Principal Engineer

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) & payment product experience who can contribute to real-time architectural decision making leading vision & strategy across Faster Payments, Real‑Time Payments, Card payments, BACS, mobile wallets and APIs.

Our client is paying a basic salary up to £110,000 (circa) + 25% bonus + benefits to be based in Chatham (Kent) onsite 2 days per week.

Our client is seeking experienced Principal Engineer with recent retail / digital banking experience who is happy to be hands on (80%) and 20% 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 like Apache Kafka, Snowflake, or Databricks.
• Monitoring and Performance Tuning:
  Implement advanced monitoring and observability solutions using tools like 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 either Faster Payments, Real‑Time Payments, Card payments, BACS, mobile wallets and APIs is a must have.
• Experience leading upon architectural challenges, system scalability, and guidance of engineering teams is a must.
• A background in Java, C#, Python, or React development with experience providing hands‑on technical leadership is a must.
• 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

£110,000 circa / 25% bonus / 28 days holiday / Holiday Purchase Scheme / Occasional travel / Health Insurance / 13% pension / plus much more.