Principal Software Engineer, Collaborative Web Platform

Role overview Provide hands-on technical leadership for a new collaborative web platform that brings together real-time editing, content management, publishing, developer tools, and AI-assisted workflows. The principal-level individual contributor will shape architecture and engineering practices across teams while helping deliver a production-ready platform that remains reliable, secure, accessible, and safe to operate.

Responsibilities - Set and evolve architecture spanning collaboration, content state, APIs, data models, visual editing, publishing, integrations, and extension points. - Clarify boundaries between the product, hosting capabilities, and external systems; make and document build-versus-buy decisions. - Translate product goals into technical strategy, investment priorities, delivery sequencing, and measurable outcomes with cross-functional leaders. - Establish practical standards for reliability, security, privacy, observability, API design, testing, deployment, and incident response. - Improve design proposals, API contracts, release plans, and cross-team alignment through decision records, reviews, and reference patterns. - Stay close to implementation by reviewing code, investigating production behavior, unblocking critical work, and building reference solutions when useful. - Mentor senior engineers and help teams turn ambiguous product needs into phased technical plans.

Requirements - At least 14 years of software engineering experience, or equivalent sustained technical impact. - Experience as a principal engineer, chief architect, or comparable technical leader across teams and products. - Track record guiding complex products or platforms from early architecture through production operation. - Strong systems thinking across front end, back end, APIs, data, infrastructure, security, and operations. - Experience with distributed, event-driven, real-time, collaborative, or stateful systems and production reliability. - Sound judgment in platform boundaries, build-versus-buy decisions, technical investment, and technical debt. - Strong API and integration design, written communication, and ability to influence without formal authority.

Nice to have Experience leading a zero-to-one launch or major platform transformation, and familiarity with content systems, developer experience, or AI-assisted workflows.

Benefits and work setup The role is remote-forward, with in-office workspaces available in San Francisco and Chicago. Benefits include compensation and equity, flexible time off, sick days, 13 paid holidays, medical, dental and vision coverage, paid parental leave and family-planning support, a monthly wellness and reading allowance, and access to professional learning resources.