Principal Backend Engineer

Role Overview

• Partner with the CTO to define and evolve SchemeServe's backend engineering strategy
• Establish and maintain backend engineering standards, principles and best practices
• Drive consistency across multiple engineering teams in architecture, implementation patterns and operational practices
• Champion secure software development practices and help embed security throughout the software development lifecycle
• Define and improve code quality standards, review processes and engineering governance
• Provide architectural guidance for new systems, services and platform initiatives
• Help shape and guide the ongoing transformation of our .NET Framework monolith into a modern service-based, API-first platform
• Provide technical leadership across both C# and TypeScript backend ecosystems
• Act as a technical mentor and coach for backend engineers across the organisation
• Review significant technical proposals, designs and architectural decisions
• Drive improvements in observability, resilience, performance and operational excellence
• Identify technical risks and help teams navigate them successfully
• Help teams make pragmatic technology decisions, balancing innovation, risk and long-term maintainability
• Evaluate emerging technologies and engineering practices, identifying opportunities that provide genuine business value
• Foster a culture of engineering excellence, continuous learning and constructive technical challenge
• Occasionally, contribute directly to implementation work when strategic initiatives or business priorities require it
• Represent backend engineering interests in strategic technical discussions
• Build strong relationships across Engineering, Product and Leadership teams

Requirements

• Commercial experience building and operating large-scale backend systems
• Deep expertise in modern backend engineering practices
• Strong experience with C#/.NET and TypeScript
• Strong understanding of software architecture, distributed systems and API design
• Experience working with both legacy applications and modern service-oriented architectures
• Proven experience defining engineering standards across multiple teams or departments
• Strong knowledge of secure software development practices and application security principles
• Deep understanding of code quality, maintainability and software craftsmanship
• Strong knowledge of Azure cloud services and cloud-native architecture
• Excellent understanding of modern databases and data modelling principles
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Proven ability to influence technical direction through expertise, collaboration and communication
• Experience mentoring engineers and raising technical standards across teams
• Strong understanding of CI/CD, testing strategies and modern software delivery practices
• Excellent Git knowledge and development workflow practices

Tech Stack

• Azure
• Cloud
• Distributed Systems
• TypeScript
• .NET

Benefits

• Flexible working
• Professional Development
• Paid days to do charity work
• Friendly working environment
• Fantastic company culture
• Free biscuits through the post