Principal Engineer

Principal Backend Engineer (GCP, Healthcare) Full-time Hybrid in NYC $180-250k Overview We are seeking a highly experienced Principal Backend Engineer to lead the design, development, and scalability of our backend systems powering healthcare advertising platforms. This role requires deep technical expertise in distributed systems, cloud-native architectures on GCP, and a strong understanding of healthcare data ecosystems and ad tech The ideal candidate will serve as a technical leader, driving architecture decisions, mentoring engineers, and ensuring compliance with healthcare regulations (e.g., HIPAA) while delivering scalable and high-performance solutions. Key Responsibilities Define and implement the backend architecture strategy for highly scalable, low-latency systems. Lead design reviews, set engineering standards, and drive best practices across teams. Act as a principal decision-maker for complex system design challenges. Mentor senior and mid-level engineers and foster a culture of technical excellence. Design and build microservices architectures and APIs supporting healthcare advertising platforms. Develop systems capable of handling high-throughput ad serving, targeting, and analytics workloads . Implement event-driven architectures using technologies like Pub/Sub, Kafka, or similar. Ensure systems are optimized for performance, reliability, and scalability . Architect and maintain cloud-native solutions using Google Cloud Platform , including: BigQuery for analytics Pub/Sub for messaging Cloud Storage and Firestore/Cloud SQL Drive infrastructure as code (IaC) practices using Terraform or similar tools. Optimize cloud costs, performance, and reliability. Ensure backend systems comply with HIPAA and healthcare data privacy regulations . Work with sensitive healthcare datasets (e.g., claims data, EHR integrations). Implement secure data handling, encryption, and auditing mechanisms. Build and scale systems for: Real-time bidding (RTB) or ad delivery pipelines Campaign management and reporting Integrate with DSPs, CDPs, or healthcare data providers . Implement robust data pipelines for analytics and insights. Partner with Product, Data Science, and Compliance teams to deliver impactful solutions. Collaborate cross-functionally to align technical solutions with business strategy. Required Qualifications 10+ years of backend engineering experience, with at least 3–5 years in a principal or staff-level role . Strong expertise in one or more backend languages (e.g., Java, Python, Go). Hands‑on experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) . Deep understanding of RESTful APIs, microservices, and event-driven systems . Experience with data-intensive applications and large-scale data processing. Familiarity with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes). Preferred Qualifications Experience in healthcare technology, healthcare data, or HIPAA-compliant systems . Background in advertising technology (AdTech) , including targeting, bidding, or campaign optimization systems. Knowledge of real-time streaming frameworks (e.g., Dataflow, Spark Streaming). Experience with BigQuery or large-scale analytics platforms. Familiarity with identity resolution, attribution modeling, or audience graph systems . Experience working in regulated environments . Soft Skills Strong leadership and mentorship capabilities. Excellent problem-solving and architectural thinking. Effective communicator with the ability to influence stakeholders. Ability to operate in a fast‑paced, evolving environment. Nice-to-Have Experience building privacy‑first advertising solutions in healthcare. Knowledge of FHIR, HL7 , or healthcare interoperability standards. Exposure to AI/ML-driven targeting or personalization systems . #J-18808-Ljbffr