Tide is hiring a
Principal Engineer (Senior)

Summary

Join us in our mission to empower small businesses and help them save time and money as the Principal Engineer (Director) - Quality & Reliability. You will oversee several key engineering teams, including Site Reliability Engineering, Quality, Client Platform, and Engineering Productivity.

Requirements

• Extensive experience in a senior technical leadership role with a strong foundation in software engineering, systems engineering, or a related field
• Proven track record of leading SRE, QA, or engineering productivity teams, ideally in a fintech or similarly demanding environment
• Strong technical proficiency in programming languages (e.g., Python, Java, C++, etc.) and hands-on experience in software development, debugging, and optimisation
• In-depth understanding of cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), containerisation technologies (Docker, Kubernetes), and modern platform engineering practices
• Demonstrated success in driving quality, reliability, and productivity improvements in complex engineering environments
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience leveraging data to drive strategic decision-making
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills, with a proven ability to build and lead high-performing teams

Responsibilities

• Develop a strategic vision for quality, reliability, and productivity across Tide
• Engage directly in technical discussions and decisions, contributing to the design and architecture of complex systems. Lead by example through active participation in code reviews, debugging sessions, and development of critical software components
• Lead the QA team in creating robust automated testing frameworks and integrating these into our CI/CD pipelines. Promote a proactive quality mindset, ensuring that all software releases are rigorously tested and meet the highest standards
• Guide the SRE team in developing and maintaining scalable, highly available, and secure systems. Implement effective monitoring, logging, and alerting mechanisms to ensure rapid detection and resolution of issues, minimising downtime and improving system reliability
• Oversee the Client Platform team in building and optimising tools, frameworks, and libraries that accelerate the work of web and mobile client engineers. Ensure that these internal tools are easy to use, well-documented, and enhance the overall developer experience and productivity
• Lead initiatives to enhance engineering productivity, such as improving development workflows, optimising build and deployment processes, and automating repetitive tasks. Work closely with teams to identify bottlenecks and implement solutions that improve overall efficiency
• Utilise data and analytics to assess engineering performance and identify areas for improvement. Implement metrics and KPIs that drive continuous improvement in quality, reliability, and productivity
• Act as a mentor and coach to engineering managers and team members, promoting a culture of continuous learning and development. Encourage collaboration and knowledge sharing across teams to build a high-performing engineering organisation
• Collaborate closely with Product, Infosec, Cloud, and other cross-functional teams to ensure alignment on priorities and strategies. Foster an environment of open communication and teamwork to achieve shared goals
• Support the response to major incidents, coordinating efforts across teams to quickly resolve issues, conduct thorough root cause analysis, and implement preventive measures to avoid recurrence

Benefits

• A competitive salary
• Share options
• Flexible working options
• 25 days holiday with the option to take 5 extra days of unpaid leave per year
• 3 days paid volunteering or L&D time off per year
• Personal L&D budget of £1,000 professional L&D budget per year 
• Group Life Insurance, Vitality Health and Dental Insurance
• Spacious brand-new office by Old Street station, in London, with an all-day snacks bar
• Enhanced family-friendly leave
• Access to a global mental wellbeing platform that provides 1:1 video therapy sessions with accredited therapists and unlimited chat therapy sessions
• Work from home budget
• Team socials - virtual and physical events
• Sabbatical leave