Principal Software Engineer
Location
Remote, ET timezone
Experience Level
Senior
Type Of Employment
Contract
Remote
Yes
Domain
Market Intelligence
We are looking for a senior-level software engineer with both architectural vision and deep technical execution skills. The core mission of this role is to transform a large, business-critical legacy database into a scalable, service-oriented data platform. You’ll be working hands-on with a PostgreSQL system containing significant embedded business logic and driving the technical roadmap to re-architect it into a modern, distributed platform. The primary working time zone is Eastern Time (ET), and you should be able to maintain at least half-day overlap with the team’s 9am–5pm ET schedule.
Responsibilities
- Perform in-depth analysis of an existing PostgreSQL environment, including stored procedures, data flows, and dependencies.
- Design a target architecture that leverages microservices, APIs, and event-driven patterns to replace legacy logic.
- Define and execute a multi-phase migration strategy that minimizes business disruption while delivering incremental improvements.
- Write clean, testable, and maintainable code to implement new platform components and services.
- Collaborate with application development teams to define APIs and ensure seamless integration across systems.
- Establish engineering best practices for data modelling, access patterns, and service-to-service communication.
- Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and direction to other engineers involved in the initiative.
Requirements
- Proven expertise in software architecture and large-scale system design, with a history of decomposing monoliths into distributed services.
- Advanced PostgreSQL knowledge: schema design, performance tuning, complex queries, and stored procedure reverse-engineering.
- Strong backend engineering skills in Python (Django, FastAPI, or similar frameworks).
- Experience with Java and Spring Boot is a significant advantage for interoperability with existing systems.
- Ability to develop a long-term technical roadmap and drive execution while balancing short-term deliverables.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to convey complex technical concepts clearly.
- Leadership qualities that enable you to influence technical direction and mentor less experienced engineers.
Skill Set
- Architecture & Design: Deep experience with distributed systems, API design (REST, gRPC), and event-driven solutions.
- Programming Languages: Python (primary), with bonus points for Java/Spring Boot.
- Database Expertise: World-class PostgreSQL skills, including analysis of large-scale stored logic and query optimization.
- Data & Messaging: Familiarity with ETL/ELT patterns, data warehousing, and event streaming platforms such as Kafka or RabbitMQ.
- Cloud & DevOps: Strong background in AWS, GCP, or Azure, with practical knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code tools.