Principal Software Engineer

Ro•New York, NY

27d•$251,200 - $340,000•Hybrid

About The Position

We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join the team at Ro. In this role, youâll operate as a senior technical leader across our engineering organization â helping shape the long-term technical direction of our platform, stewarding the health and evolution of critical systems, and driving architectural decisions that enable Ro to scale sustainably, safely, and quickly. Principal Engineers at Ro operate with deep technical expertise, broad organizational awareness, and a proactive, future-facing mindset. You will partner with teammates across engineering, product, design, and cross-functional leaders to define and deliver technical strategies that support both near-term product goals and long-term business outcomes. You will identify opportunities, anticipate risks, and guide teams toward resilient, maintainable, high-quality solutions. If youâre energized by system-wide impact, solving ambiguous and complex technical challenges, and elevating the engineering organization through mentorship, thought partnership, and architectural leadership, weâd love to talk.

Requirements

12+ years of experience building scalable, maintainable software systems
A proven track record of technical leadership across multiple teams or domains, including designing and evolving complex distributed systems.
Deep expertise in backend engineering (preferably with a strong proficiency in Python) and experience with distributed systems and relational databases.
Experience in metrics instrumentation and data-driven performance tuning, leveraging load testing infrastructure and tools like Datadog.
Strong architectural skills with the ability to reason about long-term tradeoffs, system interactions, operational risks, and platform evolution.
Demonstrated ability to influence technical strategy, drive alignment across multiple teams, and guide organizations through ambiguity.
Exceptional communication skills with the ability to articulate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
A passion for and strong track record of developing other engineers and raising the technical bar through mentorship, coaching, and leadership.

Nice To Haves

Experience in telehealth or other highly-regulated industries.

Responsibilities

Define and drive the architectural vision for key systems and platforms, ensuring scalability, reliability, resilience, and long-term maintainability.
Evaluate and recommend foundational technologies, patterns, and practices that position Ro for future growth.
Translate complex, ambiguous problem spaces into clear technical roadmaps, identifying tradeoffs and guiding teams toward strategic solutions.
Lead organization-wide initiatives that improve system health, observability, performance, security, and operational excellence.
Partner with product, design, data, and other teams to align technical strategy with business priorities.
Break down large, multi-team initiatives into actionable plans and drive them from concept to delivery.
Mentor and support Staff, Senior, and early-career engineers in both technical and strategic growth.
Foster a culture of high-quality engineering, thoughtful design, rigorous review, and continuous learning.
Provide technical leadership in design reviews, architecture discussions, and cross-team forums.
Act as a trusted technical advisor to engineering leadership and cross-functional partners.