Principal Software Engineering Manager (AI)

TL;DR

Principal Software Engineering Manager (AI): Shaping the technical direction and managing a team for an intelligent document processing platform with an accent on AI-driven extraction and enterprise-scale backend systems. Focus on guiding technical strategy for applied AI, architectural vision for distributed AI systems, and fostering engineering excellence within the team.

Location: London, UK

Company

hirify.global is a category-leading enterprise software company committed to creating automation software that transforms how the world works.

What you will do

• Define and drive the long-term architectural direction for core backend and platform systems supporting enterprise-scale AI workloads.
• Lead initiatives to improve scalability, reliability, and developer productivity across teams.
• Collaborate with research teams to translate experimental AI models into reliable production systems.
• Drive architectural decisions for hybrid AI systems combining deterministic logic, classical ML, and generative AI.
• Directly manage 5–10 engineers, owning their career development, performance reviews, and coaching.
• Foster a high-performing, inclusive team culture grounded in psychological safety and engineering excellence.

Requirements

• Must be based in London, UK.
• 7+ years designing and operating large-scale distributed commercial systems.
• 2+ years of experience directly managing software engineers, including performance management and career development.
• Deep expertise in backend systems, distributed architectures, concurrency, and performance optimization.
• Strong experience with cloud ecosystems (Azure, AWS, or GCP) and container orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, Helm).
• Proficiency in Python or comparable backend languages.

Nice to have

• Experience with Rust or other systems languages.

Culture & Benefits

• Be part of a fast-moving, fast-thinking growth company that values curiosity, self-propulsion, generosity, and genuine people.
• Work in a diverse and inclusive workplace that provides equal opportunities to all persons.
• Access career development, performance reviews, goal-setting, and day-to-day coaching.
• Work in a company that values psychological safety and engineering excellence.