Principal Backend Engineer

Jobgether

16h • $145,000 - $165,000 • Remote

About The Position

This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the technical direction of a critical SaaS platform serving a diverse and impactful customer base. The Principal Backend Engineer will lead architectural decisions, drive long-term system reliability, and implement high-impact backend services. Operating across multiple teams and time horizons, you will identify systemic risks, influence engineering standards, and mentor fellow engineers to elevate technical quality across the organization. Balancing hands-on coding with strategic guidance, you will ensure the scalability, security, and maintainability of distributed systems while collaborating with product, leadership, and stakeholders to align technical strategy with business objectives. This role provides significant visibility and influence, with the chance to impact platform evolution and organizational engineering culture.

Requirements

• 6+ years of backend software engineering experience, with 4+ years in distributed systems at scale.
• Proven track record of leading technical initiatives spanning multiple teams or services.
• Expert-level proficiency in Python, Flask, Elasticsearch, MongoDB, and Redis.
• Experience designing, evaluating, and evolving engineering standards and practices.
• Strong understanding of data structures, algorithms, and system performance characteristics.
• Expertise with cloud platforms (AWS), CI/CD practices, and event-driven architectures.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor).
• Strong problem-solving, communication, and mentorship skills.

Nice To Haves

• Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, self-hosted Drone CI/CD, programmatic advertising platform experience, or capacity planning expertise.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain distributed backend services, ensuring reliability, scalability, and maintainability.
• Lead architectural decisions affecting multiple services and teams, evaluating trade-offs across performance, operational cost, and technical risk.
• Identify and mitigate systemic technical risks proactively to prevent operational issues.
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and hands-on guidance.
• Define and enforce engineering standards, practices, and tooling across the backend organization.
• Collaborate with product managers and leadership to align technical architecture with business goals.
• Build, maintain, and optimize data ingestion pipelines, event-driven architectures, and backend infrastructure.
• Ensure adherence to security, compliance, and data governance standards in enterprise SaaS environments.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary range of $145,000–$165,000 with bonus potential up to 12%.
• Health, dental, and vision insurance coverage.
• Flexible work schedule with remote work options and the possibility to work from headquarters.
• Paid vacation, sick leave, and extended summer and winter breaks.
• Professional development budget and opportunities for technical mentorship.
• Collaborative culture with team events, social activities, and wellness support.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed