Principal Software Engineer

Vanrath; Belfast City District; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Hybrid working Belfast

Extra annual leave

Private medical insurance

Company pension

Life assurance

Autonomy and ownership

Architecture/engineering strategy

Modern software practices

Job summary

Vanrath in Belfast is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to own technical direction while remaining hands-on with development. You will influence architecture, engineering practices, and platform reliability in a growing technology organisation.

You will work with experienced engineers and leadership to shape standards, deliver complex software, and mentor others. This senior role offers autonomy and significant technical influence within a hybrid Belfast environment.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in software engineering with leadership or architectural ownership.
• Hands-on with TDD, DDD and XP practices.
• Experience delivering continuous delivery and trunk-based development.
• Track record building and maintaining complex production systems.
• Knowledge of observability, incident management and reliability.
• Mentoring engineers and influencing standards across teams.

Responsibilities

• Leading architectural decisions and defining technical standards across software systems.
• Designing and developing scalable, reliable and maintainable applications.
• Championing Test-Driven Development (TDD), Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and modern engineering practices.
• Improving CI/CD pipelines, release processes and deployment strategies.
• Working with engineers to improve system performance, reliability and observability.
• Establishing coding standards, testing strategies and approaches to technical debt.
• Supporting the adoption of AI-assisted engineering tools and practices.
• Mentoring senior engineers and contributing to wider technical decisions.
• Collaborating with engineering leadership to improve software delivery across teams.

Skills

Architectural ownership

TDD/DDD/XP

CD/CI

Observability

Mentoring

Leadership

Job description

Principal Software Engineer

Location: Belfast (Hybrid Working)
Salary: Competitive, depending on experience
Employment Type: Permanent, Full-Time

Lead technical decisions. Shape engineering standards. Stay hands-on.

Are you an experienced Software Engineer who enjoys solving complex technical challenges, influencing architecture and helping other engineers do their best work?

An exciting opportunity has become available for a Principal Software Engineer to join a growing technology organisation in Belfast.

This is an opportunity to take genuine ownership of technical direction, influence engineering practices and work on complex, business-critical software systems.

Unlike traditional leadership positions, this role allows you to remain hands-on with development while helping shape how software is designed, built, tested and delivered.

You'll work alongside experienced engineers and technical leadership, playing a key role in architectural decisions, platform reliability and the continued development of engineering teams.

What's on offer?

• Competitive salary, depending on experience

• Flexible hybrid working in Belfast

• Generous annual leave with the option to purchase additional days

• Private medical insurance

• Company pension scheme

• Life assurance

• Significant autonomy and technical ownership

• Opportunities to influence architecture and engineering strategy

• A collaborative environment focused on modern software development practices

What you'll be doing

As a Principal Software Engineer, you'll provide technical leadership across complex software platforms while remaining actively involved in development.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Leading architectural decisions and defining technical standards across software systems

• Designing and developing scalable, reliable and maintainable applications

• Championing Test-Driven Development (TDD), Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and modern engineering practices

• Improving CI/CD pipelines, release processes and deployment strategies

• Working with engineers to improve system performance, reliability and observability

• Establishing coding standards, testing strategies and approaches to technical debt

• Supporting the adoption of AI-assisted engineering tools and practices

• Mentoring senior engineers and contributing to wider technical decisions

• Collaborating with engineering leadership to improve software delivery across teams

What we're looking for

We're interested in speaking with experienced engineers who combine strong technical expertise with the ability to influence architecture, delivery and engineering culture.

Ideally, you'll have:

• Extensive experience in software engineering, including technical leadership or architectural ownership

• Strong hands-on experience with TDD, DDD and Extreme Programming (XP) practices

• Experience with continuous delivery, trunk-based development and automated testing

• A track record of designing and maintaining complex production systems

• Knowledge of observability, incident management and application reliability

• Experience influencing engineering standards across multiple teams or systems

• Familiarity with AI-assisted development and modern software engineering tools

• Strong communication skills and experience mentoring other engineers

Nice to have

Experience in any of the following would be advantageous:

• Developing real-time, distributed or high-availability systems

• Working with data-intensive or transaction-heavy applications

• Designing platforms that support complex business operations

• AI-enabled software delivery and automation

• Working in environments with demanding performance and reliability requirements

Why consider this opportunity?

This position offers the chance to operate at a genuinely senior technical level without stepping away from the development work you enjoy.

You'll have the autonomy to influence major technical decisions, introduce better engineering practices and make a lasting impact on the systems and people around you.

It's an excellent opportunity for an experienced Principal Engineer, Staff Software Engineer or Senior Software Engineer looking to take the next step in their career.