Principal Engineer

Location: Sheffield | Salford | (hybrid)

Skills allowance of up to £18,721, pending assessment

Advert Close Date: 13th September 2026

Job summary

The Principal Engineer may be expected to take charge of engineering work across an ensemble of teams or in a particular area of the business. You will be responsible for ensuring that engineering work can be done effectively in their area, relying on context provided by your Lead Engineers and peers. You may be expected to line manage or supervise multiple Lead Engineers.

As a Principal Engineer, you will also have a strategic focus, providing insight to project and programme management teams to support effective resourcing decisions, and to assurance teams and processes to ensure engineering standards are consistently met. You will act as the central point of contact for engineers within your area, ensuring that systems are sustainable, maintainable, and aligned with the Government Digital and Data Profession Strategy.

Tools and Technologies we use:

We would encourage applications from candidates with experience or interests in the following technologies:

You will have demonstrable experience leading engineering for large-scale, secure, data-intensive services, with the following essential skills:

• Leading the design and evolution of enterprise-scale NodeJS services (e.g. NodeJS, React, RESTful APIs, microservices) to ensure performance, scalability, and resilience in a live operational environment. (PROG)
• Defining and assuring software design standards, coding practices, and engineering governance aligned to GDS service standards and secure-by-design principles. (SWDN)
• Overseeing end-to-end systems development and delivery across multiple teams, ensuring alignment to architectural patterns (e.g. event-driven, microservices) and integration with legacy and distributed systems. (DLMG)
• Driving quality engineering practices including automated testing (unit, integration), CI/CD pipelines (e.g. Jenkins, GitHub Actions), and observability (logging, monitoring, alerting) to support high-availability services. (PDSV)
• Managing technical risk, compliance, and service sustainability, including secure handling of sensitive data, audit requirements, and alignment with Home Office governance and operational frameworks. (QUMG)
• Developing engineering capability through coaching, mentoring, and workforce planning, building strong engineering expertise and supporting continuous professional development across teams. (PEMT)

Why work for us...

Find out more information at: Benefits - Home Office Careers, but some of the primary ones are:

• A Civil Service Pension with employer contribution rates of £22,271 annually
• In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service.
• 8 days of public holidays, plus 1 additional privilege day.
• Flexi-time allowance and flexible working options

Plus so much MORE: