Senior Principal Software Engineer, Cloud Architecture
About The Position
CarGurus is hiring a Senior Principal Software Engineer to serve as a hands-on cloud architect within its Engineering Platform organization. Following a large lift-and-shift to AWS, the role will help more than 300 engineers build cloud-native, SaaS-ready software that is resilient, secure, and scalable. The engineer will work alongside teams across the organization, tackling difficult system and cloud architecture problems and leaving reusable patterns rather than being assigned to a single squad. The role combines system and cloud architecture with hands-on engineering. It involves guiding teams through architectural challenges, building prototypes and reference implementations, advancing AWS self-service and guardrails, and shaping technical direction. The engineer will also lead architecture work for SaaS maturity and compliance readiness, guide agentic workloads on AWS, and mentor senior engineers.
Requirements
- 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years designing and running production systems on AWS.
- Production-quality coding skills in at least one of Java, Python, TypeScript, or Go.
- Fluency in infrastructure as code with Terraform.
- Deep AWS expertise across networking (VPC, Transit Gateway, VPC Lattice), IAM, serverless (Lambda, Batch, API Gateway), containers (EKS), and managed data stores.
- Strong security focus, including least-privilege IAM, OAuth2/OIDC, and compliance-oriented design.
- Ability to build prototypes hands-on as well as write technical papers that set direction.
- Ability to lead through influence and collaboration, building trust with engineers, managers, and executives inside and outside the organization.
- Clear writing and ability to explain technical trade-offs to technical and non-technical audiences.
- Ability to treat cost efficiency as a design requirement.
Responsibilities
- Own system architecture as it connects to cloud architecture, including how services, data, and jobs map onto AWS and practical migration paths from legacy architectures.
- Partner with Product Engineering teams to prototype solutions, unblock architecture work, and leave behind architectures that teams can own.
- Act as the technical lead for the AWS relationship and work with AWS solutions architects on service guidance and roadmaps.
- Build proofs of concept and reference implementations in Terraform, Python, Java, and similar tools, explain trade-offs, and develop reusable patterns.
- Work with Cloud Enablement to advance AWS self-service and guardrails, including HCP Terraform workflows, Sentinel policies, IAM, and account and sandbox strategy.
- Design for cloud and AI cost efficiency, including attribution, tagging, and controls.
- Lead architecture for SaaS maturity and compliance readiness, including disaster recovery, business continuity, security, performance, dependency ownership, and cloud-account standardization.
- Guide architecture for agentic workloads on AWS, including AgentCore Gateway, Bedrock, OAuth, and machine-to-machine identity, in partnership with InfoSec.
- Collaborate with the Technical Leadership Team to shape technical direction, record decisions in ADRs and RFCs, and communicate them across teams.
- Mentor senior engineers and run workshops on cloud-native best practices.
Benefits
- Equity for all employees, both at hire and as they continue to grow with the company.
- Career development programs.
- Corporate giving programs.
- Employee resource groups and communities.
- Flexible hybrid model.
- Robust time off policies.
- Daily free lunch.
- New car discount.
- Meditation and fitness apps.
- Commuting cost coverage.
- The role may qualify for discretionary bonuses or incentives and Restricted Stock Units (RSUs).
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
Education Level
No Education Listed
