Principal Engineer

b Title: Principal Engineer - CollegePads

Job Summary:

As a Principal Engineer at CollegePads, you will be the most senior technical leader within our team, tackling complex challenges across both technology and business domains. You will play a pivotal role in shaping our technical strategy and producing our Technology Roadmap. Your leadership will be crucial in coaching and guiding the organization to successful execution. You are adept at diving deep into varied domains, collaborating effectively with Platform, Security, Engineering, Product, and Quality teams to contribute meaningfully to solution design. Your exceptional communication skills will enable you to connect with developers at all levels, conveying complex ideas effectively. Above all, you are driven by the challenge of solving difficult problems within legacy systems and possess the collaborative skills to find optimal solutions. You can envision the bigger picture, establish a target state, and chart the course to get there, empowering others to contribute meaningfully along the way.

What You Will Be Doing:

Develop and contribute to the technical strategy for the CollegePads product.

Guide and lead your team in the execution of the technical roadmap.

Identify, diagnose, and resolve major technical blockers to ensure project momentum.

Establish and champion high standards for code quality, actively working to up-skill and enable fellow Engineers.

Define clear goals and objectives for our systems and create comprehensive plans for their execution and evolution.

Influence and spearhead design efforts for robust solutions that meet both operational and product needs, ensuring alignment with our overarching technical strategy.

Review technical solutions proposed by various teams, providing constructive feedback and ensuring best practices.

Provide expert guidance and mentorship on code reviews and help refine code review processes. Mentor, guide, and positively influence Technical Leads and Software Engineers, fostering their growth and development.

Lead complex, cross-departmental projects and project teams from initial conception through to successful completion.

Collaborate closely with Technical Leads to effectively communicate and embed technical strategy and direction across engineering teams.

Tackle and solve intricate technical problems, thereby enabling our Engineering teams to deliver more effectively and efficiently.

Required Qualifications:

A minimum of 15 years of software engineering experience, with a substantial portion dedicated to system architecture, design, and the development of Platforms, Data solutions, and distributed systems.

Demonstrated expertise in modernizing and uplifting legacy systems, including a proven ability to quantify the commercial impact of these improvements.

Exceptional ability to clearly and concisely communicate complex technical, architectural, and/or organizational problems, and to propose and drive thorough, iterative, and practical solutions.

Demonstrable, deep expertise in architecting and developing solutions across diverse technology stack, including backend systems (PHP/Laravel, Node.js), modern frontend ecosystems (React/Next.js, Vue.js) using TypeScript, and databases (MySQL, MongoDB).

Proven experience architecting, developing, and maintaining complex and reliable third-party integrations at scale.

Significant hands-on, full-stack development experience across a diverse range of programming languages and modern frameworks.

Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles and tools (e.g., CloudFormation, Terraform, ARM, AWS CDK, or similar).

Extensive and in-depth knowledge of cloud architecture, major cloud provider services (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), and best practices for designing, implementing, and securing cloud-native solutions.

Proven experience in domain modeling and translating complex business requirements into robust, scalable, and maintainable technical solutions.

Deep understanding of various software architecture patterns, principles, and frameworks (e.g., microservices, event-driven architectures, Domain-Driven Design) and the ability to discern and apply them effectively to solve complex business problems.

Substantial experience working on Software-as-a-Service ( SaaS) platforms, particularly those operating at significant scale and with high availability requirements.

Demonstrated commitment to transparent communication, fostering an inclusive engineering culture, and ensuring visibility across projects and technical decisions.

Proven experience in leading, mentoring, and developing other senior engineers and technical leads.

Demonstrable expertise in performance analysis, advanced troubleshooting, and optimization of complex, large-scale systems, including a proactive approach to identifying and preventing future issues.

Preferred Qualifications:

An advanced degree (e.g., Masters or Ph.D.) in Computer Science, Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline.

Advanced professional certifications in relevant areas, such as cloud architecture (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional, Google Professional Cloud Architect, Azure Solutions Architect Expert) or enterprise architecture.

Demonstrable deep expertise and thought leadership in a specific technical domain critical to CollegePads' strategic future (e.g., advanced data analytics and machine learning applications, scalable real-time communication platforms, cutting-edge front-end architectures for user engagement, or specific FinTech/PropTech innovations).

Experience in driving significant technological innovation, potentially evidenced by patents, leading successful R&D initiatives, or introducing transformative technologies within an organization.

Active participation in the broader tech community (e.g., open-source contributions, speaking at conferences, writing technical blogs).

Proven experience in defining, evangelizing, and successfully implementing a long-term technical vision and strategy that has been adopted across a large engineering organization or a significant business unit.

Experience with multi-cloud or hybrid-cloud environments, and managing the complexities associated with them