Principal Engineer (Java)

TL;DR

Principal Engineer (Java): Leading technical capabilities and growing technologists for a large engineering club with an accent on enterprise-scale delivery and technical consultancy. Focus on defining coding standards, solving complex client technology problems, and mentoring developers across all levels.

Location: Bristol, UK

Company

hirify.global accelerates the development of digital capabilities by helping organizations build the teams, products, and processes needed to close the digital skills gap.

What you will do

• Lead engineering and development thinking for a club of 80+ people, ensuring alignment with business strategy and client needs.
• Provide technical oversight and hands-on coding for the most challenging engineering activities on client projects.
• Guide and support the improvement of technical skills for developers from Associate to Technical Lead levels.
• Assist in winning new clients by proposing pragmatic and compelling technical solutions to their problems.
• Define and enforce coding standards across all client assignments.
• Collaborate with the consulting team to establish the company's tech proposition and develop thought leadership.

Requirements

• Expert-level hands-on coding capability in Java.
• Wide experience in the technical delivery of enterprise-scale projects across the full SDLC.
• Deep understanding and track record of delivering complex solutions using Agile methods (Scrum, SAFe).
• Hands-on experience with XP, TDD, CI/CD, and DevOps practices.
• Proven leadership of large teams and extensive client-facing experience.

Nice to have

• Experience coaching senior developers and tech leads in their career progression.
• Ability to think strategically about technology investment and communicate robust plans.
• Industry recognition as a conference speaker, tech blogger, or open-source contributor.
• Prior consultancy experience across multiple sectors.

Culture & Benefits

• Human-centric approach prioritizing happiness and wellbeing over hierarchy and bureaucracy.
• High level of autonomy and opportunity to forge new paths in a fast-growing environment.
• Strong commitment to diversity and inclusion as a business-critical priority.
• Culture of pragmatism, purpose, and a focus on people.