Principal Developer

Thoughtworks; Sydney Township (ND); On-site; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Thoughtworks is seeking a Principal Developer to drive technology strategy and hands-on delivery across client programs. You will mentor delivery teams, shape architectures, and partner with senior client executives to translate business goals into technical outcomes.

This role emphasizes trusted advisory, risk management, and value delivery through high-performing teams. You will guide architectural direction, champion best practices such as TDD and CI, and help expand Thoughtworks’ impact

Qualifications

• Experience managing large programs of work.
• Proven ability to lead client engagements.
• Knowledge of delivery approaches like TDD and CI.

Responsibilities

• Champion and adopt best practices like TDD, pair programming and design patterns.
• Exemplify Thoughtworks’ technical excellence, thought leadership and capabilities to clients and inside Thoughtworks.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor to your client by building key relationships and understanding market trends.
• Sense opportunities for improvement and lead systemic change in organizations.
• Assess client needs and develop account strategy and proactive proposals to deliver value.
• Speak to the value of our delivery and how it maps to client vision, goals and initiatives.
• Deliver undeniable value by ensuring high performance of Thoughtworks teams and managing client risk.
• Foster Thoughtworker growth by encouraging feedback and a supportive culture.
• Ensure security, privacy and legal compliance across the account.

Skills

Program management

Account management

Client reporting

Pre-sales

Budgeting

Delivery support

TDD

CI

Pairing

Infrastructure automation

Job description

Principal Developers at Thoughtworks can wear many hats. Depending on the client situation, you could be playing the role of a technical advisor to senior client executives, guide and direct solution architecture for large technical programs of work or drive technical implementation hand-on with our delivery teams.

Principal Developers also provide strategic and tactical leadership on accounts, establishing and maintaining trusted advisor status through high-impact client interactions. By empowering Thoughtworker engagement through cultivating high-performing teams, you will continuously deliver undeniable value to our clients, contributing to the growth and scale of our evolving business. Ultimately, the health of an account is a reflection of the capability and efficiency that you cultivate.

Job responsibilities

• You will champion and adopt best practices like writing clean and reusable code using TDD, pair programming and design patterns.
• You will exemplify Thoughtworks’ technical excellence, thought leadership and capabilities to our clients and inside Thoughtworks.
• You will act as a trusted technical advisor to your client by building key relationships and understanding the market and trends that could impact them.
• You can sense opportunities for improvement and are comfortable proposing and leading systemic change in organizations.
• You will assess client needs and develop the account strategy and proactive proposals needed to deliver value to our client.
• You can speak to the value of our delivery and how it maps to client vision, goals, and initiatives.
• You will continuously deliver undeniable value by ensuring the high performance of Thoughtworks teams on the account and proactively manage risk with the client.
• You will cultivate Thoughtworker growth and development by encouraging feedback and fostering an inclusive, supportive team culture.
• You will ensure security, privacy and legal compliance across the account.

Job qualifications

Technical Skills

• You have a track record of managing the scope and shape of programs of work.
• You have experience with account management, third party contractual agreements, client management & pre-sales, client reporting and up-selling.
• You are comfortable chairing meetings, conducting reports, providing technical sales support and keeping budgets in check.
• You are comfortable helping delivery teams whenever is needed.
• You are knowledge of delivery approaches such as TDD, continuous integration, pairing and infrastructure automation.

Professional Skills

• You have a natural ability to establish and nurture relationships with senior leaders across the organization.
• You have excellent context-switching capabilities.
• You thrive in situations where you are given little to no direction and have the ability to lead, organize and deliver commitments on time and within budget.
• You’re resilient in ambiguous situations and can adapt your role to approach challenges from multiple perspectives. You don’t shy away from risks, instead you take them on and skillfully manage them.
• You’re empathetic and use this ability to build solid working relationships and resolve issues quickly and thoughtfully.

Other things to know

Learning & Development

There is no one-size-fits-all career path at Thoughtworks: however you want to develop your career is entirely up to you. But we also balance autonomy with the strength of our cultivation culture. This means your career is supported by interactive tools, numerous development programs and teammates who want to help you grow. We see value in helping each other be our best and that extends to empowering our employees in their career journeys.

Responsible Use of AI in Recruitment

At Thoughtworks, we use AI tools to support our recruitment team with administrative tasks such as drafting communications, scheduling interviews and writing job descriptions.

Crucially, our AI tools do not screen, assess, rank or make hiring decisions. Every application is reviewed by our team and all selection decisions are made exclusively by our interviewers and hiring managers.

We are committed to fairness and responsible AI. We actively manage our AI systems by testing, monitoring for biased outcomes and implementing mitigation measures. We hold our third-party vendors to these same high standards through a rigorous governance process. For additional information, please see our full Thoughtworks AI Policy for Recruitment.

About Thoughtworks

Thoughtworks is a dynamic and inclusive community of bright and supportive colleagues who are revolutionizing tech. As a leading technology consultancy, we’re pushing boundaries through our purposeful and impactful work. For 30+ years, we’ve delivered extraordinary impact together with our clients by helping them solve complex business problems with technology as the differentiator. Bring your brilliant expertise and commitment for continuous learning to Thoughtworks. Together, let’s be extraordinary.

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See here our AI policy.