Principal Software Engineer

Live Nation Entertainment

2d•Remote

About The Position

We're seeking an experienced C++ engineer to join our Platform Payments team, working on Ticketmaster's mission-critical payment processing systems. These systems process millions of transactions monthly across multiple payment methods and 20+ gateway providers, powering real-time payments for culture-defining live events at massive global scale. You'll work across a mature C/C++ codebase spanning three decades — from pre-standard patterns in our core authorization gateway to C++17 in our Bazel monorepo. The immediate work is maintenance and strategic modernization of these systems, but this role is explicitly designed to grow: from legacy renovation into systems design, gRPC service architecture, and new technology adoption including Rust. If you're energized by the challenge of understanding why a system was built the way it was before deciding what it should become, this is the role. This is not a maintenance job with a maintenance ceiling. You'll work on systems that power how fans pay for live events worldwide — at a scale where a misconfiguration can cause thousands of payment failures during a major onsale. The intellectual challenge is real: strategic modernization of systems spanning three decades of C++, with a clear trajectory into new technology. There is tremendous green-field work ahead: decomposing legacy IPC into gRPC services, strengthening real-time fraud defenses during peak onsales, optimizing seamless global checkout, integrating new payment methods, and expanding embedded finance that shapes not just ticket purchases but the full in-venue experience. A strong engineer in this role will meaningfully shape the direction of these critical systems.

Requirements

7+ years of professional C++ development experience in production environments
Modern C++ fluency
Strong understanding of systems programming, including memory management, concurrency, and performance optimization
Ability to reason about undefined behavior, and its practical consequences across platforms
Systematic debugging methodology
Toolchain understanding and cross-compilation concerns
Proficiency with build systems — Bazel experience highly valued
Experience working with legacy codebases older than 10 years — ability to understand, respect, and incrementally modernize existing systems
Experience with or strong interest in payment processing or financial transaction systems
Deep knowledge of security best practices
Proficiency with AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Claude, Codex) with mature judgment — uses AI as an accelerator that requires human verification, especially in codebases with undefined behavior where AI-generated code can appear correct and still be wrong
Understanding of HTTP/HTTPS protocols and RESTful API design
Experience with Linux/Unix environments
Rust experience or genuine interest in learning it
gRPC experience or familiarity with service decomposition from monolithic architectures
Payment gateway integration experience (Chase Paymentech, Braintree, Adyen, or similar)
PCI-DSS compliance knowledge and implementation experience
Experience with platform migrations (e.g., Windows to Linux, MSVC to Clang)
Bazel build system expertise
Performance profiling experience
Experience with shared memory, IPC frameworks, or low-level concurrency primitives
Kafka or other event streaming platforms experience
OpenSSL/cryptographic libraries hands-on experience
Familiarity with AI-powered code review and static analysis tools
Awareness of security considerations when using AI tools with legacy or under-documented systems
Approaches legacy systems with respect and curiosity, recognizing the constraints and decisions that shaped them
Takes time to understand existing systems before proposing improvements or modernization
Continuously improves code and systems incrementally while maintaining stability
Balances modernization efforts with the realities of production environments that require high reliability
Demonstrates a strong security-first mindset, especially in systems handling sensitive transactions
Understands the critical nature of payment processing and the need for accuracy, resilience, and uptime
Navigates complex systems with care, ensuring minimal disruption while driving improvements
Shows enthusiasm for evolving legacy systems into modern, scalable solution
Systems thinker who can reason across layers — from compiler optimization to cache behavior to network latency to business impact
Strategic modernizer who understands incremental improvement over wholesale rewrite and can articulate when to pay down technical debt versus when to live with it
Security-conscious developer who treats buffer safety, memory safety, and integer correctness as default concerns, not afterthoughts
Pragmatic problem solver who can work within the constraints of legacy systems while steadily steering them forward
Growth-oriented engineer who starts in maintenance but is motivated to grow into systems design, gRPC service architecture, and broader payments ecosystem work
Collaborative communicator who explains reasoning clearly, asks good clarifying questions, and engages as a peer — can disagree constructively and change their mind when presented with new information
Detail-oriented professional who understands the operational stakes of financial transaction processing
Systems thinker able to reason across layers—from low-level performance (compiler optimization, cache behavior, network latency) to overall business impact
Strategic modernizer who prioritizes incremental improvements and can balance technical debt decisions pragmatically
Security-conscious developer who treats memory safety, buffer handling, and data integrity as foundational principles
Pragmatic problem solver who works effectively within legacy system constraints while steadily driving improvements
Growth-oriented engineer motivated to evolve from maintenance work into system design, service architecture, and broader ecosystem ownership
Collaborative communicator who articulates reasoning clearly, asks thoughtful questions, and engages constructively with peers
Open-minded professional who can challenge ideas respectfully and adapt perspective based on new information
Detail-oriented with a strong understanding of the operational and financial impact of transaction processing systems

Nice To Haves

Rust experience or genuine interest in learning it
gRPC experience or familiarity with service decomposition from monolithic architectures
Payment gateway integration experience (Chase Paymentech, Braintree, Adyen, or similar)
PCI-DSS compliance knowledge and implementation experience
Experience with platform migrations (e.g., Windows to Linux, MSVC to Clang)
Bazel build system expertise
Performance profiling experience
Experience with shared memory, IPC frameworks, or low-level concurrency primitives
Kafka or other event streaming platforms experience
OpenSSL/cryptographic libraries hands-on experience
Familiarity with AI-powered code review and static analysis tools
Awareness of security considerations when using AI tools with legacy or under-documented systems

Responsibilities

Maintain and strategically modernize high-throughput payment processing systems handling real financial transactions in real time
Drive platform migration work, including migrating a core Windows C++ authorization gateway to Linux via Clang and Bazel
Develop robust payment integrations with third-party gateways (Chase Paymentech, Barclays, HSBC, AMEX, Adyen, Braintree, Klarna, Shift4, and others)
Decompose legacy IPC frameworks into gRPC services, enabling payment components to be reused across the broader payments ecosystem — this is the bridge from maintenance into systems design
Implement security-critical features involving encryption, PCI compliance, and sensitive payment data handling
Optimize performance of transaction processing pipelines where latency directly affects whether a customer completes a purchase
Incrementally steer legacy codebases toward modern C++ practices (RAII, ownership semantics, safe string handling) without breaking the payment flows that depend on them
Design and implement comprehensive testing including unit tests, integration tests, and fuzz testing for security-critical components
Debug and resolve production issues in systems with complex interdependencies and real operational takes
Collaborate with payment operations teams to onboard new payment methods and gateway providers
Ensure compliance with PCI-DSS and other financial industry standards
Participate in on-call rotation for production payment system support

Benefits

Medical, vision, dental and mental health benefits for you and your family, with access to a health care concierge, and Flexible or Health Savings Accounts (FSA or HSA)
Free concert tickets
Generous paid time off including paid holidays, sick time, and personal days
401(k) program with company match
Stock reimbursement program
New parent programs including caregiver leave, plus fertility, adoption, foster, or surrogacy support
Career and skill development programs with School of Live, tuition reimbursement, and student loan repayment
Volunteer time off
Crowdfunding match
Generous vacation
Retirement benefits
Student loan repayment
Tuition reimbursement
Six months of paid caregiver leave for new parents including fostering
Perks like Roadie Babies helping new parents care for their babies on work trips
Access to free live events through our exclusive employee ticketing program