Shape scalable tech. Lead with impact.
Why is this role made for you?
You’ve built solid systems. You’ve mentored teams. Now you’re ready to take ownership—architecting solutions that scale across Europe while guiding other engineers to grow.
We’re looking for a Principal Engineer living in the Netherlands who’s ready to lead from within: technically sharp, culturally aware, and business-savvy. You’ll bridge vision and execution in a role where your leadership directly accelerates international growth.
What you'Il do
Architect & Guide
Design modular, scalable systems (Java/Spring Boot & Angular) built to grow
Shape long-term architecture with an eye for quality and team autonomy
Align cross-domain tech initiatives with business strategy
Mentor & Empower
Be the go-to for engineering questions, decisions, and growth
Coach senior and medior engineers in best practices and architectural thinking
Stimulate ownership and learning in every sprint
Set Standards
Define and document best practices for backend, frontend, and DevOps
Elevate CI/CD, test automation, observability, and release pipelines
Champion clean code, system resilience, and performance tuning
Collaborate & Align
Work closely with Dutch and international colleagues—Product Owners, Platform Leads, Engineering Managers
Ensure shared vision across all engineering efforts
Cloud & Infrastructure
Lead AWS optimization (EC2, Lambda, RDS, S3, CloudWatch)
Promote Infrastructure as Code (CDK/Terraform), security, and automation
Drive Innovation
Introduce practical tools like domain-driven design, event-driven architecture, and micro-frontends where they fit
Continuously improve what already works—and know what to leave alone
8+ years of experience in software engineering (min. 2 years in Principal/Staff/Tech Lead role)
Deep Java expertise with Spring Boot in distributed systems
Strong Angular experience (frontend patterns, performance, scalability)
Real-world AWS experience, especially with cloud-native development
Infrastructure as code (CDK/Terraform), CI/CD pipelines, test automation
You live and work in the Netherlands
Fluent in English (Dutch is a bonus, not a must)
Strategic and practical: you balance delivery with long-term quality
Trusted by peers and stakeholders—you're a listener, mentor, and builder
Resilient, proactive, and ready for growth
Bonus if you have
Led modernization efforts (replatforming, DDD, legacy refactoring)
Experience with micro-frontends or event-driven systems
JVM or Angular performance optimization at scale
Experience navigating international rollouts from the Netherlands
Any questions?
Feel free to ask, I'm happy to help!
✍️ Submit your application
📲 We’ll reach out to you
within 48 hours
🤝 First interview
📚 Assessment
🤝 Second interview
📄 Job offer
🎉 Welcome to HeadFirst Group!
Én de mogelijkheid tot bij- of verkopen van dagen. Wij werken hard, maar vergeten niet te ontspannen.
Met meer dan 450 collega's hebben wij altijd iets te vieren. Als één team staan wij stil bij verjaardagen, jubilea en andere successen!
Werk aan je mentale gezondheid met toegang tot het platform OpenUp. Wij leren elke dag en daarom kun je bij ons gratis opleidingen en cursussen volgen om jezelf te blijven ontwikkelen.
Je doelen behalen en dit terugzien in de vorm van een bonus? Dat kan bij ons! Hard werken wordt beloond.
Werk op één van onze 4 locaties, thuis, of op elke andere plek waar jij je prettig voelt. Uiteraard ontvang jij een mobiliteits- en thuiswerkvergoeding vanuit ons.
Maak gebruik van de gratis sportfaciliteiten, fijne werkplekken en geniet van een heerlijk lunchbuffet. Een geduchte concurrent van thuis!
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