Principal Software Engineer (Belfast) – Financial Services Technology

Vantage Point Global; Belfast; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services firm in Belfast is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead a cross-functional team. The role focuses on delivering innovative solutions within an Agile environment, collaborating across regions, and ensuring robust software development practices. Ideal candidates have extensive experience in financial services technology, a strong background in .NET, and cloud-native systems expertise.

Qualifications

• 8+ years’ experience in software engineering roles, ideally in Financial Services Technology.
• Proven track record of leading high-performance teams in Agile environments.
• Strong understanding of the full SDLC, from design to release.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a cross-functional engineering team.
• Collaborate with Solution Architects to ensure alignment with IT vision.
• Drive continuous improvement by evaluating new technologies.

Skills

Software engineering

Agile methodology

.NET Framework and .NET Core (C#)

Cloud-native systems

API design and development

Database design and optimisation

AWS or Azure

Problem-solving

Automated testing

Job description

Principal Software Engineer – Financial Services Technology

Are you a hands‑on engineering leader with a passion for building innovative, business‑critical software? Do you have the technical expertise and leadership skills to deliver scalable, high‑quality solutions in financial services technology? If so, this opportunity could be your next career‑defining move.

About the Role

Our client, a leading global financial services institution, is looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join their Technology division. You’ll lead a high‑performing engineering team responsible for delivering solutions that power both internal broking platforms and external customer‑facing systems. Operating within an Agile environment, you will collaborate across regions, shape engineering standards, and drive continuous improvement—ensuring solutions are robust, scalable, and aligned to the organisation’s long‑term technology strategy.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a cross‑functional engineering team, delivering innovative Front Office solutions for Rates & FX business lines.
• Partner with principal engineers across global regions to set and implement standards for engineering excellence.
• Collaborate with Solution Architects and Enterprise Architecture to ensure solutions align with the organisation’s IT vision and strategy.
• Take ownership of solution design, development, and delivery, ensuring software meets business requirements, adheres to best practices, and is delivered on time.
• Drive continuous improvement by evaluating new technologies and methodologies, ensuring the best approach for each initiative.
• Ensure effective communication of progress, raising risks or impediments early to minimise delivery impact.
• Foster a culture of quality through automation, robust testing frameworks, and strong development practices.

What You’ll Bring

Essential Skills & Experience:

• 8+ years’ experience in software engineering roles, ideally within Financial Services Technology.
• Proven track record of building and leading high‑performance, cross‑functional teams in an Agile environment.
• Strong expertise in .NET Framework and .NET Core (C#).
• Experience designing and developing distributed, event‑driven, cloud‑native systems.
• Proficiency in API design and development (REST, GraphQL).
• Solid background in relational database design and optimisation (MSSQL, MySQL, etc.).
• Hands‑on experience deploying and managing assets in AWS or Azure.
• Strong understanding of the full SDLC, from design to release and post‑implementation support.
• Ability to balance pragmatism and innovation, using POCs to validate approaches and drive solutions forward.
• Exceptional problem‑solving ability with a structured, detail‑oriented mindset.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with experience influencing and collaborating at all levels.
• Proven experience building automated testing solutions for complex systems.

Preferred:

• Proficiency in WPF application development.
• Experience working with financial markets, trading platforms, or FIX protocol.
• Advanced knowledge of AWS services.
• Exposure to Java, JavaScript, or React.
• Familiarity with microservices, serverless architecture, and modern development practices (TDD, BDD).

Vantage Point Global is fully committed to being an Equal Opportunities, inclusive employer. We are passionate about attracting diverse talent, and welcome applications regardless of ethnicity, culture, age, gender, nationality, religion, disability, or sexual orientation.

Things you need to know:

• To apply, you’ll need to provide us with a CV and answer a few initial questions.

• We’d like to make you aware that if you have not heard back from us within three weeks of the date of application that we will not be progressing your application.