Principal Backend Engineer

Careers at KKR•Boston, MA

About The Position

KKR is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and implementation of distributed, data-driven systems within our Operations technology platform. You will set technical direction for key systems, drive cross-team engineering initiatives, and shape KKR’s strategy for building resilient, intelligent, and automated operational platforms. This role is ideal for an engineer with 10+ years of experience, deep Python and AWS expertise, and a strong foundation in distributed systems and data modeling. Experience in financial systems, AI productization, or data platforms (Snowflake, Databricks etc.) is highly valued.

Requirements

10+ years of software engineering experience, with demonstrated technical leadership.
Expert-level proficiency in Python, with experience building scalable backend or data systems.
Strong hands-on experience with AWS (EKS/ECS, Lambda, S3, DynamoDB, CloudFormation/Terraform).
Deep understanding of distributed systems design (microservices, messaging, caching, concurrency, resilience).
Experience building production AI products (e.g., AI-assisted automation, inference services, or data-driven decision tools).
Experience with data modeling and modern data platforms (Snowflake or data lake architectures).
Strong knowledge of relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and data integrity design.
Excellent communication and leadership skills; proven ability to drive alignment across diverse stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with AI tooling (e.g., LiteLLM, LangChain, vector databases, LLM APIs) is a plus.
Background in financial systems or operations technology (accounting, treasury, reference data) is a strong plus.

Responsibilities

Technical Strategy & Architecture
Define and lead the technical roadmap for operations and data platforms, ensuring scalability, reliability, and extensibility.
Architect distributed and event-driven systems to support books of record, investment operations, and reference data services.
Lead modernization initiatives leveraging cloud-native technologies, observability, and infrastructure-as-code (AWS/Terraform).
Partner with data engineering and AI teams to productionize AI use cases and services that drive operational automation and insight.
Engineering Leadership
Lead design and development of critical backend components written in Python and related frameworks.
Establish engineering standards, drive best practices, and ensure delivery of high-quality, maintainable systems.
Collaborate closely with product, data, and operations stakeholders to translate business needs into scalable solutions.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives around performance, reliability, and developer experience.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Partner with product and operations leadership to align technical vision with organizational priorities.
Provide architectural guidance across systems integrating financial data, AI services, and internal platforms.
Simplify complex technical landscapes and communicate strategy effectively to technical and non-technical audiences.
Mentorship & Culture
Mentor engineers across multiple teams, fostering deep technical growth and leadership development.
Promote a culture of learning, collaboration, and innovation across the engineering organization.
Play an active role in recruitment and talent development to attract top engineering talent to KKR.