Principal Engineer - AI Products

Harvey Nash; Greater London; On-site; GBP 198,000 - 242,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Salary £220k

Life cover

Wellbeing & leave

AI product impact

Job summary

Harvey Nash is seeking a Principal Product Engineer in Greater London to provide hands-on technical leadership across product engineering, architecture and delivery. You will mentor senior engineers, set technical direction and scale complex products in a fast-paced environment.

This role emphasizes embedding AI-native and automation-first practices, driving engineering excellence, and shaping roadmaps with cross-functional leaders in a mission-driven tech-for-good company.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of software engineering experience.
• Experience building and scaling highly complex products.
• Track record leading senior technical talent and engineering functions.
• Strong understanding of AI and automation as engineering accelerators.
• Experience operating in high-growth, high-performance product environments.
• Builder mindset with ownership and technical excellence.

Responsibilities

• Own product engineering strategy and technical architecture end-to-end.
• Lead and mentor Staff and Senior Staff Engineers.
• Architect and deliver scalable software products.
• Embed AI-native and automation-first ways of working.
• Drive engineering excellence, quality and delivery performance.
• Partner with Product, Design, Data and AI leaders to shape roadmap and execution.

Skills

Software engineering

Product scaling

Technical leadership

AI & automation

High-growth environments

Ownership & excellence

Job description

Want your engineering work to contribute to breakthroughs in cancer research, drug discovery and next-generation healthcare?

I'm working with a mission-led technology company building advanced software, AI and automation platforms that help accelerate scientific discovery. This is a genuine tech-for-good opportunity where the systems you build can have a real-world impact beyond traditional software products.

They're looking for a Principal Product Engineer to provide hands-on technical leadership across product engineering, architecture and delivery. This is a role for someone who still loves building software but can also operate at the highest level, mentoring senior engineers, setting technical direction and scaling complex products in a fast-paced environment.

Who This Won't Suit

• Anyone looking for a purely people-management role. This is a hands-on technical leadership position.
• Leaders whose experience is primarily management rather than building and scaling software products.
• Engineers who aren't interested in leveraging AI and automation as part of modern software development.

What You'll Be Doing

• Owning product engineering strategy and technical architecture end-to-end.
• Leading and mentoring Staff and Senior Staff Engineers.
• Architecting and delivering complex, scalable software products.
• Embedding AI-native and automation-first ways of working.
• Driving engineering excellence, quality and delivery performance.
• Partnering with Product, Design, Data and AI leaders to shape roadmap and execution.

What We're Looking For

• 15+ years of software engineering experience.
• Experience building and scaling highly complex products.
• Track record leading senior technical talent and engineering functions.
• Strong understanding of AI and automation as engineering accelerators.
• Experience operating in high-growth, high-performance product environments.
• A builder's mindset with a passion for ownership and technical excellence.

What's On Offer

• Salary up to £220,000.
• Life & critical illness cover.
• Additional leave and wellbeing support programmes.
• The chance to shape next-generation AI products with genuine real-world impact.