Principal Engineer Software, Backend

Principal Engineer Software, Backend

Position Overview

This role provides technical leadership and strategic direction across our engineering organization. This role requires a unique combination of deep technical expertise, architectural vision, and leadership capabilities, with a focus on driving technical excellence and innovation across multiple systems and domains.

Primary Responsibilities

The below represents the primary duties of the position, others may be assigned as needed. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Core Responsibilities

• Provide strategic technical direction across multiple shared systems and architectures
• Evangelize and implement organization-wide technical strategies and best practices
• Coordinate architectural decisions and contributions across multiple projects
• Drive technical innovation while maintaining system reliability and scalability
• Provide technical oversight and commentary on multiple projects beyond direct involvement
• Navigate and resolve complex technical arguments through constructive dialogue
• Handle ambiguous specifications through systematic analysis and collaboration
• Maintain high-quality standards across all technical initiatives
• Lead incident resolution and drive reliability improvements
• Advocate for and maintain high-quality standards across the organization
• Identify and address quality gaps in processes and systems
• Drive adoption of best practices across teams and departments

Growth & Technical Leadership

• Coach and develop fellow technical leaders across the organization
• Influence technical decisions across multiple domains and stakeholder groups
• Drive cross-team alignment on quality engineering goals, KPIs, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Identify and resolve systemic issues through data analysis, retrospectives, and iterative improvements.
• Maintain a calm mature perspective in high pressure situation.
• Foster a culture of constructive communication and technical excellence
• Demonstrate company-level perspective on technical issues
• Identify and prioritize high-impact technical initiatives
• Understand and communicate cross-functional impacts of technical decisions
• Drive technical innovation while considering business objectives

Team Collaboration & Influence

• Foster a culture of innovation by promoting experimentation with new technologies, tools, and practices.
• Partner with Product, Design, and Engineering leadership to align on feature expectations and quality benchmarks.
• Lead technical initiatives across multiple engineering teams, driving accountability and shared success.
• Play an active role in hiring, onboarding, and developing top engineering talent, contributing to a high-performing test engineering community.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field
• Minimum 10 years of software engineering experience
• Proven track record of leading significant technical initiatives

Technical Skills:

• Deep understanding of distributed systems and architecture
• Strong background in software engineering principles
• Experience with multiple programming languages and technologies
• Expertise in system design and scalability patterns
• Proficient in modern, object-oriented programming language
• Strong understanding of software development fundamentals
• Experience with agile development methodologies
• Strong CS fundamentals, specifically in the areas of: web application architecture, distributed systems, data modeling and RDBMS.
• Strong API/interface and system design skills. A pragmatic approach to software design.

Physical requirements

• Ability to sit for extended periods: The role requires sitting at a desk or workstation for long periods, typically 7-8 hours a day.
• Use of computer and phone systems: The employee must be able to operate a computer, use phone systems, and type. This includes using multiple software programs and inquiries simultaneously

Airbase by Paylocity is an equal-opportunity employer. We are committed to the full inclusion of all individuals. We recruit, train, compensate, and promote regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law. At Airbase by Paylocity, we believe diversity makes us better.

We embrace and encourage our employees' differences in age, culture, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion or spiritual belief, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, or any other status protected by state or local law for an individual who falls within the jurisdiction of such law. We actively cultivate these differences through our employee resource groups (ERGs), employee experiences, perspectives, talents, and approaches to drive innovation in the software and services we provide our customers.

Applicants who require an accommodation throughout the application and interview process should request this in advance by contacting