As the Principal Engineering Lead within the Michelangelo team, you will provide senior technical and organisational leadership across the Michelangelo workstream, shaping how we build, scale and evolve customer-facing experiences across the ASOS apps and website. This role goes beyond the scope of a single squad: you will help define the technical direction across multiple teams, create alignment where there are dependencies and trade-offs, and ensure engineering decisions support both immediate delivery needs and the longer-term evolution of the platform. While the role is cross-functional in scope, the ideal candidate will bring a strong back-end and architecture background, using that depth to guide decisions across the wider engineering landscape.
You’ll set technical direction and standards across a broad area, drive architecture and engineering excellence, and partner closely with Product, Design, Engineering Leadership and Data/Analytics to turn customer and business needs into coherent, measurable outcomes. You’ll play a key role in helping teams make good decisions at the right level, balancing pace with quality, and local optimisation with platform consistency. You’ll also be expected to influence senior stakeholders, shape investment and prioritisation conversations, and create the conditions for teams to move quickly without creating unnecessary operational or architectural drag.
The ASOS’ mobile app revamp programme is designed to create a more immersive, personalised shopping experience across key customer journeys, including the Homepage, PLPs, PDPs and Bag. It focuses on making discovery easier, shopping more inspirational, and the experience more frictionless, with recent releases introducing a more cohesive homepage, a dedicated “For You” experience, and more immersive browsing improvements such as larger imagery and simplified interactions. The team is prioritising innovation, aiming to lead the market by launching advanced features such as Virtual Try On. The programme is highly impact-led, using experimentation and data to continuously validate, learn and iterate.
Responsibilities
Define and evolve technical direction across the app revamp workstream, ensuring architectural cohesion across customer-facing experiences while balancing delivery speed with long-term sustainability
Provide leadership across multiple teams, helping resolve complex dependencies, technical trade-offs and delivery risks before they become blockers, while overseeing both full-time and contractor engineers to ensure smooth communication and shared practices across both
Partner with Product, Design, Engineering Leadership and Data to shape strategy, align roadmaps and turn customer problems into measurable outcomes
Own and influence key architectural decisions across app, web and supporting services, ensuring solutions are scalable, maintainable and aligned with the broader platform direction
Champion an experimentation-first approach, embedding A/B testing, measurement and iteration into the way teams build, validate and evolve experiences
Raise the engineering bar across teams by turning standards into practical approaches for performance, reliability, code quality, testing, observability and operational readiness
Coach and develop Engineering Leads, senior engineers and other technical leaders, acting as a multiplier for decision quality and team effectiveness
Support organisation-level planning by informing technical investment, workforce shape, hiring decisions and sequencing across a high-priority programme
Create alignment across teams with a strong back-end and architecture focus, while working effectively across mobile, web and platform capabilities to support the full customer experience
Represent engineering in senior and exec-level discussions, communicating technical complexity clearly and constructively to support effective decision-making
/01 Company Description
We're ASOS, the online retailer for fashion lovers all around the world.
We exist to give our customers the confidence to be whoever they want to be, and that goes for our people too. At ASOS, you're free to be your true self without judgement, and channel your creativity into a platform used by millions.
Everyone needs some help showing up as their best self. We're Disability Confident Committed - let our Talent team know if you need any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process
/02 Job Qualifications
Proven experience operating at Principal, Staff or equivalent leadership level, setting technical direction across multiple domains, products or a broad technical domain
Strong background in back-end engineering and software architecture, ideally in high-scale consumer products, with the ability to lead effectively across cross-functional environments that include mobile and web teams
Demonstrated experience defining architecture across a broad landscape, making decisions that balance short-term delivery with long-term platform health, maintainability and scalability
Track record of leading complex initiatives that span multiple teams or disciplines, influencing without relying on direct authority and creating alignment across competing priorities
Experience working in collaborative, product-led environments with Engineering, Product, Design and Data, using insight and evidence to drive decisions
Strong understanding of experimentation, A/B testing and data-informed decision making, with the ability to use metrics to validate ideas and guide iteration
Experience improving engineering standards and ways of working at scale, turning broad principles into practical habits and guidance for teams
Evidence of developing other technical leaders, including mentoring senior engineers and Engineering Leads and helping grow organisational capability beyond your immediate area
Comfortable operating in fast-paced, evolving programmes, managing ambiguity and making pragmatic trade-offs while keeping the longer-term direction intact
Strong communication skills and credibility with senior and exec-level stakeholders, with the ability to explain technical complexity clearly, challenge constructively and influence direction
/03 Additional Info
BeneFITS’
Employee discount (hello ASOS discount!)
Employee sample sales
25 days paid annual leave + an extra celebration day for a special moment
Discretionary bonus scheme
Private medical care scheme
Flexible benefits allowance - which you can choose to take as extra cash, or use towards other benefits
Opportunity for personalised learning and in-the-moment experiences that enable you to thrive and excel in your role
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
what our people say
Meet The Team
Meet Zijiao Li -
Tech @ ASOS
Meet Amy Richardson -
Tech @ ASOS
Meet Si Jobling -
Tech @ ASOS
I love working at ASOS in my team because of the great atmosphere. From day one I already felt like being part of the team, everyone is so friendly, approachable and willing to help. It’s the place where you feel trusted and are given the opportunities & time to explore your full potential. As someone who just relocated to London, I also appreciate the international and cultural diverse environment – it’s ok to be whoever you want to be!
As a software engineer with a love for fashion, I feel extremely lucky to be part of a fashion company that priorities technology, innovation and customer experience to the same degree as their clothing.
As someone who left ASOS after 7 years but came back, it speaks volumes how much I love working at ASOS. The obvious reason is the people, not just in Tech but beyond. There's an unspoken respect and authenticity between everyone who works here
Zijiao Li
Tech @ ASOS
I love working at ASOS in my team because of the great atmosphere. From day one I already felt like being part of the team, everyone is so friendly, approachable and willing to help. It’s the place where you feel trusted and are given the opportunities & time to explore your full potential. As someone who just relocated to London, I also appreciate the international and cultural diverse environment – it’s ok to be whoever you want to be!
Amy Richardson
Tech @ ASOS
As a software engineer with a love for fashion, I feel extremely lucky to be part of a fashion company that priorities technology, innovation and customer experience to the same degree as their clothing.
Si Jobling
Tech @ ASOS
As someone who left ASOS after 7 years but came back, it speaks volumes how much I love working at ASOS. The obvious reason is the people, not just in Tech but beyond. There's an unspoken respect and authenticity between everyone who works here
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
our business values
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We are Customer First
We couldn’t be ASOS without our customers.
Across every behaviour, value, and all that we do, we see everything through our customers’ eyes. That means never taking anything for granted and always zeroing in on every single detail. So we can always bring our best as a team, and our customers can have an amazing experience, every time.
We are Authentic
We work together to be honest, transparent, and our full authentic selves.
This is our ASOS. Our culture, built on collaboration and togetherness, and supported by what’s real and honest. We know that we win bigger when we win as a diverse team. That means celebrating our differences and using them to help us stand out from the crowd, without losing our authenticity and individuality.
We are Brave
We challenge each other to aim high and reach our potential.
Doing nothing gets us nowhere. We may be proud of everything we’ve done so far, but there’s still so much more to explore. We believe we can always be wiser, faster, stronger, bigger, braver, kinder…so asking ‘why’ isn’t just a question, it’s a necessity. We use our voice to drive us forward, speaking up on the things our people and customers care about and using our curiosity to create possibility.
We are Creative
We know innovation leads to inspiration – it’s what makes us stronger
Change is in our DNA. By acting fast and staying one step ahead of the curve, we can be a leader, not a follower. But for our products and platform to be innovative, they have to be fuelled by creative passion and a deep understanding of our customers and our people.
We always Deliver
We couldn’t be excellent without evidence – so whatever we’re doing, we have proof of why we’re doing it.
It takes facts and data to tell our stories and help us make our decisions in the most effective way possible. This means we can do what we say and own what we do, no matter how long it takes us to do it. We aren’t about nonsense ifs, buts and maybes, we’re about creating an ASOS that’s built for future success on delivered success.
Our Benefits
Employee Discount
The most asked-about benefit! As an ASOSer, you’ll receive an exclusive employee discount. You can also nominate a family member or friend to share your discount with.
Pension
Retirement might not be on your mind right now, but it’s important to prep for it. We offer matched contributions up to 5% to help you save.
Private Medical Care scheme
If you join our Private Medical Care scheme, you’ll get fast and effective access to medical cover.
Bonus
What we achieve is always a team effort. That’s why we offer a discretionary bonus scheme which rewards you based on our group financial and strategic performance.
Celebratory Day!
Get an extra day off in addition to the 25 days of annual leave you get! Spend it celebrating the big days in life, whether it’s birthdays, cultural holidays, weddings and anything else.
Shuttlebus Service (if you're based in our Leavesden office)
It’s more of a work perk, but we offer a free shuttlebus between Watford station and our office in Leavesden.
Sample Sales
We’ve always got fun things happening in our offices, but the one ASOSers get most excited about is our sample sales. Plus, all proceeds from the sample sale get donated to the ASOS Foundation, which helps our charity partners abroad.
Career Development
You’ll have the opportunity for personalised learning and in-the-moment experiences to create a dynamic and agile learning environment that empowers you to thrive and excel in your role.
Summer Hours
We finish at 3pm on Fridays in June, July and August!! This perk doesn’t mean a dip in your salary – it just gives you extra freedom to enjoy those summer weekends however you want.
Location
Our HQ in London
Our HQ in Camden was once a cigarette factory – now, the iconic Art Deco building has been completely renovated with spacious office areas, ASOS Studios (where we shoot all our products), beauty rooms and a free gym. There’s also a subsidised canteen and café.