Principal Backend Engineer

£90,000–£110,000 + Bonus & Benefits | Permanent | Hybrid – Central London

We’re looking for a Lead / Principal Backend Engineer for a newly created role combining hands‑on engineering, architecture and technical leadership.

You’ll join a business with a complex technology landscape and a significant programme underway to improve how its core applications and services communicate. The environment spans C# .NET, Python and Azure, and you’ll have considerable freedom to assess what’s there, challenge existing thinking and help shape the right technical approach.

This is a permanent role with a substantial longer‑term technology roadmap behind it.

What you’ll be doing

• Remaining hands‑on with the code while providing technical direction across backend engineering.
• Owning and evolving the architecture connecting core platforms, internal applications and external services.
• Designing and delivering APIs, integrations, messaging and event‑driven solutions.
• Reviewing existing architecture and proposed designs, making pragmatic recommendations and leading them through to delivery.
• Working across C# .NET, Python and Azure, including cloud‑based integration technologies.
• Supporting other engineers and helping improve technical standards, testing, code quality and development practices.
• Using AI‑augmented development practices to improve engineering quality, speed and delivery, with appropriate controls and validation.
• Working closely with technical and business stakeholders to turn complex requirements into effective solutions.

What we’re looking for

You’ll already be operating at Senior, Lead or Principal Engineer level and will have deep hands‑on expertise in C# .NET or Python (ideally both!).

We’re particularly interested in engineers who:

• Are comfortable working beyond their primary language and across a mixed technology environment.
• Have strong backend experience across APIs, integrations and event‑driven architectures.
• Have integrated enterprise platforms, internally developed systems and third‑party applications.
• Understand SQL, data modelling, cloud engineering and modern CI/CD practices.
• Can take a technical problem from investigation and architecture through to hands‑on delivery.
• Make pragmatic technical decisions with scalability and maintainability in mind.
• Communicate well with engineers and non‑technical stakeholders alike.
• Have already embedded AI into their engineering workflow and can demonstrate a thoughtful, responsible approach to its use.

Experience with IaC, Terraform, broader full‑stack technologies or platform/service‑based environments would be useful but isn’t essential.

The role is largely remote with no mandated office days, but the team values face‑to‑face collaboration. We’re therefore looking for someone happy to collaborate in person 1–2 days per week in Central London, when it makes sense to work together.

Package: £90,000–£110,000 + bonus and comprehensive benefits