colayer

Location: European Union - Remote

Project Duration: 6-12 months, extension possible

Commitment: Full-time

Languages: English, German is a plus

 

Please read before applying:

This role is for principal developers who are still in the code 80% of their time, solving real problems, deploying real systems, and continuously pushing quality forward. We need to solve problems in a pragmatic, code-focused way. If your recent roles were mostly management, team leadership, or coordination, this is likely not the right fit.

 

JOB DESCRIPTION

Our client is looking for a hands-on Principal Software Developer with deep computer science fundamentals and a pragmatic, product-oriented mindset. You combine strong architectural thinking with the ability to ship high-quality code thoughtfully and predictably.

 

You are fluent in modern engineering practices, comfortable in heterogeneous, service-oriented and distributed environments, and focus on writing robust, maintainable code for systems that scale.

 

You will help evolve a business-critical platform—leading the transition from a heterogeneous semi-distributed codebase to a strategically aligned, reliable, and scalable architecture. You will balance delivery speed with long-term sustainability and champion tools and techniques that multiply engineering effectiveness.

 

What you'll do:

\- Design, build, and run a business-critical software platform using modern frameworks and programming languages

\- Spearhead the migration from a semi-distributed codebase to a unified, scalable architecture

\- Analyze trade-offs, risks, dependencies, and user value to drive technical decisions

\- Solve complex technical problems hands-on, not from the sidelines

\- Operate close to production: build it, ship it, support it

\- Champion clean code, test coverage, and performance-first thinking

\- Evaluate and apply emerging developer tools where they provide real leverage (e.g., GitHub Copilot, GPT agents, etc.)

 

Who we're looking for:

\- 8 to 12 years of professional experience in software development with at least 80–100% of your last 2-3 years spent coding, shipping, and deploying

\- Expert knowledge of C#/.NET Core

\- Proven track record of delivering production-grade systems

\- Proficient in functional programming and strong static typing (F#, Scala 3, Rust, Haskell, Kotlin, OCaml, etc.)

\- Applied architectural knowledge: modular monoliths, microservices, event-driven systems, actors, etc.

\- Experience working in distributed systems: idempotency, consistency, backpressure, observability

\- Confident working with relational databases (schema design, migrations, tuning)

\- Familiarity with modern delivery stacks: Git, GitOps, CI/CD, Docker, etc.

\- Strong communication and collaboration skills; self-starter attitude

\- Fluent English (C1/C2); German is a strong plus

 

Nice to Have

\- Experience with Kubernetes and Infrastructure-as-Code tools (e.g. Terraform, Pulumi)

\- Familiarity with AI-assisted engineering tools (Copilot, GPT, linters, analyzers)

\- Experience with platform abstraction, developer enablement, or internal tooling

Software Development

Testing

Kotlin

Microservices

Database

Scala

Docker

Continuous Integration

Rust

Haskell

Terraform

Support

Communications

Team collaboration

.NET Core

OCaml

Modular Code

Event-Driven Architecture

Relational Database

CI/CD

Kubernetes

Infrastructure as Code

Freelance Principal Software Engineer – Platform Architecture and Developer Enablement (Hands-On Coding / Modern Stack)