Skills

Leadership CI/CD Kubernetes Product vision Architecture Robotics

Job Specifications

Principal Software Engineer – Robotics and AI | Own Technical Strategy

Central London - Hybrid (3 days in office)

Up to £170,000 per annum plus bonus and stock options

Principal Software Engineer - We’re recruiting on behalf of a product-led technology company building a complex software platform that supports large-scale, real-world robotics systems. The engineering challenges are substantial: distributed systems, orchestration, reliability, performance and long-term platform evolution to incorporate AI-driven workflows.

They’re now looking for a Principal Software Engineer to take end-to-end architectural ownership and provide senior technical leadership across the organisation.

This is a genuinely senior role with real authority and influence, not a title-only position.

The Principal Software Engineer

You’ll be responsible for setting technical direction across the core platform and future products, while remaining hands-on where it matters most. You’ll work closely with product leadership, mentor senior engineers and help scale a stable platform into a multi-product foundation.

Key responsibilities

Define, own and evolve overall system architecture across the core platform and new products.
Act as the senior technical decision-maker, translating the product vision into a technical strategy.
Design scalable, resilient, cloud-native systems.
Lead and mentor Staff and Senior Staff Engineers.
Improve delivery pace without compromising quality.
Address technical debt and scaling challenges.
Work closely with Product and customer-facing teams.
Support event-driven, data-heavy, Cloud and edge-connected systems.

Background required

Extensive experience in backend and platform engineering with in-depth knowledge of Golang.
Excellent knowledge of leading the end-to-end architecture of complex, large-scale, distributed systems.
Good understanding of modern, Cloud-native architectures including Kubernetes, containerisation, CI/CD, IaC.
Proven experience in senior leadership roles, working with Product to build and scale complex software products.
Experience leading and influencing Staff/Senior Staff Engineers as a Principal Engineer, CTO or equivalent senior role.

If you’re a Principal Engineer looking for genuine responsibility, long-term impact and the chance to shape a platform at scale, please reply with your CV or call Simon for a chat.

Principal Software Engineer – Robotics and AI | Own Technical Strategy

Central London - Hybrid (3 days in office)

Up to £170,000 per annum plus bonus and stock options

About the Company

Established back in 2004, Burns Sheehan is a specialist technology recruitment agency based in London & Manchester. We partner with growing organisations with a compelling story to tell and connect them with world class tech talent across the UK and Europe, creating industry-leading teams across Software Engineering, Product & Delivery, Platform Engineering & Infrastructure, Data, C-Suite & Leadership. Whether you're scaling up with multiple hires, seeking a game-changing executive, or building out a brand-new squad, our f... Know more