Principal Software Engineer
About The Position
We build customer-facing command and control software for high-altitude balloon systems. Our users are trained operators—primarily U.S. military and internal flight operations teams—who rely on our tools to make real-world decisions. Aerostar, a business unit of TCOM, are looking for a Principal Software Engineer who can lead the engineering behind our production-grade single-page applications and the services that power them. This role is about more than implementing features. It is about shaping the architecture of complex web applications that integrate real-time telemetry, operational data, and mission workflows. You will be responsible for designing and building systems across the full stack—from frontend application architecture to backend services and APIs. You will serve as a technical thought leader within the engineering team, helping guide system design, engineering standards, and long-term maintainability. This role requires someone who can move comfortably between frontend and backend work, design robust systems, and help other engineers raise the quality of their work. With demonstrated success, this role can evolve into formal technical leadership and architectural ownership across our software systems.
Requirements
- Experienced engineer who thinks in systems, not just features.
- Personally designed and implemented significant portions of production software systems and can explain the architectural decisions behind them.
- Enjoys solving complex engineering problems and helping other engineers improve through thoughtful design discussions and code review.
- Can write software without the assistance of AI but are open to using it to enhance your toolset.
- Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in software engineering, in field related to specific position.
- Expert engineer with 12+ years of career experience, 10+ years with master’s degree in software engineering.
Nice To Haves
- Python familiarity
- TypeScript
- Complex data visualization
- Establishing or contributing to design systems
- Working on operational or decision-support tools
Responsibilities
- Architect and implement the core systems that power our complex, data-driven SPAs
- Design backend services, APIs, and data flows that support real-time telemetry and operational workflows
- Lead technical design for full-stack features, ensuring maintainable and scalable implementations
- Establish and advocate for engineering patterns, architectural standards, and code quality practices
- Make foundational decisions around application structure, service boundaries, and system integration
- Identify and address performance, reliability, and maintainability challenges across the stack
- Conduct architectural and code reviews to elevate the engineering quality of the team
Benefits
- health and disability insurance
- 401(k) match
- flexible spending accounts/HSAs
- EAP
- tuition reimbursement
- parental leave
- paid time off (PTO)
- company-paid holidays
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
