Principal Java Engineer - NI 100% remote * Salary: up to £80k bonus benefits About the Company: Our client is a leading global payments business with a strong engineering presence in Northern Ireland. Their mission is to radically and responsibly deliver value to merchants by building a next-gen, merchant-first ecosystem. With a product-centric culture and a focus on technical excellence, they empower small teams to deliver big outcomesfree from red tape and bureaucracy. They're looking for a Principal Java Engineer to help shape the architecture, lead development efforts, and mentor other engineers across high-impact initiatives. The Role: As a Principal Java Engineer, you'll drive backend development across complex distributed systems, helping to define and deliver merchant-focused products. You'll be trusted to lead design discussions, introduce best practices, and work closely with Product and DevOps teams to ensure scalable, secure, and high-performing systems are built from the ground up. You'll balance strategic thinking with hands-on coding and technical delivery. Key Responsibilities: * Lead the design and development of distributed backend services and APIs in Java * Set technical direction across projects and coach developers on architecture and design patterns * Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business needs into elegant, scalable solutions * Define and enforce software quality standards, including test automation and CI/CD pipelines * Continuously evaluate and improve engineering practices, tooling, and technical processes * Contribute to deployment strategies and support production systems when required Essential Criteria: * 10 years of backend engineering experience with a deep focus on Java * Proven experience designing and delivering scalable, secure systems in a high-volume environment * Strong understanding of OO design, design patterns, refactoring, and microservice architecture * Hands-on experience with REST APIs, message queues, distributed systems, and caching * Solid grasp of modern CI/CD workflows and cloud-native development * Deep experience with SQL and relational database design * Strong leadership, mentoring, and collaboration skills * Ability to work independently, navigate ambiguity, and drive technical decisions Why Join * Principal-level influence in a product-led engineering team * Empowered to shape architecture and technical direction * Flat structure, collaborative culture, and fast decision-making * Flexible working, remote-first team, and modern Java stack * High-impact projects solving real merchant problems How to Apply: If you're a hands-on technical leader ready to shape the future of merchant-focused payments technology, apply via the link. Or reach out to Phil Gamble directly via LinkedIn or WhatsApp for an informal conversation. About Phil Gamble: Phil Gamble has over 20 years of experience in the Tech recruitment industry, successfully delivering on challenging IT recruitment campaigns in global software companies across the US, UK, and Ireland. He takes a personalised approach to understanding candidates and has garnered praise for his professionalism and dedication to their career goals. Recent LinkedIn Testimonials: "Phil was by far the best recruiter I have ever dealt with" "Phil has helped me find new roles more than once He takes the time to understand what I'm looking for" "Phil is a professional who does not treat his candidates as resources