’Principal Engineer - Technology Standards & Patterns

Barclays; Glasgow; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Barclays is seeking a Principal Engineer – Technology Standards & Patterns to define and evolve technology standards, reusable patterns and implementation guardrails across PBWM. You will translate strategic direction into practical reference implementations and guardrails adopted across engineering teams.

You will partner with Architecture, Platform Engineering, Security and Risk to ensure practical, scalable and secure patterns, driving simplification and reuse across the technology estate.

Qualifications

• Significant experience operating as a Principal Engineer, Distinguished Engineer, Lead Engineer, Solution Architect or equivalent senior technical leadership role.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems, API-led architectures, event-driven platforms, cloud-native technologies and modern integration patterns.
• Proven experience defining and implementing enterprise-wide technology standards, reusable frameworks, reference architectures or implementation guardrails.
• Strong understanding of integration models, resilience engineering, security controls, identity and access management and operational risk considerations.
• Experience translating strategic architecture direction into practical implementation approaches that can be adopted consistently across engineering teams.
• Demonstrated ability to influence technology direction and standards adoption across multiple teams, platforms and business domains without direct management authority.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, capable of engaging effectively with engineers, architects, technology leaders, risk and business stakeholders.
• Experience operating within large, complex and regulated financial services environments.

Responsibilities

• Define, maintain and evolve technology standards, design patterns and implementation guardrails.
• Establish common integration models, API standards, event-driven patterns and reusable frameworks.
• Drive standardisation to reduce duplication and improve interoperability.
• Create reusable reference implementations, playbooks and blueprints for adoption of standards.
• Partner with engineering teams to ensure standards are practical, scalable and aligned with delivery realities.
• Act as a trusted advisor on technology patterns and architecture across PBWM.
• Contribute to governance forums and ensure standards meet security, resilience and regulatory needs.
• Promote adoption of standards and measure their impact across delivery teams.

Skills

Principal Engineer level

Distributed systems

API-led architectures

Event-driven platforms

Cloud-native technologies

Enterprise standards

Stakeholder management

Financial services experience

Influence without authority

Job description

Purpose of Role:

The Principal Engineer – Technology Standards & Patterns is responsible for defining, evolving and enabling the adoption of technology standards, reusable design patterns and implementation frameworks across PBWM.

The role bridges Architecture and Engineering, translating strategic technology direction into practical, consumable standards, reference implementations and engineering guardrails that can be adopted consistently across business domains, platforms and engineering teams.

Operating across PBWM, the Principal Engineer drives simplification, standardisation and reuse to improve technology consistency, reduce duplication and accelerate adoption of proven implementation approaches. The role focuses on establishing scalable technology foundations and common patterns that enable teams to deliver secure, resilient and maintainable solutions aligned to enterprise technology strategy.

Working closely with Architecture, Engineering Leaders, Platform Engineering, Security and Risk teams, the role acts as a senior technical leader responsible for technology consistency, reusable capabilities and standards adoption across the PBWM technology estate.

Key Accountabilities

Technology Standards & Patterns

• Define, maintain and evolve technology standards, design patterns and implementation guardrails across PBWM.
• Establish common integration models, API standards, event-driven patterns, resilience approaches and reusable implementation frameworks that can be adopted consistently across engineering teams.
• Drive standardisation of common technology approaches to reduce duplication, improve interoperability and simplify solution design.
• Identify opportunities to simplify the technology landscape through consolidation, reuse and adoption of common capabilities.

Architecture Enablement

• Translate architecture principles and strategic technology direction into practical implementation guidance that engineering teams can readily consume and adopt.
• Create reusable reference implementations, implementation playbooks and technology blueprints that accelerate adoption of approved standards and patterns.
• Partner with engineering teams and architects to ensure standards remain practical, scalable and grounded in delivery realities.
• Act as a trusted advisor on technology patterns, design consistency and implementation approaches across PBWM.
• Contribute to the definition, evolution and continuous improvement of Architecture Standards across PBWM, ensuring standards remain practical, scalable and aligned with evolving business and technology needs.
• Champion the adoption of Architecture Standards through reusable patterns, reference implementations, implementation guidance and engagement with engineering teams across PBWM.

Cross-PBWM Technical Leadership

• Act as the senior technical authority for technology standards, reusable patterns and common implementation approaches across PBWM.
• Partner with Architects and Engineering Leaders to align standards with strategic technology objectives and architecture direction.
• Collaborate with Platform Engineering, Security and Risk teams to embed controls, resilience requirements and governance expectations into reusable technology patterns.
• Influence technology decisions across multiple business domains through expertise, collaboration and technical leadership rather than formal authority.

Technology Governance & Assurance

• Promote adoption of approved standards, patterns and reusable implementation models across delivery teams.
• Identify fragmented approaches, duplicated implementations and inconsistent technology decisions, driving opportunities for simplification and alignment.
• Support architecture and engineering governance forums through technical expertise and practical implementation guidance.
• Ensure standards and patterns support security, resilience, scalability and regulatory requirements.

Continuous Evolution

• Continuously assess emerging technologies, industry standards and engineering practices to evolve PBWM technology standards and implementation approaches.
• Drive improvements to reusable capabilities, reference implementations and common technology frameworks.
• Promote a culture of simplification, reuse and standardisation across PBWM.
• Measure adoption of standards, patterns and reusable capabilities, identifying opportunities to increase consistency and reduce technology fragmentation.

Essential Skills / Experience

• Significant experience operating as a Principal Engineer, Distinguished Engineer, Lead Engineer, Solution Architect or equivalent senior technical leadership role.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems, API-led architectures, event-driven platforms, cloud-native technologies and modern integration patterns.
• Proven experience defining and implementing enterprise-wide technology standards, reusable frameworks, reference architectures or implementation guardrails.
• Strong understanding of integration models, resilience engineering, security controls, identity and access management and operational risk considerations.
• Experience translating strategic architecture direction into practical implementation approaches that can be adopted consistently across engineering teams.
• Demonstrated ability to influence technology direction and standards adoption across multiple teams, platforms and business domains without direct management authority.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, capable of engaging effectively with engineers, architects, technology leaders, risk and business stakeholders.
• Experience operating within large, complex and regulated financial services environments.

Passion for technology simplification, reuse, consistency and scalable engineering practices.