Principal Engineer

Burns Sheehan; Greater London; Remote; GBP 135,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Burns Sheehan Limited partners with a technology consultancy redefining software delivery through agentic AI. We are seeking exceptional Principal Engineers to own the technical direction across engagements, combining hands-on coding with leadership and client consultancy.

You will work across complex client engagements, shaping technical solutions, driving buy-in with senior stakeholders and mentoring engineers while remaining close to delivery and code.

Qualifications

• Principal, Staff or exceptional Lead-level software engineering experience.
• Deep technical foundations, with full-stack capability and a core area of specialism.
• Commercial experience using AI agents and Claude Code to deliver significant engineering work.
• Strong architecture, distributed systems and modern cloud engineering experience.
• Experience with technologies such as .NET, Java, Go, Python or similar.
• Excellent communication skills and confidence working with senior business and technology stakeholders.
• Strong commercial awareness, pragmatism and a consultancy mindset.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture and delivery across complex software engineering engagements.
• Introduce and embed agentic AI workflows that transform engineering productivity.
• Work directly with senior clients to shape technical solutions and drive buy-in.
• Stay hands-on, solving difficult engineering problems and reviewing AI-generated output.
• Lead technical discovery, pre-sales and solution design for new opportunities.
• Mentor engineers and raise standards across AI-native software delivery.

Skills

Agentic AI

Claude Code

Software Architecture

Distributed Systems

Full-Stack Engineering

Tools

.NET

Java

Go

Python

Claude Code

Job description

Principal Engineer – Agentic AI Engineering | AI-Native Technology Consultancy

Fully remote UK | Client travel approximately 2 days per fortnight

Up to £150,000 + benefits

Agentic AI, Claude Code, Software Architecture, Distributed Systems, Full-Stack Engineering

Principal Engineer - We're working with an ambitious technology consultancy that is redefining how software is designed, built and delivered through agentic AI.

Working with major organisations across financial services, gaming and other sectors, they help businesses solve complex technology challenges, modernise their platforms and adopt new ways of working with AI.

Having embedded agentic engineering into their own delivery model, they've already demonstrated what's possible, including delivering a project that would traditionally have taken 12 months in just three. They're now scaling their engineering capability to meet significant demand from clients looking to achieve similar results.

They're looking for exceptional Principal Engineers to help shape this next phase, combining deep engineering expertise with the ability to influence clients and demonstrate the commercial potential of AI-native software development.

The Principal Engineer

As a Principal Engineer, you'll operate at the intersection of hands-on software engineering, technical leadership and client consultancy.

You’ll work across complex client engagements, typically owning the technical direction of one or two projects while contributing to pre-sales, technical discovery and solution design for new opportunities.

A major part of the role is helping organisations understand and adopt agentic engineering practices. You'll need genuine commercial experience of using AI agents to accelerate software delivery, alongside the technical judgement to ensure what gets shipped is secure, scalable and production-ready.

This isn't a pure architecture or management position. You'll remain close to the code, capable of solving difficult engineering problems yourself, while having the communication skills and commercial awareness to influence senior stakeholders and lead technical conversations with clients.

What will the Principal Engineer do?

• Lead architecture and delivery across complex software engineering engagements.
• Introduce and embed agentic AI workflows that transform engineering productivity.
• Work directly with senior clients to shape technical solutions and drive buy-in.
• Stay hands-on, solving difficult engineering problems and reviewing AI-generated output.
• Lead technical discovery, pre-sales and solution design for new opportunities.
• Mentor engineers and raise standards across AI-native software delivery.

What will the Principal Engineer bring?

• Principal, Staff or exceptional Lead-level software engineering experience.
• Deep technical foundations, with full-stack capability and a core area of specialism.
• Commercial experience using AI agents and tools such as Claude Code to deliver significant engineering work.
• Strong architecture, distributed systems and modern cloud engineering experience.
• Experience with technologies such as .NET, Java, Go, Python or similar.
• Excellent communication skills and confidence working with senior business and technology stakeholders.
• Strong commercial awareness, pragmatism and a consultancy mindset.

The Ideal Background

This Principal Engineer role would suit an exceptional engineer who combines strong technical delivery with the ability to influence people, clients and organisations.

Consultancy experience would be particularly valuable, although they're equally interested in engineers from high-performing product businesses who have developed strong stakeholder management and commercial skills.

You need to be genuinely AI-fluent in how you work. Using Copilot or Claude as a coding assistant isn't enough. They're looking for people who have embraced agentic workflows, understand how to orchestrate AI agents, engineer the right context, review their output and build the quality controls needed to ship production software.

You should also be comfortable working with clients across different industries, including gaming, betting and gambling.

Why This Role?

This is an opportunity to join a business that is genuinely putting agentic AI into practice, rather than simply experimenting with the latest tools. You'll work alongside some exceptionally talented engineers, have direct exposure to the CTO and senior technology leadership, and play a significant role in shaping how the business and its clients approach the future of software engineering.

You’ll have the opportunity to work on complex technical challenges, influence senior business leaders and help organisations understand how AI can fundamentally change the economics of software development.

Principal Engineer – Agentic AI Engineering | AI-Native Technology Consultancy

Fully remote UK | Client travel approximately 2 days per fortnight

Up to £150,000 + benefits

Agentic AI, Claude Code, Software Architecture, Distributed Systems, Full-Stack Engineering