Principal Software Engineer

Alpha UK; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

4x Life Insurance

Pension Scheme - 5% employer

Private Healthcare

25 days annual leave

LinkedIn Learning

Gratitudes rewards

Job summary

Corpay is hiring a Principal Software Engineer in London to provide hands-on technical leadership across the Client Lifecycle domain, shaping the design, evolution and operation of KYC, onboarding, accounts, and data systems.

You will define pragmatic engineering standards, lead cloud-native architectures, and remain hands-on to unblock teams, while mentoring engineers and ensuring cross-team architectural quality across regulated financial services.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Finance or related field or equivalent experience.
• Strong distributed-systems and AWS expertise.
• Hands-on with relational and NoSQL data, SQL and data platforms.
• Expert-level design of distributed systems, microservices and event-driven architectures.
• Experience with AWS, serverless, IaC and modern backend tech like C#/.NET.

Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on technical leadership across Client Lifecycle systems.
• Define engineering principles and patterns for scalable, secure solutions.
• Lead design of distributed, cloud-native systems and trade-offs for reliability and latency.
• Translate regulatory needs into target architectures and delivery plans.
• Mentor engineers and guide cross-team technical quality and review practices.
• Investigate production issues and drive durable improvements.
• Communicate strategy and risk to senior stakeholders.

Skills

Technical leadership

Distributed systems

AWS expertise

Data fluency

SQL querying

Mentoring engineers

Communication to stakeholders

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering/Finance or related

Tools

C#

.NET

Kubernetes

Terraform/IaC

Databricks

Salesforce

DynamoDB

Tableau

Event streaming (Kafka/RabbitMQ)

Job description

Your role

Principal Software Engineer

What you'll be doing

• Provide hands‑on technical leadership across the Client Lifecycle vertical, setting direction for the design, evolution and operation of systems supporting KYC, onboarding, accounts, operations and data.
• Define and champion pragmatic engineering principles, architectural standards and reusable patterns that enable teams to deliver consistent, secure and scalable solutions.
• Lead the design of distributed, event‑driven and cloud‑native systems, making clear trade‑offs around consistency, resilience, scalability, security, latency and operational supportability.
• Work with Technical Architects and engineering teams to translate strategic and regulatory requirements into practical target architectures, solution designs and incremental delivery plans.
• Remain hands‑on: prototype complex solutions, contribute production‑quality code where it adds the most value, and unblock teams working through difficult technical problems.
• Own the technical quality of cross‑team initiatives, including architecture reviews, design assurance, production readiness and the identification of technical risks or dependencies.
• Use deep data knowledge to guide data modelling, access patterns, data quality, lineage, retention and performance considerations across operational and analytical use cases.
• Analyse and query data across relevant platforms to investigate problems, validate assumptions and support decision‑making, using SQL and appropriate query models for technologies such as Databricks, Salesforce, DynamoDB and reporting or warehouse platforms.
• Work with data and platform specialists to ensure data pipelines, warehouses and integrations are reliable, observable, governed and fit for the needs of the wider vertical.
• Champion AWS‑native design and operational practices, including secure and resilient use of serverless, messaging, storage, compute, identity, observability and infrastructure‑as‑code capabilities.
• Guide teams in building secure APIs, backend services and integrations that meet the needs of business‑critical financial services and regulated customer journeys.
• Review code, designs and technical proposals; provide constructive challenge and coaching that raises engineering quality without becoming a delivery bottleneck.
• Mentor engineers and technical leaders, creating clarity on good engineering practice and helping build stronger technical judgement throughout the group.
• Investigate complex production issues and systemic performance or reliability concerns, driving root‑cause analysis and durable improvements.
• Communicate technical strategy, risks, trade‑offs and progress clearly to technical and non‑technical stakeholders, including senior leadership.

What We Need

Corpay is currently looking to hire a Principal Software Engineer within our Alpha division. This position falls under our Corporate Payments line of business and is located in London, United Kingdom.

You will operate as a senior individual contributor and trusted technical leader, reporting directly to the Director of Engineering for Client Lifecycle. This is not a people‑management position.

You will work across multiple teams rather than being assigned to a single delivery team, partnering closely with Engineering Managers, Technical Architects, Product Managers and engineers to turn complex business and regulatory needs into clear, scalable technical solutions.

At Corpay, we value engineers who are curious, collaborative and pragmatic. You will set a high technical bar while staying close to delivery, helping teams make sound trade‑offs and building reliable, secure systems that can evolve with the business.

How We Work

As a Principal Software Engineer, Corpay will set you up for success by providing:

• Assigned workspace in our London office
• Company‑issued equipment
• Formal, hands‑on training

Benefits & Perks

• 4x Life Insurance
• Pension Scheme - 5% employer contribution
• Private Healthcare
• 25 days annual leave, with Holiday Buy/Sell options
• Access to LinkedIn Learning
• Free rewards and discounts via Gratitudes

Qualifications & Skills

Minimum of 7 years of professional software engineering experience, including a proven record of operating as a senior technical leader across complex, business‑critical systems. Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Finance or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

The role requires strong distributed‑systems and AWS expertise, together with exceptional data fluency. You will be comfortable working deeply with relational and non‑relational data, SQL and other query models, and the data platforms and pipelines that underpin operational and customer‑facing services. This is not a Data Engineer role; however, you will need the judgement and practical experience to guide data‑related design, investigate complex issues and support teams where data is central to the solution.

Expert‑level experience designing and evolving distributed systems, microservices and event‑driven architectures in production environments. Strong hands‑on experience with AWS and cloud‑native architectures, including serverless services and infrastructure as code. Practical experience with AWS CloudFormation is highly desirable. Strong experience building backend applications and services using C# and modern .NET, with the ability to make sound technology choices where the estate requires other tools.

Strong knowledge of asynchronous messaging and event streaming, including technologies such as Amazon EventBridge, Amazon SQS/SNS, Kafka, RabbitMQ or equivalent. Exceptional understanding of data: relational and NoSQL databases, data modelling, SQL, query optimisation, indexing, transactional considerations and data‑access patterns. Practical experience querying or working with data platforms and tools such as Databricks, Salesforce SOQL, DynamoDB, Tableau, data pipelines, data warehouses or equivalent technologies.

The ability to distinguish between operational and analytical data needs and to make appropriate design decisions in partnership with data specialists. Experience designing reusable APIs, services and integrations, with a strong focus on secure development, observability, resilience and maintainability. Strong understanding of cloud security, application security and risk‑aware design within a regulated environment.

Excellent analytical and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to simplify ambiguity, identify the important trade‑offs and move teams toward a pragmatic decision. Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to influence senior stakeholders and explain complex technical concepts clearly. Demonstrated experience mentoring engineers and raising technical standards across more than one team. Experience in financial services, payments, banking, private markets or another regulated industry. Experience with KYC, customer onboarding, account lifecycle management, CRM, operations or compliance‑led workflows. Experience with Salesforce platforms and integrations. Experience with distributed caching, such as Redis, and performance tuning of high‑volume services. Experience with Kubernetes, CI/CD practices and modern software delivery tooling.

About Corpay

Corpay is a global technology organization that is leading the future of commercial payments with a culture of innovation that drives us to constantly create new and better ways to pay. Our specialized payment solutions help businesses control, simplify, and secure payment for fuel, general payables, toll and lodging expenses. Millions of people in over 80 countries around the world use our solutions for their payments. At Corpay, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful workplace where employees are valued for their diverse perspectives, experiences, and contributions. We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion strengthen our teams, drive innovation, and support our continued success globally.

As part of our hiring process, offers of employment may be subject to the successful completion of pre‑employment screening conducted by an authorized third‑party provider, in accordance with applicable laws and Corpay policies. Screening requirements may include employment references, identity verification, criminal record checks, financial or sanctions screening, and other background checks relevant to the role and permitted by local law.

Notice to Recruitment Agencies and Search Firms: Corpay does not accept unsolicited resumes from agencies or search firms without a valid written agreement in place. Any unsolicited candidate submissions will become the property of Corpay, and no fees will be paid related to such submissions.

Learn more about Corpay: https://www.corpay.com

Equal Opportunity Employer

Corpay is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Corpay is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where individuals are respected and valued for their diverse perspectives, experiences, and contributions.

If you require reasonable accommodation during any part of the application or interview process, please notify a representative of the Human Resources Department.

Use of Artificial Intelligence in Hiring

Corpay may use artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology‑enabled tools to support certain aspects of the recruitment process, such as application screening, candidate assessment, or interview scheduling. These tools are designed to enhance efficiency, consistency, and fairness throughout the hiring process. AI tools do not make final hiring decisions. All employment decisions involve human review. Corpay is committed to the responsible use of AI, including appropriate oversight and safeguards designed to support fair and unbiased outcomes.

Candidate Privacy Notice

For information about how Corpay processes personal information during the recruitment process, please review our Candidate Privacy Notice: https://www.corpay.com/privacy-policy.

Pay Philosophy

Corpay is committed to fair, equitable, and transparent compensation practices. Compensation decisions are based on objective, job‑related factors including skills, experience, qualifications, and market benchmarks. Where required by applicable law, salary or compensation ranges will be included in the job posting or provided prior to the interview process, where required by applicable law. Additional compensation elements such as bonuses, incentives, benefits, or variable pay may apply where applicable. Fast‑growing, global, rewarding, fun, involved – at Corpay, we are all of these and more. If you are an experienced and self‑motivated professional who can perform at a high level, you will be rewarded. If you have great ideas, we want to hear them. If you want your career to grow at the same rapid pace as our organization, this is the place for you. Whatever your area of expertise, you can take it to the next level at Corpay.