Principal Engineer - Tech Strategy for a Profitable FinTech

Burns Sheehan; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 119,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading fintech scale-up is seeking a Principal Engineer to spearhead their technical strategy and architecture in transforming access to finance for small businesses. This role offers significant autonomy, with the chance to shape systems that drive innovative credit solutions. Join an empowering mission in a dynamic environment, where your leadership in engineering will have a real strategic impact.

Qualifications

• Strong experience in systems architecture and software development.
• Proven ability to deliver large-scale technical projects.
• Collaborative leader with mentoring experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical strategy for high-impact platforms.
• Steer long-term vision and ensure alignment with business outcomes.
• Mentor engineers and promote collaborative solutions.

Skills

Systems architecture

Software development

Scalable solutions

Collaboration

Tools

Python

Django

PostgreSQL

AWS

Rust

Machine Learning

Job description

Principal Engineer - Lead Tech Strategy for a Profitable FinTech Scale-Up

Hybrid (London) or remote within the UK

Up to £140,000 per annum plus stock options

Python | Django | FastAPI | AWS | Rust | Postgres | Event-Driven Architecture | Machine Learning

Principal Engineer - We're working with a leading fintech scale-up that's transforming how small businesses access finance. Backed by a strong track record and an ambitious mission, they're now looking for a Principal Engineer to lead the next phase of innovation within one of their most critical product areas.

This is a strategic leadership role offering exceptional autonomy and influence. You'll head up the evolution of a high-impact platform responsible for generating personalised credit offers - a core driver of the business's growth and customer experience.

The Opportunity

As Principal Engineer, you'll take ownership of the technical strategy and architecture for dynamic, data-driven systems that determine the financial products offered to new customers. This is a unique chance to define the future of adaptive credit systems, driving smarter, faster and more relevant lending decisions using real-time data and experimentation.

The Principal Engineer will work closely with senior leadership across engineering, data, product and design. You'll also mentor engineers, steer long-term vision and ensure delivery aligns with key business outcomes.

What Makes This Role Stand Out?

• Strategic Impact: You'll lead the architectural vision and execution of systems at the heart of a high-growth fintech.
• Technical Ownership: Full responsibility for evolving and scaling a domain-critical platform.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with experienced teams across disciplines to shape solutions from the ground up.
• Mission-Driven Environment: Work for a business that's empowering small businesses and making finance more accessible.

What We're Looking For:

• Strong experience in systems architecture and software development (object-oriented languages).
• Proven ability to deliver large-scale technical projects in fast-paced environments.
• A business-oriented mindset: you can translate complex problems into scalable, value-driven solutions.
• A collaborative leader who has mentored teams and influenced product direction.
• Experience working with complex domain models and evolving codebases.

Bonus skills include: Python, Django, PostgreSQL, event-driven data systems, machine learning familiarity and frontend awareness.

If you're a Principal Engineer looking to combine hands-on technical leadership with real strategic influence in a product-led fintech then please reply with your CV or call Simon for a chat.

Principal Engineer - Lead Tech Strategy for a Profitable FinTech Scale-Up

Hybrid (London) or remote within the UK
Up to £140,000 per annum plus stock options

Python | Django | FastAPI | AWS | Rust | Postgres | Event-Driven Architecture | Machine Learning

Burns Sheehan Ltd will consider applications based only on skills and ability and will not discriminate on any grounds.