Principal Software Engineer - .NET & Azure

Principal Software Engineer (.NET)

Client is seeking a Principal Software Engineer (.NET) to provide technical leadership across our enterprise application landscape. This is our most senior individual contributor engineering role: you will set architectural direction, raise the engineering bar across multiple teams, and lead platform modernization — while remaining hands-on in design, code, and critical problem-solving.

You will pair deep Microsoft-stack expertise with strong systems architecture judgment, translating business strategy into scalable, secure, and maintainable technical solutions. Success in this role is measured less by what you build personally and more by the leverage you create: better architecture, faster and safer delivery, and a stronger engineering organization.

Expectations from the Position:

1- Level Expectations

Scope: Impact spans multiple teams, systems, and product lines — not a single application or squad.

Ambiguity: Operates effectively on problems that are undefined, contested, or cross-organizational; frames the problem before solving it.

Autonomy: Sets technical direction with minimal oversight; is accountable for outcomes, not tasks.

Hands-on balance: Approximately [50–60%] architecture, design, technical leadership, and mentorship; [40–50%] hands-on engineering — prototypes, critical-path code, complex debugging, and reference implementations.

Decision rights: Owns or co-owns architecture decisions; contributes to enterprise standards through the Architecture Review Board / equivalent forum.

2- Performance Milestones (Timeframe & Expected Outcomes)

First 30 Days- Build relationships across engineering, products, security, and infrastructure. Develop a working map of the current architecture, delivery pipeline, and pain points. Deliver an initial observations summary.

First 90 Days- Publish an assessment of architectural risk and technical debt with a prioritized remediation view. Lead at least one architecture decision end-to-end. Establish a recurring design-review cadence.

First 6 Months- Own a published, socialized technical roadmap for [platform/domain]. Drive measurable improvement in at least two engineering health metrics. Establish standards adopted by multiple teams.

First 12 Months- Demonstrate delivery of a major modernization milestone. Evidence of raised engineering capability through mentorship and standards adoption. Recognized as a trusted technical advisor by senior business and technology leadership.

3- How Performance Will Be Measured

Architectural quality and consistency across supported platforms (e.g., reduction in bespoke integration patterns, standards adoption rate).

Delivery health: DORA metrics — deployment frequency, lead time for change, change failure rate, mean time to restore.

Reliability: attainment of agreed SLOs, reduction in Sev-1/Sev-2 incident volume and recurrence.

Modernization progress: percentage of workload migrated off legacy .NET Framework; measurable technical debt reduction.

Security posture: reduction in critical/high vulnerabilities, remediation cycle time, secure-by-design adoption.

Talent impact: growth of senior engineers mentored, quality of design reviews, internal knowledge artifacts produced.

Cloud efficiency: cost-per-transaction or infrastructure spend trend against workload growth.

Leadership Traits & Behavioral Competencies:

1- Core Leadership Expectations

Influence technical strategy beyond a single application or team.

Drive architectural consistency across the organization.

Establish engineering standards and governance that teams adopt willingly.

Mentor and develop technical talent at senior and lead levels.

Balance business priorities with long-term platform sustainability.

Lead by example through hands-on technical contribution and architectural leadership.

2- Behavioral Traits (Trait & What It Looks Like in This Role)

Influence Without Authority- Builds consensus across teams that do not report to them; wins adoption through clarity and credibility rather than mandate.

Pragmatic Judgment- Chooses the appropriate solution for the context and constraints; resists over-engineering and technology fashion.

Business Fluency- Frames technical decisions in terms of cost, risk, revenue, and time-to-market; understands the commercial context of the platform.

Communication Range- Adjusts depth and language effectively from engineer to executive; writes clearly and persuasively.

Mentorship & Multiplication- Measures success by the capability of others; delegates meaningful technical ownership rather than hoarding it.

Ownership & Accountability- Takes responsibility for outcomes including failures; leads to blameless postmortems and drives corrective action.

Continuous Learning- Stays current with the.NET and cloud ecosystem and shares knowledge systematically.

Resilience Under Pressure- Remains calm and decisive during major incidents, escalations, and competing executive priorities.

**Only those lawfully authorized to work in the designated country associated with the position will be considered.

**Please note that all Position start dates and duration are estimates and may be reduced or lengthened based upon a client's business needs and requirements.