Entity:

Technology

Job Family Group:

IT&S Group

Job Description:

The Senior Principal Engineer for ST&S is the senior-most technology leader within ST&S, accountable for engineering strategy, technology direction, and the technical health of the digital estate.

The role is responsible for building and leading a high-performing engineering organisation that delivers secure, reliable, scalable and commercially valuable products and platforms.

The Senior Principal Engineer drives engineering excellence, modern software delivery practices, platform engineering, AI adoption, and technical innovation across ST&S.

Architecture is a key accountability, ensuring technology decisions align to an intentional enterprise architecture and long-term strategic direction with the primary focus of the role being engineering leadership, technology execution, and technical outcomes.

The role partners closely with business leaders, delivery teams, and Group Digital to translate commercial priorities into practical technology solutions that enhance competitiveness, operational effectiveness, and business growth.

What you will do...

Engineering Leadership & Technology Delivery

• Define and lead the engineering strategy for ST&S products, platforms, and digital capabilities.
• Establish and continuously improve engineering standards, practices, and ways of working.
• Build a strong engineering culture focused on quality, reliability, innovation, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Drive adoption of modern software engineering practices including platform engineering, site reliability engineering, automation, and AI-assisted development.
• Provide technical leadership and assurance across major programmes, products, and critical initiatives.
• Improve engineering productivity, delivery velocity, stability, and operational resilience.
• Lead technical decision-making for complex and business-critical technology challenges.

AI, Data & Technology Innovation

• Drive practical adoption of AI and agentic capabilities across trading, supply, risk, shipping, and supporting functions.
• Identify emerging technologies and assess their applicability to ST&S business outcomes.
• Champion engineering innovation through experimentation, proof-of-concepts, and scalable implementation.
• Ensure modern data and platform capabilities are available to support analytics, automation, decision intelligence, and future AI use cases.
• Assess market and technology developments and advise ST&S leadership on strategic opportunities and risks.

Enterprise Architecture & Technical Governance

• Be responsible for the technology strategy and target-state architecture for ST&S.
• Ensure architectural decisions support long-term engineering sustainability, scalability, security, and cost-effectiveness.
• Lead the ST&S Technical Design Authority and technology governance processes.
• Drive simplification of the technology estate and reduction of technical debt.
• Ensure alignment with enterprise standards, cybersecurity requirements, and Group Digital architecture principles.

Platforms, Reliability & Operational Excellence

• Ensure digital products and platforms meet agreed standards for reliability, availability, performance, security, and operational supportability.
• Sponsor platform modernisation and transformation initiatives.
• Drive observability, incident reduction, operational excellence, and service resilience.
• Establish engineering metrics and indicators that measure quality, throughput, reliability, and value delivery.

Technology Investment & Portfolio Leadership

• Shape technology investment strategies and priorities within the annual digital investment process.
• Provide technical assurance and challenge for major investments and proposals.
• Drive cost-efficient technology decisions and cloud optimisation.
• Partner with strategic vendors and technology partners to maximise value and innovation.

Leadership & Talent Development

• Build and lead a world-class engineering and architecture community.
• Attract, develop, and retain principal engineers, distinguished engineers, architects, and technical leaders.
• Establish clear technical career pathways and engineering capability frameworks.
• Coach leaders and engineers to raise technical excellence across ST&S.
• Foster an inclusive, high-performing, engineering-led culture

What you will bring...

Essential

• Experience leading software engineering organisations in complex enterprise environments.
• Demonstrated success building and scaling modern engineering practices across multiple teams and products.
• Deep expertise in software engineering, cloud-native platforms, distributed systems, integration, data engineering, and AI technologies.
• Proven ability to lead highly skilled engineering teams and technical communities.
• Strong track record of delivering complex technology transformations and modernisation programmes.
• Experience influencing executive partners and shaping technology strategy.

Desirable

• Experience within commodities trading, energy markets, financial services, or other real-time, data-intensive industries.
• Knowledge of quantitative platforms, algorithmic decision-making systems, market data technologies, or high-performance computing environments.
• Familiarity with bp Digital operating models and enterprise technology governance frameworks.

What success in this role looks like...

• Measurable improvements in engineering productivity, quality, reliability, and deployment velocity.
• Reduction in operational incidents, technical debt, and platform complexity.
• Successful deployment of AI-enabled capabilities across priority ST&S domains.
• Increased adoption of common engineering platforms and standard methodologies.
• Strong engineering talent pipeline and improved technical capability across the organisation.
• Technology strategy and architecture consistently guiding investment and delivery decisions.
• Demonstrable business value delivered through technology innovation and engineering excellence

Why join us?

We’re committed to supporting leaders who want to make an impact. At bp, you’ll have the chance to shape and influence outcomes across businesses. You’ll be part of an inclusive environment where diverse perspectives are valued, and where your contribution to performance and integration matters. We invest in the growth and wellbeing of our people, providing the resources, networks, and development opportunities needed to thrive.

Our total rewards package includes competitive pay, bonuses, share options, and a range of flexible benefits designed to meet your needs — from healthcare and retirement plans to paid time off and agile working. We recognise that people have multifaceted lives, and we strive to offer a career experience that reflects that.

Apply now!

Travel Requirement

Up to 10% travel should be expected with this role

Relocation Assistance:

This role is not eligible for relocation

Remote Type:

This position is a hybrid of office/remote working

Skills:

Agility core practices, Business modelling, Creativity and Innovation, Data Analysis, Data design, Digital Analytics, Emerging technology monitoring, Information Assurance, Integration, IT Management, IT strategy and planning, Network Design, Requirements definition and management, Risk Management, Service operations and resiliency, Solution Architecture, Systems Development Management, Technical specialism, User Experience Analysis

Legal Disclaimer:

We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of protected characteristics like race, religion, color, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, veteran status or disability status. Individuals with an accessibility need may request an adjustment/accommodation related to bp’s recruiting process (e.g., accessing the job application, completing required assessments, participating in telephone screenings or interviews, etc.). If you would like to request an adjustment/accommodation related to the recruitment process, please contact us.

If you are selected for a position and depending upon your role, your employment may be contingent upon adherence to local policy. This may include pre-placement drug screening, medical review of physical fitness for the role, and background checks.