Principal Software Engineer - Java/Polygot

Team: IT

Location: US

Commitment: Full-time

Workplace Type: remote

Accountabilities:

The Principal Software Engineer will provide hands-on technical leadership across architecture, software development, platform reliability, and engineering collaboration.

• Own the architecture and design of distributed systems supporting millions of insurance leads and transactions.
• Define and influence technical direction, engineering standards, architecture decisions, and strategic technology roadmaps.
• Evaluate technologies and frameworks that can improve system performance, maintainability, scalability, and reliability.
• Lead by example through hands-on coding, technical reviews, system optimization, and implementation of high-quality software.
• Develop and support backend and platform capabilities using Java and additional languages such as Kotlin, Python, Go, and TypeScript.
• Design and evolve microservices, RESTful APIs, event-driven architectures, and integrations with internal and external services.
• Ensure engineering solutions meet security, reliability, compliance, and maintainability expectations.
• Optimize systems for latency, throughput, availability, and overall performance.
• Establish and support strong observability practices, including profiling, logging, metrics, and alerting.
• Collaborate with Product, DevOps, and Data teams to deliver scalable APIs, services, and platform capabilities.
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers and contribute to a high-performing, collaborative engineering environment.
• Support cross-team alignment and help translate complex technical decisions into clear recommendations for technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Contribute to special projects, ad hoc initiatives, and other activities supporting broader engineering and organizational objectives.
• Consistently meet established performance and delivery standards as business needs evolve.

Requirements:

The ideal candidate brings extensive backend engineering experience, strong architectural judgment, and the ability to combine hands-on development with technical leadership.

• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant experience in backend or platform engineering.
• Advanced proficiency in Java and hands-on experience with at least one additional language such as Kotlin, Python, Go, or TypeScript.
• Proven experience designing, building, and scaling distributed systems and microservice architectures in high-traffic environments.
• Strong experience with RESTful APIs, event-driven architectures, and integrations with internal and external systems.
• Deep understanding of system performance, reliability, and observability, including profiling, logging, metrics, and alerting.
• Practical experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and modern cloud-native engineering practices.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and software quality practices.
• Strong understanding of scalable and resilient systems design, API architecture, and platform engineering.
• Experience incorporating security, privacy, and compliance requirements into architecture and implementation.
• Proven ability to guide technical decisions and influence engineering direction across teams.
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience collaborating closely with Product, DevOps, and Data teams.
• Demonstrated mentoring and technical leadership capabilities.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field; equivalent practical experience may be considered.
• Must currently reside in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, or Virginia.
• Must be authorized to work in the United States without visa sponsorship.

Benefits:

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Paid Time Off (PTO) and paid sick time.
• Flexible scheduling and flex-time options.
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) for health and dependent care.
• Company-paid short-term and long-term disability coverage.
• No-cost mental, emotional, and physical well-being support through the First Stop Health app.
• 401(k) retirement plan with a 4% company match.
• Paid designated holidays without requiring employees to work.
• Fully remote work environment.
• Opportunity to influence large-scale distributed systems and technical architecture.
• Opportunities to mentor engineers and contribute to strategic technology direction.
• Collaborative environment that values diverse experiences, talents, and perspectives.