Who we are ¡Hola We’re On the Beach. There’s over 600 of us, mostly at home, and sometimes in our office in Manchester. We send nearly two million people on holiday every year (not together) and we’re expecting to get to three million pretty sharpish. Why? Because we’re the only holiday company who truly gets why going on your jollies is the most wonderful time of the year. With our market-leading offers, scalable, flexible and innovative technology, strong customer-value proposition and low-cost base, we’re challenging existing players and redefining how customers book, manage and experience their holidays. On the Beach Group plc is one of the UK's largest online beach holiday retailers, with significant opportunities for growth so our story’s only really just begun… We're on the lookout for talented, beach-loving people to join us and contribute to the next chapter of our story. We're a down to earth and friendly bunch, with little bureaucracy or hierarchy, and whilst we may have grown in size, we've not lost our entrepreneurial spirit. It's in our DNA. You'll find diverse teams, reflective of the world we live in and the customers we serve. We believe strongly that difference, not uniformity, is critical to our success. We know that better decisions happen when they are made by a range of voices, perspectives and experiences. As an equal opportunities’ employer, we value and welcome applications from all sections of the community. What you’ll be doing Join us at On The Beach and help shape the future of travel technology. As a Principal Engineer, you'll play a crucial role in transforming how millions of people discover, book, and experience travel through our platforms. This is an opportunity to drive technical innovation at scale while working with cutting-edge technologies across our full stack. You'll architect and drive technical decisions that extend beyond individual teams to influence our entire technology platform. Your work will create new travel experiences that delight customers while building reusable patterns that accelerate development across our organisation. Lead technical strategy and architectural decisions for our core travel booking platforms Design and implement scalable solutions spanning frontend and backend services Create reusable technical patterns that can be leveraged across multiple teams Drive adoption of emerging technologies that enhance our customer experience Work closely with product and engineering teams to deliver technical excellence Mentor and grow senior technical talent across the organisation About you Skills that you will bring to On the Beach include: Technical Leadership & Architecture 10 years of software engineering experience with proven technical leadership Track record designing distributed systems and scalable architectures Deep expertise in cloud platforms (AWS) and modern web technologies Experience building high throughput booking systems and real-time services Strong ability to bridge frontend and backend technical domains Engineering Excellence Expert knowledge of JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystems and React Deep understanding of database technologies and system optimisation Experience implementing comprehensive monitoring and security practices Track record of zero-downtime deployments and production excellence Strong background in testing strategies and CI/CD automation Leadership Impact Proven ability to influence and build consensus across teams Excellence in mentoring senior engineers and building strong teams Track record of driving technical decisions at organizational scale Strong communication skills and stakeholder management History of contributions to the broader tech community This role offers the opportunity to make a lasting impact on travel technology while working with cutting-edge tools and talented engineers. If you're passionate about technical excellence and building systems at scale, we want to hear from you. What to expect from our interview process: All our interviews are on Microsoft Teams, where you will meet a mixture of leaders and members of the team from across Product and Tech so you get to chance to ask your questions to the people you will be working alongside. We want to make sure everybody has the opportunity to perform at their best. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the interview process, please let the Talent team know and they will be happy to assist. Our ways of working: This role is full time hours, 37.5 hours per week, working Monday – Friday 09:00 - 17:00. We offer hybrid working, you’ll be in the office 2 days per week and working from home 3 days per week, we have a hybrid policy where this can flex depending on location. Our benefits We might be biased but we think our colleagues are pretty great. They're the people that have made On the Beach what it is today and continue to make it vibrant and successful tomorrow. That's why we offer a competitive benefits package, known as our Beach Perks, to all On the Beach colleagues. These include: · 25 days holiday plus your birthday off · Generous discount on holidays plus you will receive 2 extra days annual leave on top of your holiday allowance to use whilst you're away on your On the Beach package holiday · Flexible working hours and hybrid working · Access to Learnerbly learning platform, plus workshops, courses and professional qualifications · Enhanced maternity, paternity, shared parental leave and adoption pay, plus other family friendly support · Employee Assistance Programme and free access to counselling · SimplyHealth Optimise Health Plan · Company Sick Pay scheme · Regular wellbeing events · Gym discount · Share Incentive Plan (SIP) · Death in Service cover · Onsite subsidised coffee shop · The Sandbox (our very own bar) · Regular social events · Cycle to Work scheme