Principal Engineer

Socium Recruitment; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology recruitment firm is seeking a Principal Engineer for a hybrid role in Manchester. This position offers a unique opportunity to influence architectural patterns and design a complex platform within new teams. Candidates should have experience in leading technical initiatives and mentoring engineers. The firm aims to integrate modern tooling and AI to enhance system development, making it essential for applicants to have strong technical leadership skills.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as Principal Engineer or Staff Engineer.
• Strong understanding of architectural patterns and cloud services.
• Ability to lead technical initiatives and mentor team members.

Responsibilities

• Define architecture patterns across multiple squads and services.
• Design and evolve a complex, workflow-heavy platform.
• Lead technical initiatives such as APIs and cloud patterns.

Skills

Defining architecture patterns

Complex system design

Leading technical initiatives

Mentoring engineers

Championing automation

Job description

Principal Engineer – Manchester (Hybrid) – £(Apply online only)k + Package

Ever joined a company after the architecture decisions were already locked in…

and spent the next two years working around them?

This isn’t that.

This is a rare chance to come in before the patterns are set — helping shape how a large, mission‑critical B2B platform is built as three brand‑new squads spin up.

It’s greenfield where it matters, pragmatic where it has to be, and aimed squarely at engineers who care about how systems evolve, not just shipping the next ticket.

What you’ll be doing

• Defining architecture patterns used across multiple squads and services.
• Designing and evolving a complex, workflow-heavy platform at serious scale.
• Leading cross-team technical initiatives (APIs, cloud patterns, DevOps).
• Partnering with product and delivery to shape technical direction — not just react to it.
• Mentoring senior engineers and tech leads, raising the bar across teams.
• Championing automation, observability, and “we build it, we run it”.
• Tackling systemic problems early — scalability, reliability, developer experience.
• Exploring AI and modern tooling to improve how teams build and ship.

Hands‑on when it counts. Strategic when it matters.

What you’ll need

• Experience operating at Principal / Staff Enginee...