Principal Software Architect / Engineering Manager
Location: Belfast Hybrid
Contract: Permanent
Package: Competitive with leadership bonus
Reporting to: CTO Head of Engineering
Role Overview
We are hiring a Principal Software Architect / Engineering Manager to lead the modernisation of a complex, business critical technology platform and support the growth of high performing engineering teams.
This role combines architectural ownership with people leadership. You will define long term technical direction, guide teams through legacy transformation, and raise engineering standards across the organisation. You will work closely with senior stakeholders to ensure architecture decisions support both product goals and future scale.
This position is suited to someone who has operated at Principal or Senior Leadership level and enjoys balancing strategic thinking with practical execution.
Key Responsibilities
Architecture and Platform Modernisation
- Define and own the target architecture, leading the transition from legacy systems to modern, cloud native platforms.
- Drive the decomposition of monolithic systems into modular services, APIs, and event driven components.
- Collaborate with frontend and backend leaders to ensure scalability, performance, and consistency across the platform.
- Introduce modern engineering practices and tooling to improve delivery quality, reliability, and developer experience.
Technical Leadership and Platform Ownership
- Provide architectural oversight across multiple teams and applications.
- Lead platform evolution initiatives including cloud migration, containerisation, and CI CD automation.
- Identify and resolve complex technical and performance issues across distributed systems.
- Champion engineering best practice including software craftsmanship, testing strategies, and design patterns.
Engineering Management and Culture
- Lead and mentor engineering managers and senior engineers.
- Support team growth, performance, and long term capability development.
- Establish and run architecture governance through review boards and technical working groups.
- Help build and scale engineering teams across multiple locations including Belfast and international sites.
Delivery and Stakeholder Engagement
- Work closely with product, infrastructure, and senior leadership to define architectural roadmaps.
- Own the delivery of strategic technical initiatives from design through to implementation.
- Communicate architectural decisions clearly to both technical and non technical stakeholders.
- Develop proofs of concept and technical spikes using modern languages and frameworks where required.
Experience and Skills
Essential
- Ten or more years of professional software engineering experience.
- Strong background in .NET and modern cloud based architecture.
- Proven experience leading large scale platform modernisation initiatives.
- Experience operating as a Principal Engineer, Architect, Engineering Manager, or equivalent.
- Strong understanding of distributed systems, APIs, and event driven architectures.
- Experience working with Azure or AWS and container platforms such as Kubernetes.
Technical Stack Exposure
- C# and .NET including legacy and modern frameworks.
- Java and Python for architectural experimentation and prototyping.
- Docker, Kubernetes, and CI CD pipelines.
- SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and performance optimisation techniques.
Leadership Capability
- Experience leading multiple engineering teams or groups.
- Strong mentoring and coaching skills.
- Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly at senior leadership level.
- Track record of building engineering standards, culture, and scalable processes.
Why Join
- Opportunity to lead a major platform transformation with long term impact.
- Senior role with real ownership and influence over technical direction.
- Supportive engineering culture focused on quality, trust, and delivery.
- Clear progression across Principal, Head of Engineering, and Enterprise Architecture paths.
- Work alongside experienced engineers and leaders who value doing things properly.
How to Apply
For a confidential conversation, please reach out directly to Ryan Quinn on LinkedIn..