Role ID: TT-TEC-PE-UK-001
Location: United Kingdom (Remote)
Employment Type: Full-time
Experience Level: Senior / Principal
An innovative AI technology company is building a next-generation platform that helps organisations detect and respond to disinformation attacks in real time.
By combining machine learning, large-scale data processing, and advanced intelligence techniques, the platform enables customers to identify emerging threats and respond within minutes. This is a rare opportunity to join at an early stage and shape both the product and the engineering culture.
This is a hands-on engineering leadership position focused on building production-grade systems rather than research.
The Role
We're looking for an experienced Principal Engineer with deep expertise in Go and large-scale distributed systems to help architect and build a high-performance intelligence platform from the ground up.
You'll work closely with senior technical leadership to define architecture, establish engineering standards, and deliver scalable solutions capable of processing massive volumes of internet-scale data.
This role combines technical leadership with hands-on software engineering and offers significant ownership over technical decisions.
Key Responsibilities
Design, build and operate highly scalable backend systems.
Develop distributed services capable of processing internet-scale datasets.
Build and optimise data ingestion, enrichment and analysis pipelines.
Architect reliable, resilient and high-performance production systems.
Develop rich multi-tenant web applications.
Balance immediate product delivery with long-term platform scalability.
Establish engineering standards, testing practices and code quality.
Mentor engineers and contribute to technical decision-making.
Work closely with product, machine learning and threat intelligence teams.
Requirements
Essential
Extensive commercial experience developing software with Go (Golang).
Proven experience scaling highly transactional production platforms.
Strong background building distributed backend systems.
Experience developing multi-tenant SaaS or enterprise web applications.
Hands-on experience with streaming and batch data processing frameworks.
Experience designing high-performance APIs and scalable architectures.
Strong SQL knowledge and experience with relational databases.
Excellent understanding of cloud-native development and production operations.
Experience mentoring engineers and leading technical initiatives.
Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.
Highly Desirable
Experience within one or more of the following industries:
Cyber Security
National Security
Threat Intelligence
Financial Services
KYC / AML platforms
Fraud Detection
Risk Intelligence
Experience building systems that process:
Internet-scale datasets
High-dimensional data
High-throughput ingestion pipelines
Real-time intelligence platforms
Tech Stack
Go · Python · SQL (Postgres) · NoSQL (MongoDB, Redis, Neo4J, ElasticSearch/OpenSearch) · Vector databases (Pinecone, Qdrant) · Streaming frameworks (Benthos, Flink) · Batch processing (Spark) · Airflow · Frontend (Go with Templ and HTMX)
What You'll Bring
Strong systems design and architecture skills.
Pragmatic approach to solving complex engineering challenges.
Passion for building reliable, scalable production software.
Ability to thrive in an early-stage, fast-moving environment.
Ownership mindset with a bias toward execution.
Collaborative leadership style and mentoring experience.
What's Offered
Competitive salary
Equity / Share options
25 days annual leave
Additional day off on your birthday
Private pension contributions
Flexible remote working
Quarterly team events
Opportunity to shape a cutting-edge AI platform from its earliest stages
Interested?
If you're passionate about building highly scalable distributed systems, enjoy solving complex engineering challenges, and want to help create technology that has real-world impact, we'd love to hear from you.
Apply now with your CV and a brief overview of your experience with Go, distributed systems, and large-scale production platforms.
Skills Required
- Extensive commercial experience developing software with Go (Golang).
- Proven experience scaling highly transactional production platforms.
- Strong background building distributed backend systems.
- Experience developing multi-tenant SaaS or enterprise web applications.
- Hands-on experience with streaming and batch data processing frameworks.
- Experience designing high-performance APIs and scalable architectures.
- Strong SQL knowledge and experience with relational databases.
- Excellent understanding of cloud-native development and production operations.
- Experience mentoring engineers and leading technical initiatives.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills in English.
- Experience in Cyber Security, National Security, Threat Intelligence, Financial Services, KYC/AML, Fraud Detection or Risk Intelligence.
- Experience building systems that process internet-scale datasets and high-dimensional data.
- Experience with high-throughput ingestion pipelines and real-time intelligence platforms.
- Familiarity with Python, Postgres, MongoDB, Redis, Neo4J, ElasticSearch/OpenSearch, vector DBs (Pinecone, Qdrant), Benthos, Flink, Spark, Airflow, Templ, HTMX.
What We Do
REF Digital is a Montreal-based digital agency that helps businesses thrive in a digital-first economy. They specialize in designing and engineering bespoke e-commerce platforms, apps, and digital experiences engineered for lasting impact. Formed from the digital team of Groupe LG2, the agency combines strategy, technology, and design to help brands navigate the digital economy and propel their online presence to a new level.
.png)
