Engineering Consultant

We're looking for a seasoned Engineer Consultant to join us on a short-term interim basis, supporting a critical client engagement. This is a hands-on role, you'll be writing real code, making real architectural decisions, and operating as a senior technical authority from day one. This isn't a role for someone who manages from a distance. We need someone who can roll their sleeves up, contribute directly to technical work, and help us deliver high-quality outcomes under time pressure. What You'll Be Doing • Writing and reviewing production-quality Python and/or Java • Designing and contributing to AWS-hosted, cloud-native architectures • Providing technical direction and architectural guidance across the engagement • Engaging in structured technical work and peer review on behalf of the client • Supporting and conducting technical interviews, assessing candidates against defined engineering standards and helping shape interview frameworks where needed • Evaluating technical submissions, coding exercises, and take-home assessments with a critical and consistent eye • Acting as the senior technical voice, bridging hands-on delivery with leadership-level thinking • Identifying and resolving blockers quickly in a fast-moving environment What We're Looking For • Proven experience at Principal Engineer level (or EM with a strong coding background) • Genuinely hands-on in Python and/or Java, writing it daily, not just reviewing it • Solid AWS experience across services such as Lambda, EC2, ECS, RDS, S3 or similar • Strong understanding of microservices, distributed systems, and cloud-native patterns • Experience conducting or designing technical interviews - you know what good looks like and can assess it objectively and fairly • Comfortable reviewing and scoring technical tests, live coding exercises, and system design challenges • Adaptable and able to hit the ground running with minimal onboarding • Comfortable working within client-facing contexts under tight timelines This is an interim, fully remote, 4-week contract.