Principal Software Engineer (Java, AWS)

The Very Group; Liverpool; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent UK retail company is looking for a Principal Software Engineer to design, build, and run front-end and/or back-end solutions. You will lead the full software development life cycle, mentor team members, and ensure high-quality coding practices. The role offers a flexible, hybrid working model and fosters an inclusive culture.

Benefits

Flexible, hybrid working model

Inclusive culture and environment

Qualifications

• Significant experience in building, integrating, and managing complex software architectures.
• Ability to guide less experienced Software Engineers.
• Strong focus on security, reliability, and scalability in software applications.

Responsibilities

• Lead full Software Development Life Cycle processes within your squad.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design and deliver systems.
• Mentor and support team members to improve their skills.

Skills

Java

Spring

AWS components

GitLab CI

Code quality

Collaboration

Education

Computer Science degree or relevant experience

Job description

Overview

We are The Very Group, and we help families on a budget get more out of life. This role is for a Principal Software Engineer responsible for designing, building and running front-end and/or back-end software solutions in an agile delivery squad. It is a hands-on role where you will design, implement and run the products and services your squad is responsible for, and help shape engineering best practices.

Responsibilities

• Full Software Development Life Cycle, including coding practices, frameworks, tech debt and operations for all engineering activities within your squad.
• Collaborate with Engineers in your Squad/Tribe, Business Analysts, Product Owners and Architects to envision, design and deliver industry leading systems.
• Identify, build, acquire, and enhance Software Engineering standards and tools; influence Leads, Architects and other Engineers to agree and adopt.
• Design and build software that balances commercial needs with delivering the future tech roadmap.
• Lead and actively participate in application and database design, data flows and detailed technical design, ensuring analysis considers technical and business impact.
• Own code quality and drive this behaviour within your team.
• Own non-functional requirements around performance, security and scalability to deliver a great customer experience; drive best practices around real-time logging, monitoring and alerting.
• Proactively improve CI and deployment processes within the squad.
• Identify obstacles, risks and issues that may impact the technical product and work with stakeholders to mitigate them.
• Adhere to policies and standards that impact solutions.
• Provide Run support for technical products within the squad.
• Mentor and support other team members to help them improve their skills.
• Champion the squad’s engineering successes and best practices internally and externally.
• Stay informed about the external technology landscape and leverage this knowledge to enhance software engineering in your squad, Tribe, and across The Very Group.
• Maintain significant experience in building, integrating, maintaining and managing complex software architectures, ideally across multi-cloud environments.

Qualifications

• Significant experience of Java, Spring, AWS components, and pipeline technologies (e.g., GitLab CI).
• Demonstrable experience in supporting and guiding less experienced Software Engineers.
• Passion for code quality, testing and other engineering best practices.
• Experience building software applications with security, reliability, scalability, high availability and concurrency built-in from the outset.
• A strong collaborator and communicator.
• Computer Science degree or relevant experience.
• Hands-on software engineering experience is essential.
• Ability to share stories internally and externally to build The Very Group brand and credibility to attract and retain talent.
• Continual interest in the Technology and Engineering landscapes internally and externally.

Benefits

• Flexible, hybrid working model
• Inclusive culture and environment