Back to all Python jobs
Consultancies
Principal Software Engineer - Contracts.AI
at McKinsey & Company
Tech LeadNo visa sponsorshipPython
Posted 3 days ago
No clicks
- Compensation
- Not specified
- City
- Lisbon
- Country
- Portugal
Currency: Not specified
Join the Ops Tech Enablement team as a Principal Software Engineer focused on Contracts.AI, helping accelerate client operations improvements in Lisbon or Wroclaw. You will own the data engineering roadmap, lead the development of assets across topics, and mentor junior engineers while delivering scalable, reusable components across infrastructure, platform, services, and front-end tech. You will collaborate with clients and cross-functional teams to design innovative solutions that deliver value, usability, and quality, and you will guide technology architecture and strategic direction. This role blends hands-on coding with leadership, driving Agile delivery and continuous improvement in a dynamic consulting environment.
Digital
Principal Software Engineer - Contracts.AI
Job ID: 106073
Do you want to work on complex and pressing challenges—the kind that bring together curious, ambitious, and determined leaders who strive to become better every day? If this sounds like you, you’ve come to the right place.
Your Impact
You'll work with the Ops Tech Enablement team in the biggest functional practice in the firm, focusing on client operations (e.g., supply chain, procurement, product development) improvement and will be in our Lisbon or Wroclaw office.
McKinsey fosters innovation driven by analytics, design thinking, mobile and social by developing new products/services and integrating them into our client work. It is helping to shift our model toward asset-based consulting and is a foundation for –and expands our investment in –our entrepreneurial culture. Through innovative software as a service solution, strategic acquisitions, and a vibrant ecosystem of alliances, we are redefining what it means to work with McKinsey.
The Ops Tech Enablement team supports a portfolio of 12 successful assets leveraging benchmarking capabilities, machine learning and data visualization to provide insights on client situations and performance. You will join our community mixing people with business and technical background.
As a Principal Software Engineer, you will become part of a community of developers, designers, and product owners, working together to create industry-shaping products and tools. In this role, you will collaborate closely with clients and cross-functional teams to design and develop innovative solutions that deliver exceptional value, usability, and quality. You will play a key role in building and enhancing technology applications while contributing to the development of a common platform that accelerates product creation through reusable core components across infrastructure, platform, services, and front-end technologies.
In this position, you will take ownership of the data engineering roadmap, leading the development of assets across a wide range of topics. You will be responsible for aligning technical strategies with business objectives, ensuring that the solutions you create are both impactful and scalable. As a mentor and leader, you will provide guidance and inspiration to junior colleagues, fostering their growth and helping them develop their technical and professional skills.
You will set the vision for technology architecture, aligning teams and stakeholders on both current and future strategies. By taking a hands-on approach, you will lead by example, developing reusable components and demonstrating technical excellence in your work. Your role will also involve identifying and implementing new technologies to improve system performance, reliability, and scalability, as well as reviewing existing system designs to recommend and execute improvements.
Throughout the project lifecycle, you will be deeply involved in every phase, from analysis and design to implementation, commissioning, and decommissioning. You will apply your strong problem-solving skills to address complex challenges, aligning teams on efficient and effective solutions. Additionally, you will manage diverse perspectives and interests, ensuring alignment across stakeholders and fostering collaboration.
As an expert in Agile methodologies, you will act as a catalyst for high-performing, self-organizing teams, driving continuous improvement and delivering results. You will define and deliver robust solutions, clearly articulating technology stack decisions and trade-offs while identifying opportunities to create and leverage reusable components. Your ability to deploy large, complex applications will be critical, as you navigate technical and organizational challenges and collaborate with enterprise environments to ensure successful implementation.
Finally, you will tailor your communication to your audience, presenting ideas and solutions with clarity and confidence to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. You will thrive at the intersection of technology and leadership, with your passion for building innovative solutions, mentoring others, and driving meaningful change.
Your Growth
Driving lasting impact and building long-term capabilities with our clients is not easy work. You are the kind of person who thrives in a high performance/high reward culture - doing hard things, picking yourself up when you stumble, and having the resilience to try another way forward.
In return for your drive, determination, and curiosity, we'll provide the resources, mentorship, and opportunities you need to become a stronger leader faster than you ever thought possible. Your colleagues—at all levels—will invest deeply in your development, just as much as they invest in delivering exceptional results for clients. Every day, you'll receive apprenticeship, coaching, and exposure that will accelerate your growth in ways you won’t find anywhere else.
When you join us, you will have:
- Continuous learning: Our learning and apprenticeship culture, backed by structured programs, is all about helping you grow while creating an environment where feedback is clear, actionable, and focused on your development. The real magic happens when you take the input from others to heart and embrace the fast-paced learning experience, owning your journey.
- A voice that matters: From day one, we value your ideas and contributions. You’ll make a tangible impact by offering innovative ideas and practical solutions, all while upholding our unwavering commitment to ethics and integrity. We not only encourage diverse perspectives, but they are critical in driving us toward the best possible outcomes.
- Global community: With colleagues across 65+ countries and over 100 different nationalities, our firm’s diversity fuels creativity and helps us come up with the best solutions for our clients. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from exceptional colleagues with diverse backgrounds and experiences.
- World-class benefits: On top of a competitive salary (based on your location, experience, and skills), we provide a comprehensive benefits package to enable holistic well-being for you and your family.
Your qualifications and skills
- Degree in relevant field, or equivalent experience
- 8+ years of relevant work experience
- Ideally experience working with internal clients whose requirements are different depending on their use cases
- Proven experience developing full-stack applications by writing code that is readable, testable, maintainable, and scalable
- Demonstrated experience working collaboratively with other developers, as well as technical and non-technical people within software teams
- Demonstrated knowledge and hands-on experience across the full application stack with a variety of languages/frameworks
- Experience working in Agile teams, including active participation in sprint ceremonies
- Experience pair programming collaboratively with other developers
- Excellent interpersonal, leadership, influence and communication skills
- Leading automation and CI/CD initiatives
- Advanced level understanding of engineering practices and patterns with consideration for reliability, security, reuse, performance, etc
- Able to quickly read and understand unfamiliar codebases across multiple frameworks; demonstrates ability to structure work with a pragmatic focus on testability
Please review the additional requirements regarding essential job functions of McKinsey colleagues.
Our unwavering commitment to integrity drives everything we do, guiding us to always act in the best interests of our clients, our people, and the communities we serve.
FOR U.S. APPLICANTS: McKinsey & Company is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
FOR NON-U.S. APPLICANTS: McKinsey & Company is an Equal Opportunity employer. For additional details regarding our global EEO policy and diversity initiatives, please visit our McKinsey Careers and Diversity & Inclusion sites.
Job Skill Group - N/A
Job Skill Code - PSE1 - Principal Software Engineer I
Function - Technology
Industry - High Tech
Post to LinkedIn - Yes
Posted to LinkedIn Date - Tue Jan 13 00:00:00 GMT 2026
LinkedIn Posting City - Lisbon
LinkedIn Posting State/Province -
LinkedIn Posting Country - Portugal
LinkedIn Job Title - Principal Software Engineer - Contracts.AI
LinkedIn Function - Information Technology
LinkedIn Industry - Computer Software;Information Technology and Services
LinkedIn Seniority Level - Associate
Job Skill Code - PSE1 - Principal Software Engineer I
Function - Technology
Industry - High Tech
Post to LinkedIn - Yes
Posted to LinkedIn Date - Tue Jan 13 00:00:00 GMT 2026
LinkedIn Posting City - Lisbon
LinkedIn Posting State/Province -
LinkedIn Posting Country - Portugal
LinkedIn Job Title - Principal Software Engineer - Contracts.AI
LinkedIn Function - Information Technology
LinkedIn Industry - Computer Software;Information Technology and Services
LinkedIn Seniority Level - Associate
