Technical Principal

About Softwire

Softwire is a leading UK technology and strategy consultancy. From enterprise to government, we help visionary organisations turn strategic ambitions into results at scale. Our practices cover AI transformation, data platforms, systems engineering and experience design.

Softwire was founded on one simple idea: be the outstanding place to work for smart, passionate technologists who want to make an impact. Attract the best, create a culture where people thrive, and offer our customers access to capabilities that are truly market leading.

And it seems to be working - We were recently voted number 1 company to work for in the UK at the Best Company awards; we employ outstanding people across all capabilities (typical destinations after Softwire include Google, DeepMind, start-up founder, algorithmic trading, and AI research roles); and we have helped our clients deliver some of the hardest, most interesting tech programmes, across private and public sectors.

A big part of this is our culture and values and we are looking for people who share our core beliefs about what makes a great place to work:

• That if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly

• That work should be fulfilling but can also be fun

• That kindness matters and should be extended to employees and clients alike

• That by being trusting and trustworthy as an organisation and as individuals we can dispense with tedious bureaucracy and rules

In Brief

We’re looking for experienced senior technologists with equal parts deep technical knowledge, and practical experience deploying that knowledge to deliver value in a business and industry context.

You will be responsible for devising novel and practical solutions to our clients’ trickiest problems and then getting them implemented to deliver business outcomes. This will require

• using your extensive technical knowledge and experience

• an outcomes-first focus on using technology to deliver business benefits

• curiosity and knowledge of our clients’ businesses and industries

• outstanding advisory and client communication skills.

You build relationships with senior stakeholders based on your personal credibility and ability to add value for our clients. You can engage with them in the business terms that resonate, and can tell them things they don’t know about they can deploy technology to help them solve problems.

You are also keen to take on wider Technical Principal responsibilities – actively taking ownership of ensuring the commercial success of your projects, and playing a part in enabling the wider success of Softwire.

The Role

• Using your knowledge, skills and experience to devise solutions to hard problems and deliver real world solutions for our clients.

• Building strong relationships with clients and using these to generate client loyalty and growth.

• Taking part in pre-sales: leading early-stage meetings, impactful contributions to bids and pitches.

• Mentoring and coaching junior colleagues in both technical and consultancy skills.

• Taking overall responsibility for the quality of delivered solutions, either working individually or as part of a team with oversight over the quality within your area of expertise.

• Actively contributing to a Softwire community of practice in your area and helping produce relevant thought leadership content.

• Taking part in networking and representing Softwire at events.

• Working alongside Delivery Directors to ensure clients receive a great service and experience.

About You

• You have 6+ years experience in technical roles, including at least 3 years in an agency/consultancy context. You have deep knowledge and proven experience in least one of the following areas:

  • Cloud platform architecture/migration (AWS and/or Azure)

  • Data engineering

  • Digital platform architecture and enterprise modernisation

  • AI Engineering

• You have a track record designing and delivering complex technical solutions that deliver business benefits to clients.

• You are comfortable working in ambiguous contexts, making decisions with incomplete information and working with multiple stakeholder agendas. You work to distil disparate needs, ideas and problems into clear, practical solutions with broad buy-in.

• You are interested in not just the technology, but also the business and industry side and have relevant knowledge and context in one of more of our sectors. From the first meeting you show up knowledgeable about the client’s industry and business strategy, and ready to advise and guide them on how they can use technology to deliver their goals. Your clients will regard you as a trusted adviser, someone who can inspire them and provide solutions to their problems.

• You have excellent consulting and advisory skills. You are able to lead, persuade, explain and communicate with all levels of stakeholders, including C-suite. You are comfortable presenting, have excellent writing skills, and a keen understanding of narrative and message structure.

• You have a track record of forming strong relationships and leveraging these for on-sell and cross-sell of our services. You are proactive at finding additional areas we can add value for clients and shaping solutions they are willing to buy.

• You are collaborative and your default approach is to work as a team, openly share information, resources and comms – you see all other colleagues as allies. You are comfortable in a culture which values and rewards collective success over personal attribution and that takes a “One Team” approach to everything we do.

• You take a can-do approach and don’t mind getting your hands dirty and leaning into issues and opportunities that you identify. You don’t need a perfect environment to thrive and you are comfortable taking ownership of situations and problems with a positive approach to addressing them.

• You have pre-sales experience in an agency context. You are comfortable leading opportunity stage meetings to identify goals, develop bespoke solutions tailored to the client’s specific context and business need, and to create compelling narratives that explain how we will help and why they should choose us.

• You are a leader: people want to follow you, whether they report to you or not and whether they work for Softwire, the client, or another party.

What We Offer

Softwire operates transparent pay scales and a profit share scheme based on role and overall company performance

• Base salary is based on experience in role and ranges from £95,700 - £107,800.

• You can expect to receive an average of between £15,000 - £20,000 in profit share depending on your experience and company performance.

• Pension: Additional 5% of salary

Additional benefits

• 25 days annual leave (with the option to buy 10 and sell 5)

• 3.5 days additional days off for company-wide morale activities

• AIG income protection

• Travel card loan scheme

• Zero emission car scheme

• Cycle to work scheme

• Enhanced maternity/paternity pay

• Time off for charitable activities

• Sabbatical available on request

• Payroll charity donations

• Headspace plus

• Free annual eye test

• Long service awards

• Flexible working options and patterns

• (Flexible Working: The role is suitable for people who want to work 4dpw)

• (Hybrid Working: Generally able to work at least 2dpw from home)