Principal Engineer

Maxwell Bond; St Helens; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Maxwell Bond is seeking a Principal Developer in the St Helens/Warrington area for a hybrid role. You will own the architecture, guide a team of backend and data engineers, and drive a greenfield platform using AI tools like Claude Code and GitHub Copilot.

The role focuses on scalable, data‑intensive systems within distributed microservices. The ideal candidate has deep C#, .NET and Azure experience, plus leadership in architectural decisions and exposure to AI coding agents.

Qualifications

• Proven track record leading technical decisions and teams.
• Experience designing scalable, data‑intensive systems.
• Strong background in C#, .NET and Azure architecture.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture and technical direction for a greenfield platform.
• Lead and mentor backend and data engineers; shape software design.
• Use AI coding agents to accelerate development and code quality.
• Collaborate across domains to deliver real‑time, data‑driven solutions.

Skills

C#

.NET

Azure

Scalable systems

Microservices

Distributed systems

Event-driven architecture

Python

Data engineering

Technical leadership

AI coding agents

AWS

Streaming data

Machine learning

Job description

Principal Developer

St Helens / Warrington

Hybrid

Picture this...

You're joining a business at the start of something new. A completely greenfield project, the freedom to make key technical decisions and the opportunity to build a platform from the ground up.

We're looking for a hands-on technical leader to take ownership of the architecture, lead a team of engineers and help shape how modern software is built using AI.

What's on offer?

• Build a brand-new platform without the constraints of legacy systems.
• Own architectural decisions and technical direction.
• Lead and mentor a team of backend and data engineers.
• Work with modern AI coding tools such as Claude Code, Cursor and GitHub Copilot.
• Tackle interesting challenges around large-scale data, distributed systems and real-time processing.

Who are we looking for?

This could suit an established Principal or Staff Engineer, Technical Architect, or an experienced Lead/Senior Developer ready to step up.

You’ll ideally bring:

• Strong C#, .NET and Azure experience.
• Experience designing scalable, data-intensive systems.
• Knowledge of microservices, distributed systems and event-driven architecture.
• Exposure to Python and data engineering.
• Experience leading technical decisions and using AI coding agents.
• Experience with AWS, streaming data or machine learning would be a bonus.