Principal Software Engineer, Backend

Headspace

Posted 2mo ago

The employer’s full description could not be read from their board. This is a summary of the posting — follow the apply link for the original.

Lead architecture and design of high-scale, low-latency applications
Define long-term technical strategies and implementation paths
Own and drive engineering excellence across multiple domains or squads
Write high-quality, performant, and testable code
Shape product and platform evolution by partnering with PMs, EMs, and stakeholders
Author technical specs and RFCs
Take end-to-end ownership of features
Mentor and elevate engineers across levels
Drive operational excellence by developing resilient systems
Lead efforts to improve system reliability, developer velocity, and cost efficiency
Act as a thought leader and multiplier
Provide a point of escalation for engineering teams
Define coding standards, development processes, and best practices
Stay abreast of emerging technologies and best practices

8+ years of professional software engineering experience
Proven track record of building and scaling production-grade APIs and distributed backend systems
Deep expertise in system design and software architecture
Ability to decompose complex problems into scalable, maintainable components
Extensive experience with Node.js, TypeScript, and Python
Experience building high-scale backend services
Experience leading the definition, design, and delivery of complex software features
Experience in asynchronous and distributed team environments
Strong hands-on experience with unit, integration, and end-to-end testing
Experience building and maintaining robust CI/CD pipelines
Exceptional communication and collaboration skills
Ability to influence technical direction, align stakeholders, and articulate trade-offs
Experience mentoring engineers
Experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives across teams
Ownership mindset
Comfortable making strategic technical decisions
Ability to balance technical excellence with product and business priorities

BS/MS degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience
Demonstrated success designing and maintaining high-availability systems
Strong observability practices (metrics, logging, alerting)
Deep knowledge of database design, data modeling, and query performance optimization
Familiarity with cloud-native architectures and services (e.g., AWS, GCP, Kubernetes)
Familiarity with modern DevOps practices
Track record of improving engineering velocity and reducing tech debt at scale
Strong debugging skills
Comfort working within complex, distributed systems
Demonstrated ability to drive build vs. buy vs. refactor decisions
Experience designing or maintaining Server-Driven UI (SDUI) systems

Skills