Principal Software Engineer — Distributed Systems / Cloud-Native SaaS
About The Position
Join Progress (Nasdaq: PRGS) as a Principal Software Engineer - Distributed Systems / Cloud-Native SaaS and help us build the next generation of cloud-native platforms that power the Progress Data Platform. This is a hybrid role working between your home office and our Raleigh NC location. As a Principal Engineer, you'll have the opportunity to shape technical strategy, mentor exceptional engineers, and solve fascinating distributed systems challenges at scale. This is a high-impact role where your architectural decisions will influence how we deliver reliable, secure experiences to customers worldwide. You will lead the technical direction for scalable services, establish reliability and performance standards, and define engineering patterns that span multiple teams. You should be comfortable working across backend services, APIs, cloud infrastructure, data pipelines, observability, security, and deployment automation.
Requirements
- Principal, Staff, or senior technical leadership experience with hands-on coding
- Strong background in distributed systems, SaaS, and cloud-native architecture in production
- Experience operating systems at scale: HA/DR, multi-region, chaos engineering
- Deep knowledge of at least one major cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP); familiarity with Kubernetes, service mesh, serverless
- Experience with messaging (Kafka, SQS, Pub/Sub), caching, databases (SQL & NoSQL), observability stacks
- Proficiency in modern languages (Rust, Python, Go, TypeScript preferred; no specific requirement)
- Security-first mindset with practical experience with IAM, secrets management, and compliance frameworks (SOC2, GDPR, etc.)
- Strong communication skills; proven ability to influence without authority
Responsibilities
- Design and build elegant distributed systems that scale seamlessly to meet customer demand
- Drive reliability, performance, security, and operational excellence across production systems
- Design secure multi-tenant architectures with strong isolation and compliance controls
- Grow and inspire senior engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous learning
- Partner with product, platform, and engineering leadership on technical strategy and roadmap
- Lead pragmatic adoption of modern engineering practices: GitOps, observability, progressive delivery
Benefits
- Medical, dental, vision, life & disability, and financial benefits (including 401(k) retirement savings plan.
- Tuition Reimbursement program.
- Additional voluntary benefits including crucial illness/hospital indemnity, identity theft protection, auto & home insurance, legal, and pet insurance.
- Competitive salary, bonus, and best-in-class Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP) with a 27-month lookback
- Flexible paid vacation time, paid day off for your birthday, and company holidays.
- A variety of leave plans, including Parental Leave.
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and an employee well-being program focusing on physical, mental, and financial health.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
