Position Purpose:

The Software Engineer Principal is a hands-on leader responsible for designing, developing, and overseeing the lifecycle of products that enhance the user experience. This role requires a deep understanding of Customer Experience (CX) initiatives, as you will support key programs such as Post Sale Order Modifications, SPOS (Showroom Point of Sale) Retirement, and POS/One Returns. These initiatives aim to optimize customer interactions, streamline order management, and ensure a seamless return experience across various platforms.

As a Software Engineer Principal, you will collaborate closely with the product team and other stakeholders to drive high-impact technical solutions that directly improve customer-facing operations and enhance the overall customer journey. Your contributions will be pivotal in aligning software design and architecture with CX strategies, ensuring that systems are secure, scalable, and responsive to the dynamic needs of the business.

In addition to your work in CX initiatives, you will be expected to provide technical leadership, mentor junior engineers, and ensure that the software development lifecycle follows best practices. Your expertise in cloud technologies (e.g., Google Cloud Platform, Kubernetes), Java development, and performance optimization will support the CX goals by ensuring reliable and efficient system performance, particularly for mission-critical applications like order modifications and returns processing.

Key Responsibilities:

70% Delivery & Execution:

• Collaborates and pairs with product team members (engineering, UX, and product management) to deliver secure, reliable, and scalable software solutions.
• Hands-on development with Java to implement high-quality features and functionality while following best practices for security and performance.
• Troubleshoots and tunes performance issues across the system, especially focusing on database interactions, load balancing, and application performance.
• Works closely with the team to develop solutions that align with Google Cloud (GKE, Load Balancers) architecture and ensure optimal deployment strategies.
• Designs and implements system architecture to meet both functional and non-functional requirements, ensuring scalability, high availability, and disaster recovery.
• Develops CI/CD pipelines and incorporates best practices for automated testing, deployment, and continuous integration to streamline software delivery.
• Ensures product security by applying security best practices and conducting vulnerability assessments.
• Creates meaningful architecture diagrams and technical documentation for internal use and external stakeholders, including security reviews and audits.
• Defines service level objectives (SLOs) and works towards meeting production reliability and availability goals.

20% Support & Enablement:

• Fields questions and provides technical mentorship to junior engineers, enabling them to grow their skills and contribute to the product effectively.
• Actively promotes cross-team collaboration, particularly in areas of design patterns, shared services, and tech debt reduction.
• Works with third-party vendors and open-source communities to integrate new technologies or tools that can improve the product.
• Reviews the performance and capacity of all aspects of the production system, including code, infrastructure, data, and message processing.
• Provides application support for software running in production, helping to triage issues as they arise and minimizing downtime.
• Works with other product teams to define API specifications and ensure proper integration across the organization.

10% Learning:

• Leads learning initiatives within the team, promoting modern software design practices and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
• Stays up to date on emerging technologies, including cloud-native technologies, containerization, and microservices architecture, and applies them to the team’s work when appropriate.
• Attends conferences and engages with the broader tech community to bring back innovative ideas and practices.

Direct Manager/Direct Reports:

• Typically reports to the Software Engineer Manager, Sr. Manager, Technology Director, or Sr. Director.

Travel Requirements:

Typically requires less than 10% overnight travel.

Physical Requirements:

• Most work is sedentary, but occasional movement may be required (e.g., to move light objects).

Working Conditions:

• Primarily based in a comfortable indoor environment, with minimal exposure to uncomfortable conditions.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Must be 18 years or older.
• Must be legally permitted to work in the United States.
• Expert Java programming skills, with a strong focus on performance and scalability.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms, specifically Google Cloud (GKE, Load Balancers).
• Experience in security practices for software engineering, including vulnerability scanning and remediation.
• Proven ability to troubleshoot performance issues, especially with databases and distributed systems.
• Familiarity with CI/CD practices, including automated testing and continuous integration.
• Ability to break down abstract solutions and translate them into concrete implementation details.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to contribute at both the architecture and implementation levels.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 6-8 years of relevant experience in software engineering, including experience as a staff or principal-level engineer.
• Experience with end-to-end architecture design and development in Google Cloud Platform (GCP), including working with Kubernetes, Spanner, Kafka, and Pub/Sub.
• 3+ years of experience in a senior engineering role, interfacing with multiple levels of the software development lifecycle (e.g., business requirements, design, deployment, and production support).
• Experience leading a team of engineers, driving technical decisions, and mentoring junior engineers.
• Expertise in relevant technologies such as Kubernetes, Cassandra, Pub/Sub, Kafka, Prometheus, ElasticSearch, Redis, and Spanner.
• Hands-on experience with cloud-native technologies and services, including distributed systems, microservices architectures, and container orchestration.

Minimum Education:

• Typically requires a bachelor's degree or equivalent in a relevant field of study (e.g., Computer Science, Engineering, etc.).

Preferred Education:

• No additional education required.

Minimum Years of Work Experience:

• 6+ years of hands-on experience in software engineering, with a focus on system architecture and development in a cloud-based environment.

Preferred Years of Work Experience:

• At least 12 months of recent hands-on development and end-to-end architecture design experience on Google Cloud Platform.

Minimum Leadership Experience:

• None required, but at least 3 years in a senior engineering role, with demonstrated experience in technical leadership.

Preferred Leadership Experience:

• Experience leading a team of engineers, driving technical decisions, and promoting engineering excellence.

Certifications:

• None.

Competencies:

• Action Oriented: Seizes new opportunities and takes on challenges with energy and enthusiasm.
• Business Insight: Applies deep technical knowledge to drive the success of business initiatives.
• Collaborates: Works closely with cross-functional teams to achieve shared goals and objectives.
• Communicates Effectively: Tailors communication style to meet the needs of diverse audiences, ensuring clarity and understanding.
• Cultivates Innovation: Identifies and implements creative, high-impact solutions to complex technical problems.
• Drives Results: Demonstrates a strong track record of delivering results even under pressure or uncertainty.
• Global Perspective: Considers the broader implications of decisions and looks for opportunities for global impact.
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates easily to diverse groups of people, fostering collaboration and inclusion.
• Manages Ambiguity: Makes sound decisions even when faced with uncertainty or incomplete information.
• Manages Complexity: Navigates complex information to solve intricate problems effectively.
• Nimble Learning: Quickly adapts to new technologies and methodologies, continuously improving and growing.
• Optimizes Work Processes: Seeks out and implements improvements in workflows to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
• Self-Development: Actively pursues opportunities to enhance personal and professional growth.
• Situational Adaptability: Adjusts approach in real-time to match shifting demands, environments, and challenges.