Principal Engineer

Who you are

• Extensive experience in DevEx, Platform Engineering, and large-scale engineering systems
• Deep systems and operational thinking, grounded in a strong software engineering background
• Proven track record of defining and driving cross-organizational technical strategy
• Experience working across multiple domains (e.g., platform, cloud, CI/CD, developer tooling)
• Strong experience with internal developer platforms (IDP) and enabling self-service ecosystems
• Deep understanding of developer productivity, metrics, and engineering insights (e.g., DORA, DX)
• Experience improving CI/CD systems for reliability, speed, and predictability at scale
• Demonstrated ability to align multiple teams and stakeholders without direct authority
• Strong systems thinking with the ability to balance local needs vs. global optimization
• Recent experience driving or adopting AI-enabled development workflows across the SDLC
• Excellent communication and influencing skills across engineering and leadership levels
• Experience with cloud-native architectures and Kubernetes-based platforms
• Familiarity with progressive delivery (feature flags, canary releases)
• Familiarity with frontend platforms or microfrontend architectures [Nice to Have]
• EST or UK timezone for closer overlap with direct team members [Nice to Have]

What the job involves

• The Developer Experience team enables engineers to do their best work with high velocity, strong confidence, and a seamless path from local development to production, while ensuring improvements are coordinated across domains rather than optimized in isolation
• We’re looking for a Principal Engineer in Developer Experience (DevEx) to shape and drive a holistic developer experience strategy across AlphaSense
• This is a highly strategic, cross-cutting role focused on ensuring that developer experience evolves consistently and intentionally across the organization. You will operate across both Core Developer Experience (inner loop), that focused on local development, internal tooling, and productivity, and Cloud/Platform DX (outer loop), that focused on CI/CD and production systems, aligning efforts across teams with distinct ownership to create a cohesive, end-to-end developer experience
• You will work closely with the Head of Developer Productivity & Experience and other platform teams to define direction, priorities, and long-term strategy, making execution aligned and impactful. You will also establish a clear system of developer productivity metrics and engineering insights, ensuring decisions are data-informed and that improvements scale with the organization
• A key part of this role is driving the transformation of our SDLC through AI, identifying where it can fundamentally change how we build, test, and operate software, and leading its adoption to deliver step-change improvements in developer productivity and system reliability. This includes integrating AI deeply into day-to-day workflows while establishing the standards, guardrails, and engineering practices needed to scale its use safely and consistently
• Define and evolve the DevEx strategy across the org in partnership with engineering leadership
• Align and connect efforts across Core DX (inner loop) and Cloud/Platform DX (outer loop)
• Ensure a holistic approach to DevEx, avoiding local optimizations and fragmentation
• Identify and drive improvements across the end-to-end developer journey
• Establish and standardize developer productivity metrics and engineering insights (e.g., DORA, DX)
• Guide the evolution of internal developer platforms (IDP) and self-service capabilities across teams
• Drive consistency and reliability in CI/CD systems, ensuring fast and predictable delivery workflows
• Lead the adoption of AI-enabled SDLC practices across teams, enabling safe experimentation
• Partner with engineering, SRE, and platform teams to influence direction without direct ownership
• Act as a technical leader and mentor, raising the bar for DevEx thinking and execution

Benefits

• Work from home opportunities