Principal Engineer (Java) - up to £105,000 + Bonus - Hybrid

Principal Java Engineer (AWS / Microservices) Salary: Up to £105,000 + Bonus + Benefits Location: Coventry or Central London - Hybrid (2 days per week onsite) Working Hours: 40 hours per week - Full time Job Type: Permanent A globally established organisation is seeking an experienced Principal Java Engineer to shape the future of large-scale digital platforms used by millions of customers. This role will focus on driving engineering excellence, defining technical standards and leading the design of scalable, high-availability systems across a modern cloud-native environment. Responsibilities for the Principal Java Engineer: • Define and evolve engineering strategy, standards and best practices across your domain • Lead technical direction across multiple engineering teams (on and offshore) and programmes • Design and oversee delivery of large-scale, distributed systems using modern technologies • Provide expert guidance on technical risk, architecture decisions and prioritisation • Support Staff Engineers and development teams with deep technical leadership • Drive adoption of DevOps, CI/CD, automation and modern engineering practices • Leverage AI and intelligent automation to improve productivity and delivery outcomes • Mentor engineers and contribute to a strong engineering culture and community of practice • Work closely with senior stakeholders to align technology with business goals Essential Skills for the Principal Java Engineer: • Deep hands-on expertise in Java, Spring Boot, Microservices, Kafka and AWS • Experience managing on and offshore teams • Strong understanding of software architecture and scalable system design • Experience leading development of high-performance distributed systems • Experience defining and governing technical standards and engineering practices • Strong leadership, mentoring and stakeholder engagement skills Desirable Skills for the Principal Java Engineer: • Strong advocate of Agile delivery and modern engineering ways of working • Experience building collaborative engineering communities • Comfortable making data-driven technical decisions at scale • Experience working closely with senior engineering leadership teams If you are a senior Java engineering leader looking to shape modern platforms at scale while remaining close to technology, this role offers strong influence, complex challenges and long-term impact.