Principal Software Engineer (Data Platforms)

KDR Talent Solutions UK; Oxford (OH); Hybrid; USD 148,049 - 201,885; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Annual bonus

Benefits package

Hybrid work (Oxford)

Job summary

KDR Talent Solutions UK is partnering with a fast-scaling tech business to hire a Principal Software Engineer for its new Data Platforms function. This hybrid role is based in Oxford and focuses on building cloud-native platforms that power analytics, AI and next‑gen products at scale.

You’ll lead hands-on engineering while mentoring a growing team, set engineering standards, and shape the long‑term platform strategy.

Qualifications

• 8+ years building large-scale backend systems.
• Strong Python development experience.
• Experience leading and mentoring software teams.
• Knowledge of distributed systems and scalable architectures.

Responsibilities

• Design and build cloud-native data platforms for analytics and AI.
• Provide technical leadership, establish engineering standards.
• Mentor and grow a high-performing engineering team.
• Shape long-term platform strategy and architecture.

Skills

Python

Distributed systems

Engineering leadership

Mentoring

Platform engineering

Tools

Terraform

AWS

Job description

Principal Software Engineer (Data Platforms) | High-Growth software environment | Hybrid (Oxford) | Competitive Salary + Bonus + Benefits

The Company

Our client is a rapidly scaling technology business where data sits at the heart of everything they build. They're investing heavily in a brand-new Data Platforms function responsible for building the infrastructure that powers analytics, AI and next-generation software products.

Operating at significant scale, they process and manage hundreds of terabytes of data today, with the platform growing towards petabyte scale. This is an opportunity to solve genuinely difficult engineering problems where performance, reliability and scalability are critical.

Why this role stands out:

• Join as a founding engineer within a brand-new Data Platforms team
• Build highly scalable systems capable of supporting 100TB-1PB of data
• Shape the architecture, tooling and engineering culture from day one
• Work on complex distributed systems and platform engineering challenges
• Hybrid working from Oxford with excellent benefits and long-term progression

The Role

This is a builder's role through and through.

As Principal Software Engineer, you'll play a key role in designing and building the core platforms that enable engineers, analysts and product teams to work with massive volumes of data efficiently and reliably. You'll remain hands-on while providing technical leadership, helping define engineering standards, mentoring a growing team and influencing the long-term technical direction of the platform.

If you enjoy solving problems around scale, performance and distributed systems, this is the kind of environment where you'll thrive.

What You'll Be Building

• Cloud-native platforms designed to process and serve data at massive scale
• High-performance backend systems that prioritise reliability and availability
• Internal tooling that enables engineering teams to move faster and build with confidence
• Modern engineering practices centred around automation, testing and continuous delivery
• A high-performing engineering culture built on collaboration, ownership and technical excellence
• The foundations for future AI, analytics and large-scale data capabilities

Your Experience

We're looking for an experienced software engineer who enjoys building platforms from first principles and has a passion for solving complex engineering challenges.

Essential Experience

• 8 + years building large-scale backend software systems
• Strong commercial experience with Python
• Experience leading and mentoring software engineering teams
• Strong understanding of distributed systems and scalable platform architecture
• Passion for software quality, automation and engineering best practices
• Track record of delivering complex systems from concept through to production

Nice to Have

• Experience building modern data or developer platforms
• Exposure to distributed compute, scheduling, streaming or storage technologies
• Infrastructure as Code using Terraform
• Experience with cloud-native architectures, ideally AWS
• Interest in modern AI-assisted software development practices

Why Join?

• Competitive salary, annual bonus and comprehensive benefits package
• Opportunity to shape a brand-new platform engineering function
• Work on engineering challenges involving hundreds of terabytes to petabytes of data
• Collaborative, low-ego engineering culture with genuine technical ownership
• Hybrid working model based in Oxford with flexibility
• Clear opportunity to influence architecture, engineering standards and long-term platform strategy