Principal Developer

Purpose

The Principal Developer is responsible for defining and driving engineering standards, technical direction, and delivery excellence across the software development function. They provide strategic leadership across multiple teams, working closely with stakeholders to ensure business requirements are understood, shaped, and translated into effective technical delivery. Working with the Product Director, they help set departmental direction, support planning and prioritisation, and ensure the engineering function continues to develop to meet business needs. The role is accountable for creating the conditions for high performance across the department by supporting Lead Developers and wider engineering teams, ensuring people are engaged, performing effectively, and continuously moving forward. As a senior member of the Engineering function, Principal Engineers play a key role in modernising platforms, improving the quality and consistency of delivery, and ensuring the technology estate evolves in line with organisational priorities.

Post Office Behaviours

How our people behave is as important to Post Office as what is delivered. The Principal Developer will role model the following behaviours holding others to account to do the same:

Be Curious - Ask the questions you think need to be asked and push for the truth if you ever think it is missing

• We use our wisdom to question and challenge


• We speak openly and listen to the views of others


• We try new things and encourage others to do the same

Move it forward - Keep momentum, pushing things closer to completion, and encourage others to do the same

• We hold a high bar on performance


• We make bold decisions for today and the future


• We cut through complexity and execute with pace

Own the outcome - Take responsibility, run with it and see it through

• We take full ownership


• We have high levels of personal integrity


• We support business change and find the way forward

Back each other - We support each other and embrace diversity to build an inclusive culture

• We trust and encourage each other


• We are in it together


• We treat others with respect and dignity at all times

Principle Accountabilities

Core Accountabilities include:

• Lead by example, consistently demonstrating the organisations behaviours, and challenging others to do the same, embracing diversity and driving a culture of inclusion & continuous improvement.


• Lead on technical delivery from development through to full deployment whilst maintaining governance and ensuring deliverables meet quality standards with an appreciation of wider issues impacting Post Office.


• Proactively obtain, and listen to, feedback from Postmasters, Colleagues and Customers to ensure effective delivery and to drive continuous improvement, and development, of systems, processes and people.


• Ensures team follows functional policies, best practices, and procedures, with a strong understanding of regulations, legislation, and compliance relevant to business area.


• Proactively undertake analysis to highlight areas for improvement to inform data-driven solutions.


• Lead and inspire team with authenticity and integrity.  Be accountable for driving engagement, high performance, nurturing potential, and colleague well-being.


• Oversees budget and return on investment within area of responsibility.    

Job Specific Accountabilities include:

• Define and drive engineering standards, principles, and best practices across the software development function.


• Provide technical leadership across multiple teams, guiding architecture, delivery approaches, and long-term technology direction.


• Work closely with the Product Director to shape departmental strategy, technical roadmaps, and engineering priorities.


• Ensure requirements are effectively understood, challenged, and translated into clear technical outcomes for teams.


• Support, coach, and develop Lead Developers and wider engineering colleagues to build capability and encourage high performance.


• Oversee technical decision making across teams, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, maintainable, and aligned with organisational needs.


• Promote consistency in engineering approaches, delivery quality, tooling, and ways of working across the department.


• Collaborate with stakeholders, product teams, and delivery leads to align technical solutions with business goals and priorities.


• Identify risks, dependencies, and opportunities across the engineering landscape, helping teams to resolve blockers and move forward effectively.


• Drive continuous improvement across people, process, and technology to strengthen engineering maturity and delivery effectiveness.


• Ensure the overall health, performance, and progression of the engineering function, creating the conditions for teams and individuals to succeed.

Experience and Qualifications

• Extensive experience across multiple programming languages and technology stacks, with the ability to provide technical leadership across a broad software landscape. Familiarity with languages and frameworks such as JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML/CSS, Java, Python, Go, NodeJS, and modern frontend technologies such as React or React Native is advantageous.


• Proven expertise in defining and governing cloud-native application development, distributed systems, and microservices architecture across multiple teams or products.


• Proven experience in shaping and embedding Agile methodologies, engineering governance, and best software development practices at a departmental level.


• Strong understanding of automated testing strategies, CI/CD pipelines, and modern software delivery practices, with the ability to drive consistency and quality across teams.


• Deep knowledge of software design principles, architectural patterns, and engineering best practices, with the ability to apply them pragmatically across a wide range of technical challenges.


• Strong understanding of API design, integration patterns, database technologies, security principles, and non-functional requirements such as scalability, resilience, and performance.


• Proven expertise in DevOps practices, platform engineering, and modern cloud environments such as AWS, Azure, or GCP, with the ability to influence technical direction and adoption.


• Significant leadership experience across technical teams, with the ability to support, coach, and develop Lead Engineers and other senior engineering colleagues.


• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with senior leaders, product teams, and technical teams to align engineering delivery with business goals.


• Experience in setting engineering standards, shaping technical strategy, and contributing to long term roadmaps that support organisational objectives.

Skills and Capabilities

• Ability to define and drive technical strategy, innovation, and engineering direction across the wider software development function.


• Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence senior leaders, technical teams, and business stakeholders.


• Comfortable making and guiding high impact technical decisions that affect multiple teams, platforms, and long-term departmental outcomes.


• Strong problem solving, systems thinking, and critical thinking mindset, with the ability to balance strategic direction and practical delivery needs.


• Strong knowledge of modern architectural approaches, including serverless, event driven, cloud native, and distributed systems patterns.


• Strong grasp of observability, monitoring, logging, reliability, and operational best practices across complex systems and teams.


• Ability to build alignment across teams, resolve technical disagreements, and create clarity in complex or ambiguous situations.


• Strong leadership capability, with the ability to support, influence, and develop Lead Developers and wider engineering colleagues.


• Ability to identify opportunities for continuous improvement across people, process, and technology, and to lead change effectively.


• Adaptable and forward thinking, with the ability to respond to new challenges, evaluate emerging technologies, and guide teams through change in a dynamic environment.


• Ability to articulate the “why” to delivery teams and make decisions when needed.


• Understanding of a variety of prioritization approaches and able to choose the appropriate method.


• Pragmatic approach to supporting delivery with the ability to managing conflicting stakeholder requirements.


• Excellent people management skills and ability to converse effectively at all levels of the business.


• Demonstrates ‘customer first’ thinking and behaviours.


• Significant technology delivery experience


• Role-models continuous improvement.


• Ideally an understanding of our existing branch technology


• Strong collaborator and communicator, excellent stakeholder management skills with the ability to build key relationships and work collaboratively with wider teams including Marketing, Legal, Risk and Compliance


• Understanding of customer testing techniques and analytics and using the results of data and customer insight for evidence-based product decisions and new features


• Strong commercial business acumen and ability to make data-driven business decisions.


• Demonstrates a strong commitment to upholding the values and principles of Post Office

About us

At Post Office Ltd, we’re proud to be at the heart of communities across the UK, upheld by the dedication and service of our postmasters. We offer essential services that people rely on every day, from parcels and banking to identity and government services. While we continue to evolve with digital innovation, our commitment to personal, face-to-face service remains core to who we are. 

Our journey is one of reflection, growth, and meaningful change. We’re looking for people who think differently. Those with resilience, purpose, and a deep sense of responsibility to our postmasters, partners and the communities they serve. If you're driven by the chance to make a real impact and help shape a future, built on progress and integrity, we’d love to hear from you. For more details visit [email protected]

Application Guidance

Our commitment to embracing diversity extends beyond just words. While we’ve outlined key skills above, we recognise that great candidates come from a variety of backgrounds. We value diverse perspectives and are committed to building an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we recognise the value people with disabilities can bring to our business. If you require any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process or would like further details on the job description, please contact [email protected]

We’re thrilled by your interest in this opportunity and truly value every application we receive. Please note the advert may close early if we receive a high volume of applications. Unfortunately, we’re unable to provide individual feedback on all submissions.