Principal Data Scientist
About The Position
When you join Sallie, you become a champion for all students. Sallie's Education Services team is a diverse group of growth-obsessed entrepreneurs, data analysts, engineers, and developers with a passion for imagining and building scalable businesses for students and families on their unique journey to-through and immediately after higher education. We're on a mission to revolutionize how students and their families plan, pay and complete this journey with confidence. Join a team of seekers, challengers and creative thinkers to change the way students plan for their future for the better. The Senior Principal Engineer will be responsible for shaping long-term engineering direction and serve as a key technical advisor to engineering and product leadership. The above information is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this job; it is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees in this role.
Requirements
- Proven ability to drive architectural decisions across multiple teams or business units.
- Deep expertise in designing large-scale systems, services, or platforms.
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences.
- Strong sense of ownership, initiative, and the ability to thrive in fast-paced, high-impact environments.
Nice To Haves
- 10+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, with a consistent record of technical leadership at scale.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. Advanced technical degree is a plus.
Responsibilities
- Define and evolve company-wide architectural standards.
- Lead the design of systems that span multiple products or platforms, ensuring technical cohesion and scalability.
- Collaborate with engineering, product, and executive leadership to align technical strategy with business objectives.
- Identify long-term technical risks and opportunities.
- Provide guidance across multiple technical domains and teams, driving decision-making and cross-functional coordination.
- Drive execution of complex, high-risk technical initiatives with ambiguous scope or competing priorities.
Benefits
- Competitive base salaries
- Bonus incentives
- Generous PTO, Floating Holidays and 12 Federal Holidays observed
- Support for financial-well-being and retirement 401k with employer match
- Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, hospital indemnity, critical illness, pet insurance and more
- Employer paid short-term/long-term disability and basic life insurance
- Flexible hybrid working arrangements.
- Paid parental leave and adoption reimbursement programs
- Free access to on-site staffed fitness centers (in Delaware) and gym subsidy (for locations outside Delaware)
- Confidential counseling support (EAP), Health Advocacy services and Wellness program with financial incentives
- Tuition Reimbursement and Family Scholarship Programs
- Career development and training opportunities
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
Industry
Credit Intermediation and Related Activities
Number of Employees
1,001-5,000 employees
