Principal Engineer – Private Cloud

Synechron; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Synechron is seeking a Principal Engineer - Private Cloud to provide technical leadership across virtualization, Kubernetes, container orchestration, Kafka and microservices. Reporting to the Head of Private Cloud, you will shape platform roadmaps, ensure secure, resilient and scalable private cloud capabilities within a highly regulated environment.

You will collaborate with product owners, architects and security teams to translate strategy into practical technology outcomes, establish

Qualifications

• Experience as a Principal Engineer or equivalent.
• Proven experience in large-scale enterprise or regulated environments.
• Strong private cloud or platform engineering background.
• Expertise in at least two of: VMware/virtualisation, Kubernetes, Kafka or container platforms, distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Define technical direction for private cloud, Kubernetes, container, virtualisation and Kafka platforms.
• Lead the architecture and evolution of compute, storage, networking, orchestration and platform services.
• Establish reference architectures, engineering standards, reusable patterns and platform guardrails.
• Own Kubernetes platform decisions covering cluster architecture, networking, multi-tenancy, security, policy, secrets, observability and upgrades.
• Define Kafka standards for topic design, partitioning, resiliency, schema governance, security, monitoring and capacity planning.
• Promote automation-first delivery through Infrastructure as Code, GitOps, CI/CD and configuration management.
• Improve developer experience through golden paths, templates, self-service capabilities and clear documentation.
• Review technical designs and ensure solutions are secure, supportable, resilient, cost-effective and production-ready.
• Coach engineering teams on microservices, APIs, event-driven architecture and operational resilience.
• Drive security-by-design, vulnerability management, access controls, data protection and auditability.
• Support multi-region, active-active, resilience testing, capacity planning and incident improvement initiatives.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly and influence decisions across architecture, product and engineering forums.

Skills

Virtualisation

Kubernetes

Kafka

Microservices

Infrastructure as Code

CI/CD

Security by design

Distributed systems

Platform engineering

Cloud platforms

Job description

Synechron is a global technology consulting firm that helps leading organizations accelerate digital transformation through innovation, expertise, and agility. With more than 16,500 professionals across around 60 offices in over 20 countries, we combine deep industry knowledge with advanced capabilities in AI, cloud, cybersecurity, and data engineering. Our regional teams, supported by strategic delivery centers, provide scalable, cost-efficient solutions tailored to local markets. Through our award-winning Synechron FinLabs accelerators and strategic partnerships with AWS, Microsoft, Databricks, Salesforce, and ServiceNow, we enable clients to innovate fast and lead with confidence. For more information on the company, please visit our website or LinkedIn community.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:

Diversity & Inclusion are fundamental to our culture, and Synechron is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and an affirmative-action employer. Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative 'Same Difference' is committed to fostering an inclusive culture - promoting equality, diversity and an environment that is respectful to all. We strongly believe that a diverse workforce helps build stronger, successful businesses as a global company. We encourage applicants from across diverse backgrounds, race, ethnicities, religion, age, marital status, gender, sexual orientations, or disabilities to apply. We empower our global workforce by offering flexible workplace arrangements, mentoring, internal mobility, learning and development programs, and more.

All employment decisions at Synechron are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to the applicant's gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disabled or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Job Description:

We are seeking a Principal Engineer - Private Cloud to provide technical leadership across virtualisation, Kubernetes, container, Kafka and microservices platforms.

Reporting to the Head of Private Cloud, you will define engineering direction, shape platform roadmaps and deliver secure, resilient and scalable private cloud capabilities across a highly regulated environment. You will work closely with Product Owners, architects, engineering teams, Cyber Security and Operations to turn strategy into practical technology outcomes.

Key responsibilities:

• Define technical direction for private cloud, Kubernetes, container, virtualisation and Kafka platforms.
• Lead the architecture and evolution of compute, storage, networking, orchestration and platform services.
• Establish reference architectures, engineering standards, reusable patterns and platform guardrails.
• Own Kubernetes platform decisions covering cluster architecture, networking, multi-tenancy, security, policy, secrets, observability and upgrades.
• Define Kafka standards for topic design, partitioning, resiliency, schema governance, security, monitoring and capacity planning.
• Promote automation-first delivery through Infrastructure as Code, GitOps, CI/CD and configuration management.
• Improve developer experience through golden paths, templates, self-service capabilities and clear documentation.
• Review technical designs and ensure solutions are secure, supportable, resilient, cost-effective and production-ready.
• Coach engineering teams on microservices, APIs, event-driven architecture and operational resilience.
• Drive security-by-design, vulnerability management, access controls, data protection and auditability.
• Support multi-region, active-active, resilience testing, capacity planning and incident improvement initiatives.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly and influence decisions across architecture, product and engineering forums.
• Experience as a Principal Engineer, Lead Engineer, Senior Staff Engineer or equivalent.
• Proven experience in large-scale enterprise or regulated environments.
• Strong private cloud or platform engineering background.
• Deep expertise in at least two of the following:
• Virtualisation technologies, such as VMware or equivalent
• Kubernetes and container platforms
• Kafka or enterprise event-streaming platforms
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems, networking, performance, fault tolerance and capacity planning.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD and automation.
• Strong understanding of security, operational risk, change management and production readiness.
• Excellent communication, technical writing, stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Service mesh, API gateways, secrets management and policy-as-code.
• Metrics, logging and distributed tracing platforms.
• Platform-as-a-product, developer portals and service catalogues.
• Multi-region and active-active architecture.
• Resilience engineering, performance testing and incident leadership.
• Experience in financial services or other highly regulated industries.

This is an opportunity to shape the future of private cloud platforms and build secure, resilient and developer-focused capabilities that support critical services at enterprise scale.