Principal Software Engineer

Salary: £65,000 - 105,000 per year

Requirements:

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Strong software engineering experience with JavaScript or TypeScript and Node.js
• Significant experience designing and delivering complex software systems or platform capabilities
• Experience with Electron, Chromium-based applications, desktop application development, or comparable systems-level application platforms
• Strong understanding of application architecture, process boundaries, asynchronous systems, security, and software lifecycle management
• Experience leading technical design and implementation across multiple engineers
• Ability to take ambiguous or open-ended technical problems from investigation through architecture, implementation, and production delivery
• Strong debugging skills across multiple components, processes, or technology layers
• Experience with automated testing, continuous integration, source control, code review, and modern software delivery practices
• Experience communicating technical trade-offs and influencing decisions across engineering teams
• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and raise engineering quality through technical leadership
• Preferred: Deep experience with Electron architecture, including main, renderer, and preload processes, context isolation, inter-process communication, and security configuration
• Preferred: Strong understanding of Chromium architecture, runtime configuration, feature flags, release lifecycle, and developer tooling
• Preferred: Experience with C++, native Node.js modules, or interoperability between JavaScript and native platform APIs
• Preferred: Experience developing software using Windows APIs or other systems-level Windows technologies
• Preferred: Experience diagnosing memory, process, performance, startup, or crash problems in Chromium-based or native desktop applications
• Preferred: Familiarity with Electron or Chromium build tooling such as GN and Ninja
• Preferred: Experience with Windows application packaging, installers, code signing, updating, and enterprise software deployment
• Preferred: Experience designing shared APIs, SDKs, runtimes, or platform components consumed by multiple products or engineering teams
• Preferred: Experience with desktop application threat modeling and secure application architecture
• Preferred: Experience with software supply-chain security, dependency management, vulnerability response, and release provenance
• Preferred: Experience defining operational standards for a customer-facing desktop application
• The ideal candidate is comfortable working across platform architecture, TypeScript, Chromium behavior, Windows debugging, crash analysis, and engineer guidance
• The ideal candidate remains hands-on while considering long-term platform maintainability, provides clear technical leadership, and works effectively in uncertain problem spaces

Responsibilities:

• Define and evolve the Electron desktop platform architecture, including process boundaries, native capabilities, application interfaces, security controls, runtime configuration, and product integration patterns
• Design, prototype, implement, and review complex functionality across Electron, Chromium, Node.js, TypeScript, Windows APIs, and supporting native components
• Guide engineers through design and implementation decisions, mentor team members, review complex changes, establish engineering standards, and build desktop platform expertise
• Work with product teams and Autodesk platform teams responsible for security, identity, software distribution, telemetry, crash reporting, graphics, and other shared capabilities
• Partner with quality and release engineering to define release gates, runtime upgrade policies, observability, supportability, and production-readiness requirements
• Own the technical architecture of the shared desktop platform and establish clear boundaries between reusable platform capabilities and product-specific functionality
• Define secure communication between hosted web applications and privileged desktop functionality, including process isolation, inter-process communication, native API exposure, navigation controls, and trust boundaries
• Establish the Electron and Chromium upgrade strategy, including supported versions, configuration and build options, runtime feature enablement, compatibility assessment, and response to security updates
• Keep the platform as close as practical to supported upstream Electron and Chromium capabilities, avoiding unnecessary customization and long-term maintenance burden
• Lead the design of native Windows capabilities, including application lifecycle management, hardware and system-information access, GPU preference, protocol handling, operating-system integration, and enterprise deployment behavior
• Define stable interfaces that let Autodesk web applications use desktop capabilities without product-specific implementations or forks
• Work with the P3 Senior Software Engineer to turn platform objectives into technical designs, implementation plans, dependencies, and incremental deliverables
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to the P2 Software Engineer in Electron, Chromium, Node.js, Windows, debugging, and secure application design
• Partner with the teams SDET and CI/CD/Release Engineer to ensure the platform is testable, buildable, reproducible, diagnosable, and releasable through automated delivery pipelines
• Define technical requirements for build, packaging, signing, release promotion, rollback, and runtime qualification; day-to-day pipeline implementation remains with the engineer responsible for CI/CD and release automation
• Work with Autodesk application-security specialists on threat models, security findings, Electron and Chromium security best practices, and safe exposure of privileged desktop functionality
• Collaborate with graphics and rendering specialists on interfaces and requirements related to memory, GPU selection, hardware visibility, and runtime capabilities, while graphics implementation remains with the owning teams
• Lead evaluation of new Electron and Chromium releases, significant runtime capabilities, Windows platform changes, and other technologies that may affect the platform
• Diagnose complex issues spanning Electron, Chromium, Node.js, Windows, application lifecycle, memory, security, installation, and hosted web applications
• Use profiling, crash diagnostics, runtime tracing, native debugging tools, and Chromium developer tooling to understand complex system behavior
• Write and review architecture decision records, technical designs, platform interfaces, operational runbooks, and engineering standards
• Identify architectural risks, technical debt, reliability concerns, and opportunities to simplify the platform before they become delivery or support problems
• Ensure technical decisions account for future Autodesk products as well as the immediate needs of Forma
• Help establish an onboarding model that enables additional Autodesk web applications to adopt the desktop platform through well-defined configuration and integration points
• Participate in hiring and help establish the technical bar for engineers joining the team

Technologies:

• API
• CI/CD
• Electron
• Hardware
• Support
• JavaScript
• Security
• TypeScript
• Web
• Windows
• NodeJS
• Exposed

More:

We are building a new desktop platform that enables our web-based products to deliver richer, higher-performance experiences on Windows. Forma is the first product adopting the platform, with the longer-term goal of creating reusable desktop capabilities for additional Autodesk products. You will join a new cross-functional platform team working across Electron, Chromium, Windows desktop integration, software delivery, security, quality, and enterprise deployment, and work with engineers, quality and release specialists, product partners, and specialist teams across Autodesk. This is a hybrid, full-time position based in our Sheffield office, combining in-person collaboration with colleagues in Sheffield and work across distributed engineering teams. We help innovators turn ideas into reality, transforming how things are made and what can be made, and take pride in a culture that supports meaningful work and belonging. Salary offers reflect experience and geographic location; our competitive compensation package may include annual cash bonuses, sales commissions where applicable, stock grants, and comprehensive benefits. The role may require in-person onboarding and/or in-person identity verification.

last updated 39 week of 2026