Principal Engineer - Contract - Outside IR35

Mindera; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 147,600 - 202,950; Full time

Job summary

Mindera is seeking a Principal Engineer on a contract basis in Central London. The role is hybrid, requiring three days per week on client site.

You will set technical strategy, drive architecture, and mentor teams across the Personalisation domain while delivering scalable ML-powered features and services. The ideal candidate brings extensive Java/Python experience and a track record building large-scale production systems, with strong collaboration across product, data science, and design

Qualifications

• Experience leading engineers across multiple teams and platforms.
• Strong background in Java/Python and large-scale production systems.
• Proven ability to design scalable, high-quality solutions.
• Experience collaborating with Data Science teams and product partners.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive technical strategy, architecture, and engineering standards across the Personalisation domain.
• Design and deliver scalable systems supporting personalisation, search, recommendations, and ML-powered features.
• Partner with Product, Data Science, and Design to deliver customer-centric solutions.
• Lead and influence technical decision-making across multiple teams and platforms.
• Mentor and support senior engineers, raising overall engineering capability.
• Improve engineering quality, reliability, and productivity through best practices, tooling, and platform enhancements.

Skills

Java

Python

Large-scale systems

Machine Learning systems

Cross-functional leadership

Effective communication

Job description

We are currently looking for an experienced Principal Engineer to join us on a contract basis. This is a hybrid position and will require 3 days per week on client site in Central London.

Requirements

Role responsibilities

• Define and drive technical strategy, architecture, and engineering standards across the Personalisation domain
• Design and deliver scalable systems supporting personalisation, search, recommendations, and ML-powered features
• Partner closely with Product, Data Science, and Design to deliver customer-centric solutions
• Lead and influence technical decision-making across multiple teams and platforms
• Mentor and support senior engineers, helping to raise the overall engineering capability
• Improve engineering quality, reliability, and productivity through best practices, tooling, and platform enhancemen

Who you are

• An experienced technical leader with a strong background in Java/Python and large-scale production systems
• Strong experience working with Machine Learning systems and collaborating with Data Science teams
• Skilled in system design and architecture, with the ability to deliver scalable, high-quality solutions
• Comfortable working across cross-functional environments with multiple stakeholders
• Passionate about growing others and driving engineering excellence
• A strong communicator who can influence technical and business decisions at all levels