Principle Software Engineer

Francisco Partners; Belfast City District; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Black Duck Software, Inc. is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead identity, authentication, authorization, and access management platforms at scale.

You will drive architecture, design, and secure evolution of critical services supporting customers and internal teams. You will mentor engineers, set engineering standards, and influence cross‑functional direction while delivering reliable, high‑performing SaaS solutions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience with architecture and technical leadership.
• Extensive IAM/CIAM design, implementation, and operation experience.
• Hands-on experience with IAM platforms such as Auth0, Okta, Azure AD, or Ping Identity.
• Solid understanding of OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, MFA, federation, and token-based security.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture, design, and evolution of enterprise-scale identity and access management solutions.
• Serve as technical authority for authentication, authorization, federation, and identity lifecycle management.
• Design and implement secure, scalable systems supporting multiple products and teams.
• Provide engineering guidance across cross-functional initiatives.
• Drive engineering excellence through reviews, mentoring, and best practices.
• Partner with engineering, product, security, and operations to deliver secure, reliable services.
• Lead investigations, evaluate emerging tech, and align solutions with business goals.
• Improve platform observability, performance, and operational efficiency.
• Influence long-term technology strategy and roadmap.
• Mentor engineers and technical leaders.
• Promote AI-assisted development tools and modern software engineering practices.
• Advance AI maturity by applying responsible AI to improve productivity and quality.

Skills

Architectural leadership

Security engineering

Cross-team collaboration

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience

Tools

Auth0

Okta

Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD)

Ping Identity

OAuth 2.0

OIDC

SAML

MFA

Job description

Black Duck Software, Inc. helps organizations build secure, high-quality software, minimizing risks while maximizing speed and productivity. Black Duck, a recognized pioneer in application security, provides SAST, SCA, and DAST solutions that enable teams to quickly find and fix vulnerabilities and defects in proprietary code, open source components, and application behavior. With a combination of industry-leading tools, services, and expertise, only Black Duck helps organizations maximize security and quality in DevSecOps and throughout the software development life cycle.

Black Duck is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to serve as a technical leader for the company's identity, authentication, authorization, and access management platforms. This role will drive the architecture, design, implementation, security, scalability, and operational excellence of critical identity services that support customers, partners, and internal engineering teams.

The successful candidate will combine deep expertise in modern identity technologies with strong software engineering and architectural leadership skills. They will influence technical direction across multiple teams, establish engineering standards, mentor engineers, and help shape the future of secure, scalable SaaS platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture, design, and evolution of enterprise-scale identity and access management solutions.
• Serve as the organization's technical authority for authentication, authorization, federation, and identity lifecycle management.
• Design and implement secure, scalable, and resilient software systems that support multiple products and engineering teams.
• Provide technical leadership and architectural guidance across cross-functional initiatives.
• Drive engineering excellence through software design reviews, code reviews, mentoring, and the establishment of engineering best practices.
• Partner with engineering, product, security, and operations teams to deliver secure, reliable, and highly available services.
• Lead technical investigations, evaluate emerging technologies, and recommend solutions aligned with business and engineering objectives.
• Improve platform observability, maintainability, performance, and operational efficiency.
• Influence long-term technology strategy and help shape the engineering roadmap.
• Mentor engineers and technical leaders across the organization.
• Promote effective adoption of AI-assisted development tools and modern software engineering practices throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Help advance the organization's AI maturity by identifying opportunities to improve engineering productivity, software quality, and delivery outcomes through responsible use of AI technologies.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including architecture and technical leadership responsibilities.
• Extensive experience designing, implementing, and operating Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) solutions.
• Deep hands-on experience with modern identity platforms such as Auth0, Okta, Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), Ping Identity, or similar technologies.
• Expert understanding of OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect (OIDC), SAML, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), federation, token-based security, and modern authentication patterns.
• Experience building and operating identity solutions at scale for customer-facing SaaS applications.
• Strong experience designing and building distributed systems, APIs, and cloud-native applications.
• Deep understanding of software architecture, security principles, and modern engineering practices.
• Experience leading technical initiatives that span multiple teams and organizations.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence technical direction and build alignment across diverse stakeholders.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted software development tools and a solid understanding of how AI can improve engineering effectiveness throughout the software development lifecycle.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading identity platform migrations, consolidations, or modernization initiatives.
• Experience designing Zero Trust, Single Sign-On (SSO), and enterprise federation architectures.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure, containerized environments, and modern SaaS platforms.
• Experience operating in highly regulated or security-focused environments.
• Experience with security, privacy, compliance, or audit requirements for enterprise software systems.
• Experience evaluating, implementing, or promoting AI-enabled development tools and engineering workflows.

What Success Looks Like

• Serves as the organization's recognized expert for identity architecture and authentication technologies.
• Establishes scalable, secure, and reliable identity services that support current and future business needs.
• Influences technical direction and engineering standards across multiple teams.
• Raises engineering quality, security, and operational maturity throughout the organization.
• Successfully advances adoption of modern engineering practices, including effective use of AI to improve developer productivity and software quality.
• Delivers long-term architectural improvements while remaining actively engaged in hands-on technical leadership.

Black Duck is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, age, disability, sexual orientation, veteran or military service status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Black Duck complies with all applicable laws prohibiting employment discrimination in every jurisdiction where it operates and provides reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law.