Principal Software Engineer

At CV-Library, we have a simple vision: to help the world to work and we are looking for exceptional and talented people to help us realise this vision in both UK and overseas markets.

We are in a period of focused internal investment, following a year of key strategic acquisitions and significant investment across all parts of the business, from Tech and Data to People and HR, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us or a better place to grow your career!

The Role

Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00-17:30

Location: Fleet

Working Pattern: Hybrid - twice a quarter

We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to provide technical leadership across our application estate. Following our multi-year re-platforming, our backend is now a collection of RESTful microservices managing state for our core data entities - meaning the majority of our business logic and product complexity now lives in our Next.js web client and React Native mobile app. This role carries ongoing influence over how those applications are built and evolve.

This role is centred on driving alignment across teams and systems - owning the interface lifecycle (API specifications and event schemas), setting and managing engineering standards, and coordinating implementation approaches across Product, Architecture and Engineering.

You will play a key role in shaping how our platform evolves, helping teams deliver independently while maintaining a cohesive and scalable system - carrying architectural vision into day-to-day engineering practice, and building proofs of concept where they de-risk or accelerate delivery.

This is a highly collaborative role requiring strong communication, influence and the ability to build consensus across a diverse engineering organisation.

Responsibilities:

• Own and evolve the interface specification lifecycle - REST API specifications and event schemas - including definition, documentation, versioning and governance
• Provide ongoing technical influence over the implementation of our Next.js web client and React Native mobile app, where the majority of our business logic and application complexity now resides
• Define, champion and manage engineering standards across the engineering organisation
• Act as the conduit for architectural vision, translating direction from Architecture into practical, deliverable approaches for engineering teams
• Maintain broad oversight across domains - web, mobile and backend microservices - identifying opportunities for simplification, reuse and consistency
• Build proofs of concept to validate approaches, de-risk complex changes and accelerate critical delivery
• Act as a bridge between web, mobile, backend and platform teams, ensuring alignment in how systems interact
• Drive clarity in system boundaries, contracts and integration patterns
• Facilitate cross-team technical discussions, building alignment and resolving ambiguity
• Identify and manage cross-cutting technical risks and dependencies
• Champion best practices in API and interface design, focusing on usability, scalability and maintainability
• Mentor engineers and technical leaders, particularly in systems thinking and across-domain design
• Ensure high-quality, accessible technical documentation
• Contribute hands-on to implementation when needed, particularly to unblock teams or de-risk complex changes

What we’re looking for

• Strong experience as a senior or lead engineer, with demonstrated impact beyond a single team
• Strong hands-on capability in modern full-stack web development; significant experience with Next.js and React is strongly preferred
• Experience across some or all of our core stack - MongoDB, PayloadCMS and React Native - is strongly preferred
• Deep experience designing, specifying and governing interfaces, including REST API specifications (e.g. OpenAPI) and event schemas, and managing them through their lifecycle
• Experience with AWS and Kubernetes/container orchestration is nice to have
• Familiarity with the wider technologies in our estate - Go, Perl, PHP, MySQL and Elasticsearch - is beneficial, supporting the broad domain oversight this role carries
• Proven ability to work across team boundaries, influencing technical direction and driving alignment
• Strong understanding of software architecture concepts and system design principles
• Excellent communication and consensus-building skills, with the ability to bring diverse stakeholders together
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and provide clarity in complex technical landscapes
• A systems-thinking mindset, with an interest in how different parts of a platform interact and evolve
• Experience supporting delivery through collaboration and influence rather than direct ownership
• Commitment to high standards in documentation, clarity and engineering quality
• Ability to context-switch between strategic thinking and practical implementation, depending on organisational needs

We are actively committed to promoting a fully diverse and inclusive workforce and we welcome applications for this role from all candidates who meet the key requirements.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch should you require any reasonable adjustments to assist with your application.