Principal Engineer

Candour; Manchester; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

30 days holiday + Bank Holidays

Company pension scheme

Significant technical ownership and |

Job summary

Candour is seeking a Principal Engineer in Manchester to own architecture and lead delivery while staying hands-on with code. You will shape the platform, drive technical direction, and collaborate with the CTO to raise engineering standards. The role emphasizes ownership, mentoring, and high-impact delivery.

Ideal candidates are senior engineers ready to influence at scale, comfortable guiding across the full stack, and adept with modern tooling and AI-enabled development.

Qualifications

• Senior-level software engineering experience with leadership exposure.
• Experience across the full software development lifecycle.
• Mentoring engineers is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own technical decisions across architecture, development and delivery.
• Design, build and ship features across the full stack.
• Mentor and support other engineers while remaining hands-on.
• Develop and improve CI/CD processes and engineering practices.
• Work with REST/GraphQL APIs and third-party integrations.
• Identify opportunities to introduce AI/LLM functionality where it adds value.
• Contribute to automated testing, code reviews and technical standards.

Skills

Senior-level experience

Ownership

Mentoring

Tools

Node.js

Go

PostgreSQL

MySQL

SQL Server

REST APIs

GraphQL

Job description

Role: Principal Engineer

Salary: £80,000–£95,000

Location: Manchester

This is a highly hands-on technical role, ideal for a strong Senior Engineer, Principal Engineer or existing Tech Lead who wants to stay close to the code while taking real ownership of architecture, technical direction and delivery.

Working closely with the CTO, you’ll help shape how the platform is built and evolved, while supporting other engineers and helping establish strong engineering standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Own technical decisions across architecture, development and delivery.
• Design, build and ship features across the full stack.
• Stay hands-on while mentoring and supporting other engineers.
• Develop and improve CI/CD processes and engineering practices.
• Work with REST/GraphQL APIs and third-party integrations.
• Use AI coding tools effectively within day-to-day development.
• Identify opportunities to introduce AI/LLM functionality where it adds value.
• Contribute to automated testing, code reviews and technical standards.

Key Skills

• Senior-level experience as a Software Engineer, Principal Engineer or Tech Lead.
• Strong hands-on development experience with Node.js, Go or similar technologies.
• Experience across the full software development lifecycle.
• Strong database experience with PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server or similar.
• Experience with APIs and third-party integrations.
• Solid understanding of testing, version control, CI/CD and secure development.
• Comfortable taking ownership, making technical decisions and working autonomously.
• Confident using AI coding tools as part of your development workflow.
• Experience mentoring engineers would be beneficial.

Benefits

• 30 days holiday + Bank Holidays
• Company pension scheme
• Significant technical ownership and influence
• & more!

This is a genuinely hands-on position. You’ll be expected to get into the detail, write code, solve complex problems and take ownership, while helping the wider engineering team develop.

If you're a strong Senior/Principal Engineer or hands-on Tech Lead looking for greater technical ownership, this could be a great opportunity.