Principal Engineer - Java

Principal Engineer (Payments)

Our long‑term trusted partner, a leading financial services corporation, is hiring a Principal Engineer who has strong hands‑on capabilities in Java (17/21) and payment product experience. The role involves contributing to real‑time architectural decision making and leading the vision and strategy across Faster Payments, Real‑Time Payments, Card payments, BACS, mobile wallets and APIs.

Compensation includes a basic salary of up to £110,000 (circa) plus a 25% bonus and benefits. The position is based in London, Chatham (Kent) or Wolverhampton with onsite work 2 days per week. We seek an experienced Principal Engineer with recent retail/digital banking experience who is happy to be hands‑on (80%) and take 20% of time on architectural leadership by leading through example.

• Lead the development and implementation of a modern cloud foundation and data platform that is robust, scalable, fully automated, secure, and can support the growth of the business.
• Build scalable architectures: leverage modern technologies to design and implement scalable, secure, and high‑performing cloud‑native solutions.
• API Development and Integration: design and build secure RESTful and GraphQL APIs, ensuring seamless integration with core banking systems (e.g., Mambu) and external services like Open Banking platforms.
• Data Engineering and Analytics: work closely with data teams to define robust data pipelines and scalable cloud‑based data platforms using tools such as Apache Kafka, Snowflake, or Databricks.
• Monitoring and Performance Tuning: implement advanced monitoring and observability solutions using tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, or Datadog to proactively identify and resolve performance bottlenecks.
• Code and System Optimisation: proactively analyse and optimise existing systems for improved performance, scalability, and maintainability.

• Strong experience building and scaling banking payment systems including Faster Payments, Real‑Time Payments, Card payments, BACS, mobile wallets and APIs.
• Experience leading on architectural challenges, system scalability, and guidance of engineering teams.
• Background in Java, C#, Python, or React development with hands‑on technical leadership.
• Strong background in core banking systems/platforms (Mambu), cloud‑native architectures, microservices and Dev Ops practices.
• Solid understanding of regulatory, risk and compliance requirements (e.g. PSD2, PCI DSS, GDPR).
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure or GCP) and modern data platforms.

Basic salary up to £110,000 (circa) + 25% bonus + 28 days holiday + holiday purchase scheme + occasional travel + health insurance + 13% pension + additional perks.