Principal Software Engineer

DealerBuilt•Houston, TX

10h•Remote

About The Position

At DealerBuilt, we empower people to achieve their unique ambitions. Our portfolio of automotive dealership SaaS brands includes Lightyear, Oplogic, iService, and Vistadash, offering solutions from Enterprise Retail Cloud DMS to Service Lane Tools and Marketing Analytics. Built by dealers for dealers, our innovative technology adapts to each dealership's unique needs, providing unparalleled flexibility, efficiency, and control. Join us and Make Way For YOUR WAY! WHY WE'RE LOOKING: We seek a Principal Software Engineer to drive technical excellence and architectural modernization across our engineering organization. As the senior technical leader you'll set technical direction, elevate engineering capabilities, and influence best practices across teams. The ideal candidate combines deep architectural expertise with a proven ability to multiply team effectiveness and make high-stakes technical decisions that impact our entire product portfolio. WHAT YOU'LL DO: Architectural Leadership & Technical Strategy: Own architectural decisions for your team's domain, ensuring scalability, reliability, and maintainability Drive our AWS cloud migration strategy, making critical infrastructure and platform decisions Define and evangelize technical standards, patterns, and best practices that elevate code quality across teams Identify and eliminate technical debt; balance short-term delivery with long-term architectural health Make high-stakes technical decisions and serve as the technical authority and tiebreaker for complex challenges Team Elevation & Technical Leadership: Elevate the capabilities of direct team members through coaching, code reviews, and architectural guidance Unblock engineers by solving complex technical challenges and providing clear technical direction Model engineering excellence through exemplary code, design, and technical communication Provide lateral technical influence to other teams, sharing knowledge and driving adoption of best practices Partner with engineering leadership to shape technical roadmaps and organizational capabilities Delivery & Operational Excellence: Lead by example in delivering high-impact features using our tech stack Drive system reliability and performance optimization initiatives Establish testing strategies and quality standards that prevent issues before production Lead incident response for critical issues, conducting thorough post-mortems and implementing preventive measures

Requirements

10+ years of software engineering experience with a proven track record of architectural leadership and team elevation
Deep expertise in designing scalable SaaS systems and leading modernization efforts (cloud migrations, architecture refactoring)
Strong hands-on proficiency across the full stack—modern frontend frameworks(React/TypeScript), backend languages(PHP, C#, Java), relational databases(MySQL/PostgreSQL), and cloud platforms (AWS experience strongly preferred)
Demonstrated ability to make sound technical decisions under uncertainty and effectively communicate the rationale
Evidence of multiplying team effectiveness—through mentorship, technical standards, or process improvements
Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Nice To Haves

Experience as the technical leader in a small to mid-size engineering team (3-8 engineers)
Background in automotive industry or complex B2B SaaS environments
Track record of successfully leading cloud migration or large-scale modernization projects
Experience establishing engineering practices and standards in growing organizations

Responsibilities

Own architectural decisions for your team's domain, ensuring scalability, reliability, and maintainability
Drive our AWS cloud migration strategy, making critical infrastructure and platform decisions
Define and evangelize technical standards, patterns, and best practices that elevate code quality across teams
Identify and eliminate technical debt; balance short-term delivery with long-term architectural health
Make high-stakes technical decisions and serve as the technical authority and tiebreaker for complex challenges
Elevate the capabilities of direct team members through coaching, code reviews, and architectural guidance
Unblock engineers by solving complex technical challenges and providing clear technical direction
Model engineering excellence through exemplary code, design, and technical communication
Provide lateral technical influence to other teams, sharing knowledge and driving adoption of best practices
Partner with engineering leadership to shape technical roadmaps and organizational capabilities
Lead by example in delivering high-impact features using our tech stack
Drive system reliability and performance optimization initiatives
Establish testing strategies and quality standards that prevent issues before production
Lead incident response for critical issues, conducting thorough post-mortems and implementing preventive measures

Benefits

Competitive Compensation with opportunities for advancement based on performance
Comprehensive Benefits including health coverage, financial wellness programs (HSA/FSA), insurance plans, and 401(k) with company match
Work-Life Balance with fully remote work and Unlimited Paid Time Off
Employee Assistance Program providing resources for mental and emotional well-being
Employee Referral Program with incentives for bringing in new talent

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