Principal Engineer – Corporate Technology

Overview

In this role, you will lead engineering across Corporate Technology, defining strategy for People, Finance and Procurement platforms and driving secure, scalable, and well-managed services. You will mentor engineering leads, set ownership, and collaborate withProduct, Architecture, Security, Data, and business teams to modernise the estate and enable large-scale transformation. You’ll balance technical excellence with business priorities, shaping internal platforms that underpin critical FT functions. This is an opportunity to influence how core internal systems evolve in a globally respected organisation.

Pay / Benefits

• generous annual leave
• medical cover
• inclusive parental leave
• subsidised gym memberships
• hybrid onsite model (50% onsite)
• community contribution opportunities

Responsibilities

• Define the engineering vision for Corporate Technology and translate strategy into priorities and roadmaps for People, Finance, and Procurement platforms
• Provide senior technical direction across enterprise platforms, data flows, and internally developed capabilities
• Collaborate with Architecture and Engineering Leads to set standards, guardrails, and decisions considering security, resilience, operability, maintainability and cost
• Identify systemic risks, lifecycle challenges, technical debt, and opportunities to simplify the technology estate
• Ensure Engineering Leads have clear accountability for platform engineering, operation and continual improvement
• Guide complex decisions spanning multiple platforms while granting autonomy to Engineering Leads
• Mentor Engineering Leads and senior engineers to improve platform ownership and capability
• Lead engineering for key People, Finance, and Procurement initiatives and transfer capabilities into lasting internal stewardship
• Support platform selection, implementation and major technology investments, challenging approaches that add complexity or risk
• Maintain oversight of performance and technology risk, including reliability, incident and change management, DR and BC
• Ensure platforms comply with FT security, data governance, and technology standards
• Strengthen internal capability to reduce reliance on individual specialists or vendors
• Build strong cross-functional relationships to communicate trade-offs, risks and investment needs
• Represent Corporate Technology in FT engineering and technology forums with Architecture, Security, Data and other leaders

Key requirements

• Extensive senior engineering leadership experience in a complex tech organisation
• Solid knowledge of enterprise SaaS ecosystems and integration/operation of business-critical platforms
• Experience with Oracle Fusion, Workday, or similar ERP systems
• Strong grasp of integration methods, APIs, data flows and cloud technologies
• Experience leading major transformation or modernisation programmes
• Ability to establish clear technical ownership and sustainable operating models
• Strong understanding of reliability, security, operational risk and lifecycle management
• Experience working with third-party vendors and managed services while maintaining internal ownership
• Experience mentoring and developing Engineering Leads and senior engineers
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and translate technical concepts into pragmatic decisions
• Experience formulating technology strategies and roadmaps spanning multiple platforms
• Strong technical judgement balancing long-term direction with delivery priorities
• Desirable: experience with Oracle Fusion, Workday and related environments
• Desirable: experience with Finance, People, Procurement domains

• leadership
• mentoring
• stakeholder Influence
• enterprise SaaS integration
• Oracle Fusion
• Workday

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