Overview

Join to apply for the Principal Engineer (Backend) role at IVC Evidensia.

IVC Evidensia is undergoing an exciting digital transformation. We're building modern, scalable systems that empower veterinary professionals to deliver outstanding care — and that starts with getting our digital foundations right. Whether you're in a clinic, an office, or working remotely, every role at IVC contributes to better outcomes for pets, vets, and pet owners alike. As part of our central technology team, you’ll help shape the tools and platforms that support more than 2,500 veterinary practices across 20 countries.

The Role

As a Principal Backend Engineer, you’ll lead architectural decisions and hands-on development of complex systems using modern engineering practices and cloud-native design.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and architectural guidance across multiple engineering teams
• Design and implement scalable, secure, and event-driven microservices
• Partner with Engineering Managers and Architects to shape our long-term system architecture
• Lead delivery of large-scale, cross-cutting technical initiatives
• Promote engineering excellence through TDD, pair programming, CI/CD, and DevOps
• Mentor Senior and Lead Engineers, supporting technical growth and leadership development
• Actively contribute to codebases when needed to guide or unblock high-impact work
• Collaborate closely with Product, UX, Data, and Platform Engineering teams
• Champion observability best practices, including metrics, logging, and tracing
• Keep up to date with industry trends to influence our technology strategy

You’ll Bring

We're looking for a hands-on technical leader with strong engineering instincts, system-level thinking, and a collaborative mindset.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of hands-on software engineering experience
• Proven experience designing and scaling distributed, event-driven microservices
• Strong knowledge of .NET/C# and the AWS cloud ecosystem
• Experience with EKS/Kubernetes, container orchestration, and infrastructure-as-code (e.g., CDK, Terraform)
• Proficiency with relational and non-relational databases (e.g., SQL Server, PostgreSQL, DynamoDB)
• Experience with messaging and pub/sub platforms (e.g., SNS/SQS, EventBridge)
• Commitment to quality development practices: TDD, code reviews, design patterns
• Strong mentoring and leadership experience within high-performing teams
• Solid understanding of observability tooling and incident response

Benefits

• Flexible remote or hybrid working (UK-based)
• Dog-friendly office when you visit the Chocolate Factory
• 6.6 weeks\' annual leave including bank holidays
• Birthday leave – take the day off to celebrate
• Enhanced family-friendly policies and discretionary bonus
• Reduced-cost veterinary care for your own pets
• Private medical insurance or Cash Health Plan (eligibility applies)
• Company pension scheme with IVC contributions
• Cycle to Work and Green Car schemes (eligibility applies)
• Retail discounts and cashback offers
• 24/7 confidential Employee Assistance Programme
• Ongoing wellbeing and professional development initiatives

Job Details

• Seniority level: Mid-Senior level
• Employment type: Full-time
• Job function: Engineering and Information Technology
• Industries: Veterinary Services

Location: Bristol, England, United Kingdom