Principal Software Engineering Architect

Company Overview team.blue is an ecosystem of successful brands working together across regions to provide customers with everything they need to succeed online. 60+ successful brands make up the group; with a team of 2700 experts serving its 3.3 million customers across Europe and beyond.team.blue's brands are a mix of traditional hosting businesses, offering services from domain names, email, shared hosting, e-commerce and server hosting solutions and specialist SaaS providers offering adjacent products such as compliance, marketing tools and team collaboration products. This broad product offering makes it a one-stop partner for online businesses and entrepreneurs across Europe.Position Overview We are seeking a highly skilled Principal Software Engineering Architect to lead our group-wide software architecture strategy, drive innovation, and ensure scalable, efficient, and high-performance solutions. This role will play a critical part in defining the technical direction, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and ensuring that our technology aligns with business objectives.Ideal candidates will have a strong technical background, proven leadership experience, and excellent communication skills.Key Responsibilities: Lead the design and development of scalable, high-performing, and secure software architectures. Define architectural best practices, design patterns, and technology roadmaps. Identify opportunities for standardization, consolidation, and cost savings through architecture. Collaborate with architects and engineering teams to ensure high-quality software delivery. Evaluate and recommend new technologies, tools, and frameworks. Lead and mentor the Software Architect team, working across diverse programming languages and geographical regions. Partner with product, engineering, DevOps, and security leaders to design and evolve system architectures that support current and future business goals. Oversee architectural governance, ensuring compliance with security and regulatory standards. Drive innovation and contribute to strategic planning for technology evolution. Conduct architectural reviews, evaluate trade-offs, and ensure best practices in software design, performance, security, and reliability Serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership on architecture-related decisions and future technology investments. Facilitate collaboration between engineering, product, and business teams to ensure alignment on architectural decisions. Ensure adherence to the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and implement best practices for quality assurance and security. Utilize tools and methodologies to measure and maintain high levels of software security and quality. Oversee key architectural initiatives, migrations, and platform evolution. Establish and maintain robust architecture documentation practices, ensuring clarity, traceability, and long-term maintainability of system designs. Define and evolve architecture governance processes, including decision-making frameworks, review cadences, and documentation standards across teams Qualifications: 10+ years of experience in software development, with at least 5 years in an architectural leadership role Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field Strong expertise in designing scalable and secure software architectures. Deep understanding of microservices, distributed systems, and API design. Proficiency in multiple programming languages (e.g., PHP, Java, Python, C#, JavaScript). Experience with DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes). Strong problem-solving skills with a strategic and analytical mindset. Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence and collaborate across teams. Comprehensive understanding of SDLC, quality assurance practices, and security measures. Demonstrated experience in authoring and maintaining architecture documentation, blueprints, and standards. Strong analytical skills and a strategic mindset Excellent English communication skills, both written and spoken