Principal Engineer (Go)

Harvey Nash; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Harvey Nash is partnering with a growth-focused technology business to recruit a Principal Software Engineer who will scale a cloud-native platform delivering data-driven decisions for customers.

This hands-on leadership role shapes architecture, mentors engineers and collaborates with senior stakeholders across Engineering, Product and Data to influence technical direction while remaining close to the code.

Qualifications

• Experience building and scaling cloud-native applications.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems and backend architecture.
• Experience with microservices and event-driven systems.
• Experience with large-scale data processing platforms or pipelines.
• Exposure to AdTech, MarTech, ecommerce, search, recommendation engines, personalisation or optimisation products.
• Ability to influence technical direction and mentor engineers.
• Previous experience in a Lead, Staff, Principal or similar senior engineering role.
• Go and GCP technologies familiarity.

Responsibilities

• Design and build scalable backend services in Go.
• Contribute to architecture and technical strategy across multiple products.
• Work on distributed, event-driven systems handling large volumes of data.
• Build and enhance data processing pipelines supporting automated decision-making at scale.
• Develop integrations with third-party platforms and external data sources.
• Improve platform performance, reliability, observability and operational efficiency.
• Solve complex scalability and data challenges in a high-volume cloud environment.
• Collaborate with Product, Data and Commercial teams to deliver features with measurable business impact.
• Mentor engineers and promote engineering best practices across the organisation.

Skills

Cloud-native

Distributed systems

Backend architecture

Go

GCP

BigQuery

Microservices

Event-driven architecture

CI/CD

Observability

Mentoring

Leadership

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

I'm working with a growing technology business looking for a Principal Software Engineer to help scale a cloud-native platform that processes huge volumes of commercial data and powers critical decision-making for customers.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role. You'll help shape architecture, solve complex engineering challenges and work closely with senior stakeholders across Engineering, Product and Data. The business is investing heavily in its platform and is looking for someone who can influence technical direction whilst remaining close to the code.

What you'll be doing:

• Designing and building scalable backend services in Go
• Contributing to architecture and technical strategy across multiple products
• Working on distributed, event-driven systems handling large volumes of product, customer and performance data
• Building and enhancing data processing pipelines that support automated decision-making at scale
• Developing integrations with third-party platforms, APIs and external data sources
• Improving platform performance, reliability, observability and operational efficiency
• Solving complex scalability and data challenges across a high-volume cloud environment
• Collaborating with Product, Data and Commercial teams to deliver features with measurable business impact
• Mentoring engineers and helping drive engineering best practices across the organisation

What we're looking for:

• Experience building and scaling cloud-native applications
• Strong understanding of distributed systems and backend architecture
• Experience with microservices and event-driven systems
• Experience working with large-scale data processing platforms or pipelines
• Exposure to AdTech, MarTech, eCommerce, search, recommendation engines, personalisation or optimisation products
• Experience integrating with third-party APIs and external platforms
• Ability to influence technical direction and mentor engineers
• Previous experience in a Lead, Staff, Principal or similar senior engineering role
• Go
• GCP
• BigQuery
• Microservices
• Event-driven architecture
• CI/CD
• Observability and monitoring tooling
• Join an engineering-led business where technology is central to growth
• Work on genuinely interesting scale and data challenges
• Influence architectural decisions and long-term technical strategy
• Stay hands-on whilst operating at a senior leadership level
• Be part of a collaborative team tackling complex real-world problems

The title matters less than the experience. Whether you're already a Principal Engineer or a strong Staff/Lead Engineer ready for the next step, we'd love to hear from engineers who enjoy building scalable systems and solving challenging technical problems.