Principal Software Engineer

Job Description Come join an impactful Engineering team that works closely with our customers and Product to ship code every week. We value ownership, independence, collaboration, communication, and bias towards getting things done with measurable results. We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer with a focus on advanced technologies and innovative problem-solving approaches. Beyond regular System Design and Development, the person will directly engage with our Engineering and Product Leadership as a Trusted Advisor on Technology and Platform capabilities. The person should have a proven track record of building innovative products using cutting-edge technologies. This person should also be a pioneer in the latest AI trends and have demonstrated a firm grasp of either Agentic development, RAG, vector databases, or similar. We use Python, Django, PostgresSQL, Redis, RabbitMQ, LangGraph, Gemini, Claude on the back-end, and React on the front-end. We use Claude Code, Cursor heavily and any other AI dev tools. Company Mission: Build better workplace culture through food Location: Bangalore, India [Preferrably Bangalore, Hybrid] Department: Engineering Experience Level: 8+ years Education: B.E./B.Tech, M Tech from Top tier institute About The Position As a Principal Engineer, you will be one of the most senior individual technical contributors. This role is not just about writing exceptional code; it's about bringing the grand AI vision to reality, and setting the long-term technical strategy that empowers all of engineering to build scalable, resilient, and innovative products. You will be the go-to expert for our most complex and challenging technical issues and pioneer our Agentic AI strategy. You will operate across team boundaries, influencing our platform, standards, and technical culture to ensure Zerocater's systems remain a key competitive advantage. What You Will Do - Architectural Ownership: Define and own long-term technical strategy and architectural roadmap for Zerocater's platform, ensuring our core Python/Django services and data models are built for high availability and scale.Agentic - AI Strategy: Lead and drive the identification, prototyping, and integration of high-leverage Agentic AI (using tools like Langgraph) to build innovative user solutions. - System Design for AI and Optimization: Design world class resilient high performance system leveraging the best Technology has to offer, including toolings like Vector DB, RAG, LLM, etc. - Cross-Functional Leadership: Serve as the technical owner for our most complex, cross-functional initiatives and be a Trusted Advisor to Engineering and Cross functional leaders. - Mentorship & Technical Bar-Setting: Act as a force multiplier for the entire engineering organization. Mentor and level-up our Junior and Senior Engineers, lead by examples in design and code reviews, and create a Continuously Improving organization. - Resilience & Observability: Architect our overall observability, traceability, and monitoring strategy (ELK, New Relic, etc.). You will be the final escalation point for our most critical incidents, responsible for architecting long-term, permanent solutions to root causes. - Technical evaluations and Visionary leader: Bring futuristic vision to reality by rapid prototyping, writing the scaffolding code, proofs-of-concept and converting plans to products. Qualifications For Success - 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a clear accelerated progression to a Staff, Senior Staff, or Principal-level role. - Expert-level mastery of Python and the Django ecosystem (including DRF). You are the person others come to with their toughest Python/Django questions. - Demonstrable experience architecting, building, and operating complex, large-scale distributed systems and microservices. - Deep expertise in SQL database design, data modeling, schema migration, and performance tuning for high-volume transactional systems. - Proven track record of identifying and delivering high-impact products or features using modern AI tools and frameworks (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor, LLM APIs). - Exceptional communication skills. You can articulate a complex technical vision to both junior engineers and C-level executives with clarity and conviction. What We Offer Not only will you have the opportunity to grow your career with other food-obsessed colleagues who have a shared passion for creating delight for customers, but you will also work alongside a highly collaborative team that values leading with trust and respect, and taking smart risks. - Time away: 15 days PTO, 12 days sick leave, 10 paid holidays - Health, Personal Accident, and Life Insurance - Annual Health Check-up & Wellness Benefit - Retirement Benefits - Broadband Reimbursement - Equity To Learn More About Zerocater - Checkout our Careers Page - View our Engineering team profile on Work at a startup - Meet our Engineering & Country Head India: Rahul Sharma - Watch videos on our Youtube channel The shared meal elevates eating from a mechanical process of fueling the body to a ritual of family and community, from the mere animal biology to an act of culture. - Michael Pollan We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us at [Confidential Information].