Our client is looking for a Principal Engineer to set the technical direction of key platforms and guide multiple teams through complex engineering challenges. You will act as the most senior hands-on engineer, shaping architecture, elevating engineering standards, and mentoring senior talent across the organisation. This is a strategic, high-impact role based in Sydney with hybrid working.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define and drive the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for critical platforms and services
• Provide hands-on technical leadership across multiple squads, unblocking complex engineering problems
• Set and champion engineering standards, patterns, and best practices across the organisation
• Collaborate with product and delivery leaders to align technical decisions with business outcomes
• Lead and influence major design decisions, including build vs buy, scalability, reliability, and security trade-offs
• Mentor and coach senior engineers and tech leads, building a strong internal leadership pipeline
• Review and guide high-risk changes, ensuring systems are observable, resilient, and maintainable

Requirements:

• Extensive experience as a senior or principal engineer in complex, modern software environments
• Deep expertise in designing and implementing large-scale, distributed systems
• Proven track record of setting technical direction and influencing architecture across multiple teams
• Strong capability to translate business goals into pragmatic technical strategies and roadmaps
• Experience mentoring senior engineers and shaping engineering culture and practices
• Comfort operating in a hybrid work environment and collaborating with stakeholders in Sydney

Nice to Have:

• Experience in an organisation undergoing scale-up or modernisation of legacy systems
• Background working in cross-functional product teams with strong product and UX collaboration
• Exposure to cloud-native architectures, event-driven systems, and modern DevOps practices