Staff .NET Developer / Principal Engineer - Cloud & Platform Architecture
At a Glance
- Principal / Staff-level engineering role leading a full platform transformation
- Deep .NET / C# stack with modern cloud-native architecture (Azure / AWS)
- Hybrid working - Belfast city centre office
- Real ownership over technical direction, this role has teeth
About the Company
Our client is a technology organisation on a genuine platform transformation journey, moving away from complex legacy systems toward a modern, cloud-native architecture. Operating at significant scale, they work with multiple engineering teams across Belfast and international sites, and are investing heavily in raising their engineering bar technically and culturally. If you want to make a visible, lasting impact on a mission-critical platform, this is where you do it.
The Role
This is a senior leadership position combining architectural ownership with people leadership. Reporting into the CTO / Head of Engineering, you'll define the long-term technical direction, guide teams through a significant legacy modernisation programme, and work closely with senior stakeholders to ensure every architecture decision supports both product ambition and future scale. This isn't advisory you'll own the outcomes. The right person is someone who thrives with genuine autonomy and wants to lead change, not just recommend it.
Key Responsibilities
Architecture & Platform Modernisation
- Define and own the target architecture, leading the transition from legacy systems to modern, cloud-native platforms
- Drive the decomposition of monolithic systems into modular services, APIs, and event-driven components
- Introduce modern engineering practices and tooling to improve delivery quality, reliability, and developer experience
- Collaborate with frontend and backend leaders to ensure scalability, performance, and consistency across the platform
Technical Leadership
- Provide architectural oversight across multiple teams and applications
- Lead platform evolution initiatives including cloud migration, containerisation, and CI/CD automation
- Champion software craftsmanship, testing strategies, and design patterns
- Identify and resolve complex technical and performance issues across distributed systems
Engineering Management & Culture
- Lead and mentor engineering managers and senior engineers across Belfast and international sites
- Establish and run architecture governance through review boards and technical working groups
- Support team growth, performance, and long-term capability development
- Help scale engineering culture and processes as the organisation grows
Delivery & Stakeholder Engagement
- Own the delivery of strategic technical initiatives from design through to implementation
- Work with product, infrastructure, and senior leadership to define architectural roadmaps
- Communicate architectural decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Develop proofs of concept and technical spikes using modern languages and frameworks
What You'll Need
Essential
- 10+ years' professional software engineering experience
- Strong .NET / C# background across legacy and modern frameworks
- Proven track record leading large-scale platform modernisation programmes
- Experience operating at Principal Engineer, Architect, Engineering Manager, or equivalent level
- Deep understanding of distributed systems, APIs, and event-driven architectures
- Hands-on experience with Azure or AWS and container platforms such as Kubernetes
- Experience leading and mentoring multiple engineering teams
- Ability to communicate complex technical concepts at senior leadership level
- Right to work in the UK
Nice to Have
- Experience with architectural experimentation and prototyping
- Background working across Belfast-based and international engineering teams
- Familiarity with SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and performance optimisation at scale
Why Apply?
- Lead a major platform transformation with long-term, visible impact
- Real ownership and genuine influence over technical direction - not a seat at the table, the head of it
- Supportive engineering culture built on quality, trust, and delivery
- Clear progression paths across Principal Engineer, Head of Engineering, and Enterprise Architecture
- Work alongside experienced engineers and leaders who care about doing things properly
- Hybrid working with a Belfast city centre office
Interested?
Reach out to Ryan Quinn directly on LinkedIn for a confidential conversation, or submit your CV via the link below.
We represent the largest selection of technology roles of any recruitment firm in Northern Ireland, if this one isn't the right fit, we're always happy to meet and talk through where you want to go in 2026.
Skills:
.Net AWS React
Benefits:
Bonus
WHJS1_NI