Principal Engineer – Payments

About the role

Our client, a leading financial services corporation, is seeking a Principal Engineer to shape the architecture and delivery of next‑generation retail banking payment platforms. This senior leadership position will guide real‑time decisions across Faster Payments, Real‑Time Payments, card schemes, BACS, mobile wallets and API services.

Key responsibilities

• Define and implement a modern, cloud‑native foundation and data platform that is secure, automated and scalable.
• Design and deliver high‑performance APIs (RESTful and GraphQL) that integrate with core banking systems such as Mambu and Open Banking services.
• Lead the creation of scalable architectures using modern technologies and cloud services.
• Collaborate with data teams to build robust pipelines using Apache Kafka, Snowflake or Databricks.
• Implement observability solutions with Prometheus, Grafana or Datadog and continuously optimise system performance.
• Provide hands‑on technical leadership and mentorship to engineering teams.

Required profile

• Extensive experience designing and scaling banking payment systems (Faster Payments, Real‑Time Payments, card payments, BACS, mobile wallets, APIs).
• Proven track record of solving architectural challenges and guiding engineering teams.
• Strong background in Java, C#, Python or React development with a hands‑on leadership style.
• Familiarity with core banking platforms such as Mambu.

Required skills

• Java
• C#
• Python
• React
• Faster Payments
• Real‑Time Payments
• Card payments
• BACS
• Mobile wallets
• APIs (RESTful, GraphQL)
• Cloud‑native architecture
• Apache Kafka
• Snowflake
• Databricks
• Prometheus
• Grafana
• Datadog
• Mambu

What we offer

• Competitive base salary up to £110,000
• 25% performance bonus
• Comprehensive benefits package
• Hybrid working model (2 days onsite in London, Chatham or Wolverhampton)