding of code quality and best practices.
• Experience with agile development methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical direction and discussions within the team.
• Ensure best practice and good code quality is maintained.
• Support existing and develop new features to meet business needs.
• Work with stakeholders to understand requirements.
• Assist with the release process to deploy new features.

Skills

Expertise in native mobile development for iOS and/or Android

Experience applying test-driven development (TDD/BDD)

Ability to guide peers via thorough code reviews

Strong communication skills

Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines

Proactive mindset for continuous improvement

Job description

About The Sun

The Sun is the biggest news brand in the UK, publishing hundreds of stories a day and reaching over 170 million unique users digitally every month. Its exclusives set the news agenda and its campaigns have changed lives.

Your role

As a Principal Apps Engineer you will work alongside our engineers, product owners and stakeholders to lead and steer the technical conversations and ensure that what we build is best in class and fit for purpose. Working with the Head of Engineering you’ll be responsible for technical strategy and tactical implementation, and for hiring, growing and running the team.

Day to day responsibilities

• Lead technical direction and discussions within the team
• Ensure best practice and good code quality is maintained
• Support existing and develop new features to meet business needs across all Sun
• Work with stakeholders to understand requirements and help define ticket requirements
• Assist with the release process to deploy new features/fixes to production

What we’re looking for

• Expertise in native mobile development for iOS and/or Android, proficiency in both modern and legacy languages
• Experience applying test‑driven development (TDD/BDD) to ensure stability and reliability of mobile applications
• Ability to guide peers via thorough code reviews and maintain high standards across the codebase
• Strong communication skills to convey technical concepts to stakeholders and external communities through presentations or meetups
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines for mobile feature delivery
• Proactive mindset that drives positive change and continuous improvement within an agile environment

Benefits

• Maternity leave up to 18 weeks full basic salary and paternity leave up to 2 weeks
• Wide range of training and full LinkedIn Learning access
• Private medical insurance covering pre‑existing conditions
• Discounted gym memberships, free ClassPass at Home and weekly virtual yoga classes
• ‘Bikes for Work’ and ‘Electric Car’ scheme
• Up to 60% discount on Harper Collins books
• Access to exclusive events and competitions with brands such as talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK, and The Times; weekly virtual panel chats with top journalists and celebrities
• Wellbeing benefits including EAP, physio/massage, and counselling
• Generous pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5%
• 25 days holiday, plus bank holidays and up to 4 volunteering days per year

We are committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process. If you require reasonable adjustments due to a disability or health condition at any stage of your application or interview, please let us know.