Principal Engineer

Work180; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Aristocrat is seeking a Principal Engineer to shape the architecture of our next‑generation gaming platform across Windows and Linux, delivering high‑performance, secure, scalable systems.

You will mentor engineers, set architectural direction, and drive standards spanning graphics, networking, encryption, hardware integration, and AI-enabled tooling. This role places you at the intersection of platform engineering and strategic leadership.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Technical expert in C# and the .NET ecosystem.
• 10+ years of commercial software engineering experience, including large-scale libraries/frameworks/platforms.
• Ability to design and architect initiatives independently.
• Deep expertise in multi-threading, eventing, IPC, concurrency, performance tuning, and memory management.
• Proven experience leading technical implementation across teams.
• Strong understanding of secure system design, networking, encryption, and hardware/software integration.
• Experience leading cross-team technical initiatives and influencing engineering standards.
• Mentored senior engineers and elevated technical capability.
• Experience with AI-assisted development tools to improve efficiency and quality.
• Promotes responsible AI adoption in engineering workflows.
• Casino gaming or related proven experience.
• Windows or Linux embedded OS experience; cross-platform development.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of complex, high-performance platform features.
• Provide technical leadership across multiple teams, ensuring alignment to architectural standards.
• Drive engineering excellence through code reviews, mentoring, and setting quality standards.
• Work across graphics systems, networking, encryption, hardware integration, drivers, tools, and SDK standards.
• Evaluate and introduce new technologies, tools, and process improvements to boost scalability and developer productivity.
• Identify and mitigate technical risk across initiatives.
• Analyze and debug issues.
• Champion AI tools to accelerate coding and testing and AI-assisted code contributions guidelines.

Skills

C#

.NET ecosystem

Multi-threading

Architecture

Mentoring

AI tooling

Security

Windows/Linux

Distributed systems

Performance tuning

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Tools

Git

CI/CD

Azure

Job description

Behind every great player experience is an extraordinary platform.

At Aristocrat, we create the technology that powers some of the world's most recognized gaming experiences. Our platforms run in highly demanding environments where performance, reliability, security, and innovation are not optional. They are essential.

We're looking for a lead engineer who wants to solve complex technical challenges at scale and help build the future of our next-generation gaming platform.

This is not a role for someone who simply wants to write code.

This is for an engineer who sees architecture as a strategic advantage, who enjoys solving problems others consider impossible, and who is energized by influencing technical direction across multiple teams and products.

You'll work at the intersection of platform engineering, architecture, systems design, and technical leadership, helping build the core technology that supports our global gaming ecosystem.

Why This Role Matters

As a Principal Engineer, you'll help define the technical foundation that allows our products and teams to move faster, operate more reliably, and innovate with confidence.

You'll partner with architects, engineering leaders, and product teams to design and deliver platform capabilities that impact multiple products and engineering organizations.

From graphics systems and hardware integration to networking, security, performance optimization, and platform frameworks, you'll be solving some of the most technically demanding challenges in the industry.

Your influence will extend well beyond your own code.

You'll mentor senior engineers, elevate engineering practices, shape architectural decisions, and help establish the standards that drive technical excellence across the organization.

What You'll Do

• Lead the design and implementation of complex, high-performance, highly reliable platform features.
• Provide technical leadership across multiple teams, ensuring alignment to architectural standards and established guidelines.
• Drive engineering excellence through code reviews, mentoring, and raising quality standards across the organization.
• Work across a broad range of technologies including graphics systems, networking and protocols, encryption and security, hardware integration, drivers, tools, and SDK standards.
• Evaluate and introduce new technologies, tools, practices, and process improvements to improve scalability, reliability, and developer productivity and efficiency.
• Identify and mitigate technical risk across initiatives.
• Analyze and debug issues.
• Champion utilization of AI tools (e.g., code assistants, code search, test generators, doc summarizers, static analyzers with AI) to accelerate building, coding, testing, and fixing issues.
• Establish guidelines/guardrails for AI-assisted code contributions (prompt patterns, review standards, security/compliance).
• Use AI to mine logs, triage incidents, and propose fixes; generate/maintain architecture docs and ADRs.
• Evaluate and integrate AI-enabled tooling into the SDLC.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Technical expert in C# and the .NET ecosystem.
• 10+ years of commercial software engineering experience, including significant experience designing and delivering large-scale libraries, frameworks, platforms, and/or multi-threaded applications.
• Demonstrated ability to design and architect new initiatives independently.
• Deep expertise in multi-threading, eventing, inter-process communication, concurrency, performance tuning, and memory management.
• Demonstrated proficiency in object-oriented building, architectural patterns, and principles passionate about business logic and structure.
• Proven experience leading technical implementation across teams.
• Strong understanding of secure system design, networking, encryption, and hardware/software integration.
• Experience leading cross-team technical initiatives and influencing engineering standards across an organization.
• Exceptional analytical, debugging, and root-cause analysis skills.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor senior engineers and elevate interpersonal technical capability.
• Demonstrated ability to investigate and evaluate new technologies based on both technical and business needs.
• Track record of promoting a culture of quality, accountability, and technical integrity.
• Strong communication and presence - able to influence without formal authority.
• Experience with continuous integration and automated testing practices.
• Demonstrated ability to bring to bear AI-assisted development tools to improve efficiency and quality.
• Promotes responsible and effective adoption of AI technologies within engineering workflows.
• Casino gaming or related proven experience.
• Windows or Linux embedded OS experience; cross-platform (Windows/Linux) development.

Compensation Philosophy

We offer a comprehensive pay and benefits package designed to stay competitive in the market, support your wellbeing, and recognise your contribution to our success. Our approach is underpinned by a pay-for-performance belief in rewarding individual impact. Your specific compensation package will be determined by factors such as your skills, experience, qualifications, and location.

Depending on your role and location, you may be eligible for annual bonuses and incentives, health and wellbeing benefits, paid time off, retirement plans, insurance coverage, and other local or statutory benefits.

Specific details about compensation and benefits for this position will be discussed during the recruitment process.