Principal Software Engineer

Location: UK or Hungary (or as agreed)
Contract: Permanent, Full-Time

At Hawk-Eye Innovations, we're developing a brand-new sports technology product from the ground up, and we're looking for a Principal Software Engineer to play a pivotal role in shaping its success.

This is an opportunity to join at the beginning of the journey, influencing architecture, technology choices, and engineering direction while building systems that will power the next generation of sports technology.

We're looking for a highly experienced backend engineer who thrives in fast-moving environments, enjoys solving complex technical challenges, and is excited by the opportunity to create scalable, high-performance systems from scratch. While this role is backend-focused, you'll work closely with frontend engineers, product teams, and data specialists to deliver a complete product experience.

As a Principal Software Engineer, you'll be responsible for designing and building the backend services, APIs, and data pipelines that sit at the heart of the product.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Designing and developing backend services and APIs that support real-time data ingestion, transformation, and delivery.

• Building scalable, low-latency, high-throughput systems capable of handling demanding performance requirements.

• Owning data architecture and pipeline design, including integration with streaming and event-driven technologies.

• Defining and evolving API contracts that enable seamless collaboration across engineering teams.

• Working closely with frontend engineers to shape data structures, contracts, and technical approaches.

• Collaborating with computer vision, machine learning, and data science teams to integrate complex data workflows into the product.

• Contributing to key architectural decisions that will influence the long-term scalability, maintainability, and performance of the platform.

• Leveraging AI-assisted and agentic development tools to accelerate delivery while applying strong engineering judgment and oversight.

• Providing technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance across the wider engineering organisation.

We're seeking someone who combines deep technical expertise with strong communication skills and a collaborative mindset.

You'll likely have:

• Significant experience building production-grade backend systems using Java.

• A strong track record of developing low-latency, high-throughput applications.

• Experience designing and implementing distributed systems, event-driven architectures, and data pipelines.

• Knowledge of streaming technologies such as Kafka or similar platforms.

• Experience designing and evolving APIs in rapidly changing product environments.

• Working knowledge of modern frontend technologies such as React and TypeScript, enabling effective collaboration and technical oversight.

• Experience working with cloud infrastructure and modern identity and access management approaches.

• Strong experience using AI-assisted or agentic development tools to improve engineering productivity and delivery.

• The ability to navigate ambiguity and make sound technical decisions in an evolving product environment.

• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence technical direction across multiple disciplines.

This isn't a role where you'll inherit a mature platform and simply maintain it.

You'll have the opportunity to:

• Build a new product from the ground up.

• Influence architecture and technology decisions from day one.

• Work on real-time, data-intensive sports technology challenges.

• Collaborate with experts across software engineering, computer vision, machine learning, and product development.

• Help define how AI-assisted engineering is used within a modern development team.

• Make a lasting impact on both the product and the wider engineering organisation.

If you're excited by technical ownership, complex engineering challenges, and the opportunity to shape a product at an early stage, we'd love to hear from you.