Principal Engineering Lead: AI-Driven Tech Leadership

Falconsmartit; Greater London; On-site; GBP 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

FalconSmartIT London, United Kingdom seeks a Principal Engineering Lead to drive engineering excellence and set the technical direction across multiple teams. You will lead architecture, SDLC, and quality standards while mentoring engineers and shaping AI‑enabled practices to improve productivity and cost efficiency.

The role requires extensive hands‑on software engineering and solution architecture experience, with strong leadership and stakeholder management across Product, Architecture, and

Qualifications

• Extensive hands‑on experience in software engineering and solution architecture.
• Experience delivering cloud‑native solutions, preferably using Microsoft Azure.
• At least four years of leadership and people management experience.
• Experience establishing or leading a Centre of Excellence, Community of Practice, or similar capability function.

Responsibilities

• Drive Engineering Excellence and Technical Leadership across the organisation.
• Shape solutions early to maximise business value and align with strategy.
• Lead people development and capability growth across teams.
• Promote AI‑Native Engineering and continuous improvement.
• Define and refine the engineering operating model, SDLC and quality standards.
• Influence stakeholders and communicate technical decisions clearly.

Skills

Technical leadership

Architecture

System design

Stakeholder management

Communication

People leadership

Coaching & mentoring

Analytical mindset

Business value focus

Cost efficiency

AI-enabled practices

Tools

Azure

Job description

FalconSmartIT London, United Kingdom seeks a Principal Engineering Lead to drive engineering excellence and set the technical direction across multiple teams. You will lead architecture, SDLC, and quality standards while mentoring engineers and shaping AI‑enabled practices to improve productivity and cost efficiency.

The role requires extensive hands‑on software engineering and solution architecture experience, with strong leadership and stakeholder management across Product, Architecture, and