Principal Software Engineer

PEXA Group; Thame; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Wellness days

Health flex pot

PEXA Academy and LinkedIn Learning

Paid study leave (up to 5 days)

Equity plan (PEXA OwnIt)

Volunteer Day

Employee referral bonus

Perkbox discounts

Hybrid/remote work flexibility

Job summary

PEXA is expanding in the UK and seeking an experienced technologist to lead technical strategy and architecture across multiple teams. You will drive architectural decisions balancing business priorities, scalability, security and long-term sustainability, while championing engineering excellence and AI-enabled workflows.

You will mentor engineers, collaborate with Product and Business leaders, and influence executive-level discussions with clear technical insight.

Qualifications

• Significant experience designing and delivering large-scale distributed systems.
• Track record of defining technical strategy and driving engineering outcomes across an organisation.
• Strong experience working across multiple teams, platforms and stakeholders.
• Balance technical excellence with commercial priorities.
• Exceptional communication skills and the ability to influence at all levels of the organisation.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute engineering strategy across multiple teams and domains.
• Drive architectural decisions balancing business priorities, scalability, security and long-term sustainability.
• Design solutions to support future growth and evolving customer needs.
• Identify and address technical risks across the organisation.
• Establish and evolve engineering standards, best practices and quality frameworks.
• Drive improvements in performance, reliability, security and developer productivity.
• Champion modern software engineering principles and continuous improvement.
• Support evolution of platform, infrastructure and service architecture.
• Lead evaluation and adoption of emerging technologies and AI capabilities.
• Drive integration of AI tools and practices that enhance engineering effectiveness.
• Explore and implement AI-powered development workflows and agentic systems.
• Help shape PEXA's approach to AI innovation and adoption.
• Mentor and coach engineers across levels; foster culture of technical excellence and learning.
• Lead technical discussions and knowledge-sharing initiatives; participate in hiring and assessments.
• Partner with Product, Design and Business to align technical strategy with goals; translate business objectives into roadmaps and outcomes.
• Influence executive decisions with clear technical insight; represent PEXA externally.

Skills

Exceptionally strong communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic thinking

Tools

Node.js

Python

Kotlin

AWS

Azure

Microservices

Containerisation

Security architecture

Performance & reliability engineering

GitHub Copilot

Job description

Hi, we’re PEXA!

We know you’ll Google us before applying, so let’s keep this brief. PEXA revolutionised the way that property is settled in Australia, turning a paper-based process into a digital one. Our solution is a world-first, with over 500 people across Australia and an expanding international team, we’re helping 20,000+ families into their homes each week.

We’re passionate about solving problems for our customers – always striving to set the standard for how property is bought and sold. Being awarded as one of the best places to work in Australia is a recognition of our culture and commitment to innovation, customers and our community.

We’re growing fast, that is where you come in.

We believe our success in Australia is worth sharing and that our proven technology will advance how the UK buys and sells homes.

Establishing ourselves within the UK in late 2020, we are committed to collaborating with lawyers, conveyancers, lenders, government and the property industry, to set the new standard for both remortgages and buying and selling property.

What You'll Be Doing

Technical Strategy & Architecture

• Define and execute engineering strategy across multiple teams and domains.
• Drive architectural decisions that balance business priorities, scalability, security and long-term sustainability.
• Design solutions that support future growth and evolving customer needs.
• Identify and address technical risks across the organisation.

Engineering Excellence

• Establish and evolve engineering standards, best practices and quality frameworks.
• Drive improvements in performance, reliability, security and developer productivity.
• Champion modern software engineering principles and continuous improvement.
• Support the evolution of platform, infrastructure and service architecture.

AI & Emerging Technology

• Lead the evaluation and adoption of emerging technologies and AI capabilities.
• Drive the integration of AI tools and practices that enhance engineering effectiveness.
• Explore and implement modern AI-powered development workflows, coding assistants and agentic systems.
• Help shape PEXA's approach to AI innovation and organisational adoption.

Leadership & Mentorship

• Mentor and coach engineers across all levels, from emerging talent to senior technical leaders.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, curiosity and continuous learning.
• Lead technical discussions, knowledge-sharing initiatives and engineering communities of practice.
• Contribute to hiring and technical assessment processes.

Collaboration & Business Impact

• Partner with Product, Design and Business leaders to align technical strategy with organisational goals.
• Translate business objectives into technical roadmaps and engineering outcomes.
• Influence decision-making at executive level through clear communication and technical insight.
• Represent PEXA externally within the technology community and industry forums.

About You

You're a highly experienced technologist who combines deep technical expertise with strategic thinking and business acumen.

You thrive on solving complex problems at scale, influencing engineering direction, and helping others grow.

You'll bring:

• Significant experience designing and delivering large-scale distributed systems.
• A track record of defining technical strategy and driving organisation-wide engineering outcomes.
• Strong experience working across multiple teams, platforms and stakeholders.
• Proven ability to balance technical excellence with commercial priorities.
• Exceptional communication skills and the ability to influence at all levels of the organisation.

Technical Expertise

You'll bring deep expertise across modern software engineering practices and technologies, including:

• Node.js, Python and Kotlin
• Modern frontend technologies
• Cloud platforms such as AWS and Azure
• Microservices and distributed architectures
• Containerisation and cloud-native development
• Security architecture and secure software development practices
• Performance, scalability and reliability engineering

You'll also have a strong interest in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, including:

• AI-assisted software development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cline and Amazon Q
• Agentic AI frameworks and orchestration platforms
• Modern approaches to context engineering and AI-enhanced developer productivity
• Evaluating and adopting emerging AI technologies within engineering organisations

Nice to Have

• Experience within financial services, property technology or other regulated industries.
• Exposure to DevSecOps, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) or Platform Engineering environments.
• Knowledge of AI frameworks and technologies including Anthropic Claude, LangGraph, Hugging Face, LiteLLM or Pydantic AI.

£100,000 - £120,000 a year

Why become a PEXArian?

Great question! Being a PEXArian is so much more than just a job. We’re a passionate, motivated and unashamedly enthusiastic bunch at PEXA – we love what we do and we’re proud to admit it! Creating brilliant experiences for our members and their clients wouldn’t be possible without ensuring we deliver an exceptional employee experience.

Here’s a snapshot of what your life at PEXA could look like:

Your wellbeing:

Enjoy four Wellness Days across the year to rest and recharge, plus 24/7 personal safety, medical and mental health support through Sonder. You’ll also receive an £800 Health Flex Pot to spend on health options, alongside access to a digital GP, mental health and nutrition consultations, and support with eye tests and glasses.

Your growth:

Grow your skills and shape your career through PEXA Academy and LinkedIn Learning. You’ll also have up to five days’ paid study leave each year for relevant courses.

Your rewards:

Our reward and recognition benefits include performance-based incentives, the PEXA OwnIt Equity Plan for eligible employees, PEXA Impact Awards and a £500 employee referral bonus. You’ll also have access to discounts through Perkbox and Get Active.

Your family:

Eligible permanent employees with at least 12 months’ continuous service can receive up to 20 weeks’ paid maternity or adoption leave and up to four weeks’ paid paternity leave, in addition to statutory entitlements. You’ll also have access to support for family and life events, including family grief counselling, discounted legal services and UK-registered veterinary advice.

Your work/life blend:

We know that work is just one aspect of your life – we want to help you create your ideal work/life blend, rather than squeezing in life around work. Our hybrid approach combines regular in-office connection with working from home. You may also be able to work remotely from an approved country for up to two weeks every six months and purchase up to four additional weeks of annual leave each year.

Your opportunity to give back:

Use your paid Volunteer Day to support a cause that matters to you and enjoy events throughout the year that bring PEXArians together to connect and celebrate.

#PEXAUK