Principal Engineer — The Rocks, Sydney

Job Description Principal Engineer – Lead Tech with Purpose & Scale Sydney / Melbourne / Hybrid | Full-Time | Senior-Level Up to $220k super excellent shares About the Role Are you a deeply technical, product-focused engineer who’s ready to take ownership of the architecture, performance, and scalability of a rapidly growing platform? If so, why not join a mission-driven team that's revolutionizing an outdated industry by putting health, sustainability, and innovation first. This is your opportunity to lead from the front, guide complex projects across the stack, and influence the future of both the product and engineering craft. We’re looking for a Principal Engineer who thrives on solving real-world problems with elegant software. Someone who’s hands-on in code, trusted across teams for architectural leadership, and excited by the challenge of scaling systems that interact with physical products and real-time logistics. This is a high-impact, high-autonomy role for a technical leader who wants to stay close to the engineering action, while shaping the direction of the platform long-term. Why Join? Join a fast-scaling, venture-backed start-up redefining the health and wellbeing space through smart, data-driven, and sustainable products. Work with a diverse and high-performing team of engineers, designers, operators, and product leaders who are passionate about solving meaningful problems. Contribute to a mission that has real impact—helping pets live longer, healthier lives and reducing environmental impact along the way. Flexible work arrangements, pet-friendly offices, and generous benefits that support your career and personal wellbeing. Annual learning and development budget, 18 weeks paid parental leave top-up, mental wellness support, and dog-related perks (yes, really!). What You’ll Do Drive technical excellence across the engineering team by setting a high bar for architecture, scalability, and code quality. Own and evolve core backend services and frontend components—delivering reliable, performant systems that power user-facing experiences and internal tools. Guide the long-term engineering roadmap, collaborating closely with product, design, data, and operations to translate business goals into scalable tech strategy. Lead critical code and design reviews, acting as a multiplier for the team through mentoring, pair programming, and system-level thinking. Champion clean code, observability, and security as non-negotiables in our development practices. Shape engineering culture by participating in technical guilds and influencing how cross-functional teams work and grow. Innovate at the intersection of digital and physical—collaborating with manufacturing, logistics, and fulfilment teams to create software that powers real-world operations. What We’re Looking For Solid experience as a software engineer, with a strong track record of building and scaling cloud-native systems in fast-paced environments. Time served operating at a Principal Engineer or Staff Engineer level, with influence across multiple teams or domains. Hands-on expertise with TypeScript, NestJS, Vue, Postgres, and AWS in production environments. Deep understanding of distributed systems, microservice design, and modern DevOps practices. Proven ability to simplify complex problems and align stakeholders on pragmatic technical solutions. Experience working with manufacturing, IoT, logistics, or physical product environments is a bonus. If you’re a principal-level engineer looking to work with purpose, influence product strategy through technology, and stay deeply technical while mentoring others we’d love to hear from you. Apply now or reach out to Jon Holland or Indigo Munro on Linkedin to start a conversation!