Principal Software Engineer: Lead Tech Strategy & Scale

The Very Group; Liverpool; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible, hybrid working model

Inclusive culture and environment

£1,000 flexible benefits allowance

30 days holiday + bank holidays

LinkedIn learning access

Up to 25% discount on Very.co.uk

Matched pension up to 6%

More benefits on career site

Job summary

The Very Group is seeking an experienced Senior/Principal Software Engineer to lead technical direction across squads. You’ll shape what we build and how, collaborating with Product Managers, Architects and Engineers to tackle scalable, cloud-native challenges and deliver impactful customer experiences at scale.

Expect ownership balanced with influence, close coding work, and driving engineering excellence across teams.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building modern software solutions using Java and AWS.
• Track record designing and evolving complex systems at scale.
• Passion for clean code, quality engineering and continuous improvement.
• Experience mentoring engineers and raising technical standards across teams.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to explain complex ideas simply.
• Curiosity for emerging technologies and a desire to continually learn and evolve.

Responsibilities

• Design and build software delivering exceptional experiences for millions of customers.
• Lead technical decision-making within your squad, influencing engineering standards.
• Solve complex architectural challenges balancing today’s needs with tomorrow’s opportunities.
• Drive improvements in software quality, reliability, scalability and security.
• Champion modern engineering practices enabling faster delivery with confidence.
• Collaborate with Product, Architecture and Engineering teams to turn ambitious ideas into products.
• Enhance CI/CD capabilities and foster automation and continuous improvement.
• Coach and mentor engineers, supporting their development and potential.

Skills

Java

AWS

Systems design

Mentoring engineers

Technical leadership

Communication skills

Problem solving

Job description

The Very Group is seeking an experienced Senior/Principal Software Engineer to lead technical direction across squads. You’ll shape what we build and how, collaborating with Product Managers, Architects and Engineers to tackle scalable, cloud-native challenges and deliver impactful customer experiences at scale.

Expect ownership balanced with influence, close coding work, and driving engineering excellence across teams.