Principal Engineer, Developer Platform Lead

Appnovation; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Appnovation seeks a Principal Engineer to steer the technical direction of an internal developer platform for a global life sciences client. You will own architecture across Mac/Windows desktop apps, web tooling, and MCP interfaces, driving a cohesive developer experience.

You will lead without direct reports, mentoring engineers, and ensuring security/privacy by design while aligning surface teams to program OKRs and KPIs with a DX-focused mindset.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in frontend, desktop or developer tooling engineering with increasing scope.
• Hands-on experience shipping developer-facing tools across multiple surfaces (Electron and Vue preferred).
• Broad technical knowledge across frontend, desktop and backend systems, leaning frontend.
• Experience with MCP or similar programmatic interfaces for AI agents and scripts.
• Proven ability to lead without formal authority and align multiple teams.
• Deep understanding of privacy and security by design, DevSecOps, CI/CD, RESTful APIs, and microservices patterns.
• Experience delivering large-scale enterprise software in a global 24/7 DevOps model.
• Excellent communication skills, able to explain complex topics to senior non-technical stakeholders.
• Based in the UK or Europe with right to work and GMT/BST hours.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction across desktop, web and MCP surfaces and unify architecture.
• Engage hands-on in Electron and Vue desktop code, participate in reviews and problem solving.
• Coordinate cross-team delivery to meet OKRs and KPIs.
• Embed security and privacy by design into architecture and operations.
• Improve Developer Experience based on DX surveys and feedback.
• Represent engineering in stakeholder meetings and translate business needs to technical plans.
• Promote automation, DevOps, and
• everything as code

Skills

Leadership without authority

Excellent communication

Full-stack frontend/backend knowledge

Developer tooling

Security by design

DevSecOps

Architecture and strategy

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS/Engineering

Tools

Electron

Vue

MCP interfaces

RESTful APIs

CI/CD

Job description

Appnovation seeks a Principal Engineer to steer the technical direction of an internal developer platform for a global life sciences client. You will own architecture across Mac/Windows desktop apps, web tooling, and MCP interfaces, driving a cohesive developer experience.

You will lead without direct reports, mentoring engineers, and ensuring security/privacy by design while aligning surface teams to program OKRs and KPIs with a DX-focused mindset.