Hybrid Principal Java Technologist

Posted 3 weeks ago

Apply now

About the role

  • Principal Java Technologist providing technical leadership across teams in a large retail organization. Involves hands-on coding and architectural guidance in backend systems.

Responsibilities

  • Lead deep technical discovery sessions and architecture reviews across teams and projects.
  • Anticipate technical and operational challenges, proposing pragmatic, scalable solutions.
  • Act as a trusted technical advisor to engineering, product, and senior stakeholders.
  • Influence product and business decisions through a strong understanding of trade-offs, risk, and value.
  • Write and review high-quality Java code (Java 17+) using frameworks such as **Spring Boot or Micronaut**.
  • Design and build resilient backend services supporting **high-volume, secure retail and payment transactions**.
  • Develop and oversee integrations with **acquiring banks, PSPs, payment gateways, and fraud platforms**.
  • Step in where needed to unblock complex technical challenges or critical deliveries.
  • Champion **event-driven architectures** using Kafka and enterprise integration patterns.
  • Drive consistent, scalable microservices design across multiple teams.
  • Balance long-term architectural direction with short-term delivery needs.
  • Design, build, and support **cloud-native platforms** (Azure preferred) using **Kubernetes and Terraform**.
  • Set standards for CI/CD using **GitHub Actions**, ensuring reliable and repeatable releases.
  • Own and promote observability, monitoring, and alerting using tools such as **OpenTelemetry and Dynatrace**.
  • Advocate for operational excellence, resilience, and production readiness.
  • Champion secure-by-design principles and best practices across all services.
  • Ensure systems align with **PCI DSS, PSD2, and SCA** requirements.
  • Embed data protection and security considerations into architecture and delivery from day one.
  • Mentor engineers across all levels, from junior to senior and lead.
  • Raise the bar for code quality, testing, and engineering practices.
  • Help define and promote standards for code review, testing strategies, delivery, and on-call/operational support.
  • Foster a culture of learning, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
  • Continuously improve platform reliability, performance, scalability, and cost efficiency.
  • Stay ahead of technology trends and identify opportunities to innovate within the retail and payments space.
  • Challenge existing approaches constructively and drive positive change.

Requirements

  • Proven experience as a **Principal Java Engineer / Technologist** in large-scale, backend-heavy environments.
  • Experience working across **multiple teams**, providing leadership beyond a single product or squad.
  • Strong Java expertise (Java 17+) with **Spring Boot or Micronaut**.
  • Solid experience with **Kafka, event-driven architectures, microservices, and enterprise integration patterns**.
  • Strong understanding of **retail and payment systems**, including PSP integrations, fraud, tokenisation, and settlement flows.
  • Cloud experience (Azure preferred), including Kubernetes, Terraform, and CI/CD pipelines.
  • Working knowledge of **PCI DSS, PSD2, and SCA**.
  • Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain complex concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Experience working in **Agile/Scrum environments** with a strong DevOps and test-driven mindset.
  • **Retail experience is mandatory**, ideally in high-volume or customer-facing platforms.

Benefits

  • Competitive salary including self-proposed salary increases
  • Flexible working arrangements
  • 25 days holiday plus bank holidays. After 2 years you are entitled to 1 additional day/ year up to 30 days
  • Annual profit distribution
  • Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, Shared Parental and Adoption leave and pay
  • Enhanced pension scheme (up to 8% matched)
  • Growth opportunities, including access to Udemy
  • Private Medical Healthcare with Aviva
  • A dynamic, innovative, and supportive work environment, where your ideas and contributions are valued
  • Opportunities for professional development and career advancement within a global company
  • Annual company team-building trip, Anniversary and Christmas party
  • The chance to work on cutting-edge projects that are transforming the fintech industry
  • Electric Vehicle leasing scheme
  • Retail Discounts
  • At our offices we have a wide range of snacks and drinks to keep you fed and healthy
  • Conference Budget
  • Cycle to Work scheme

Job title

Principal Java Technologist

Job type

Experience level

Lead

Salary

Not specified

Degree requirement

No Education Requirement

Location requirements

Report this job

See something inaccurate? Let us know and we'll update the listing.

Report job