Principal Engineer (Java) - up to £100,000 + Bonus - Hybrid

Principal Java Engineer (AWS / Microservices) Salary: Up to £100,000 + 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 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

Strong understanding of software architecture and scalable system design

Experience leading development of high-performance distributed systems

Proven experience in a Principal, Lead or Senior Engineering role

Experience defining and governing technical standards and engineering practices

Experience influencing strategy across multiple teams or domains

Practical experience using Generative AI tools to improve engineering productivity

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.