Lead platform-wide efforts to improve system stability, performance, telemetry, and operational visibility.
Define and evolve Ascend's observability strategy across metrics, logs, traces, alerting, dashboards, and diagnostics.
Investigate complex system performance issues across services, databases, infrastructure, and integrations.
Drive a more proactive operating model by identifying risks and bottlenecks before they become customer-facing incidents.
Partner closely with engineering teams to improve reliability under load and performance in production.
Establish standards, patterns, and engineering practices for performance testing, instrumentation, and operational readiness.
Use telemetry and production data to guide prioritisation, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement.
Support major incident diagnosis where needed, while reducing long-term dependence on reactive firefighting.
Influence architecture and platform decisions to improve scalability, resilience, and transparency of system behaviour.
Mentor engineers and technical leaders in performance thinking, observability, and reliability engineering practices.

Proven experience operating at Principal or Staff Engineer level in complex, distributed software environments.
Deep expertise in observability, telemetry, monitoring, and performance engineering.
Strong hands-on capability across services, databases, APIs, infrastructure, and production diagnostics.
Demonstrated ability to identify systemic issues and implement durable engineering improvements.
Experience improving reliability and performance in growing SaaS or enterprise platforms.
Strong incident analysis and root cause investigation skills.
Ability to work cross-functionally and influence multiple teams without direct authority.
Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate technical risks and trade-offs for engineering and business leaders.
Track record of balancing strategic leadership with practical delivery and hands-on technical problem solving.

Principal Engineer – Performance and Reliability

Key skills