Principal Software Engineer - Digital Media

Vestcom•Little Rock, AR

3d•Remote

About The Position

As a Manager, New Initiatives / Digital Media, you will oversee Avery Dennison’s innovative software products and lead cross-functional development teams while directing the software development lifecycle from conception over deployment to operation and maintenance. In this role, you will clarify business needs, contribute to development of long-range system plans, ensure software-related products and services meet the needs of the business, and drive technical standards to ensure quality and minimize technical debt. For this specific position within our retail technology platform, you will empower grocers to modernize their physical stores through Electronic Shelf Labels (ESLs), in-store printing, and digital video screen campaigns. This unique hybrid role blends technical strategy with business execution, starting as a high-level Individual Contributor building solutions before transitioning into a Technical Lead to scale the team. You will constantly evaluate the trade-offs between integrating third-party partners to speed up time-to-market versus building bespoke solutions to create a competitive advantage, ensuring technical investments directly support our path to profitability.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree preferably in Computer Science, Engineering or related discipline.
7+ years of professional software engineering experience.
Proven experience acting as a Lead, Principal, or Founding Engineer in a startup or high-growth environment.
Strong proficiency in backend development (C#/.NET, Java, or Go) and frontend frameworks (Angular, React, or Vue).
Experience with Cloud Architecture (Azure preferred, AWS/GCP acceptable).

Responsibilities

Lead the "0-to-1" Phase: Architect and develop software solutions for digital screens and ESL integrations, operating initially as a single contributor.
Hardware Integration: Collaborate with third-party hardware vendors to integrate their devices into our centralized platform.
Pilot Support: actively support in-store pilots. This includes troubleshooting live production issues and deploying hotfixes to ensure customer success during critical rollouts.
Strategic Evaluation: help leadership determine the technical viability of third-party partners versus building in-house solutions, and provide the technical reality check that ensures our business goals are ambitious yet technically achievable.
Team Scaling: As the product matures, help hire, onboard, and lead a team of engineers, establishing code quality standards, CI/CD pipelines, and development culture.