Principal Engineer - Hands-on Frontend & Platform Leader

Specsavers; England; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Specsavers is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead technical direction while staying hands-on, solving complex problems, and delivering production code across frontend and backend services. In this role you will shape architecture and review designs for scalable SaaS platforms supporting US digital products, while nurturing a small UK engineering team.

You will collaborate with Product, Design, Development and Architecture leaders to turn ambitious ideas into customer‑facing software, blending

Qualifications

• Experience as Principal Engineer, Staff Engineer, Lead Engineer or senior technical leader in a high-growth tech business.
• Proven track record building and scaling modern SaaS products.
• Deep engineering expertise across modern web technologies and platforms.
• Ability to move between strategy, architecture and hands-on delivery.

Responsibilities

• Define technical direction and engineering standards for the digital platform.
• Write production code, review architecture, and solve complex problems.
• Collaborate with Product, Design, Development and Architecture leaders to deliver SaaS features.
• Mentor a small UK engineering team while shaping long-term platform strategy.

Skills

Technical leadership

SaaS architecture

Frontend & Backend

Code reviews

Production delivery

Cloud infrastructure

Tools

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

REST APIs

React / modern web tech

Job description

Specsavers is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead technical direction while staying hands-on, solving complex problems, and delivering production code across frontend and backend services. In this role you will shape architecture and review designs for scalable SaaS platforms supporting US digital products, while nurturing a small UK engineering team.

You will collaborate with Product, Design, Development and Architecture leaders to turn ambitious ideas into customer‑facing software, blending