Principal Software Architect

We are looking for a seasoned technical leader who thrives in ambiguity, enjoys hard problems, and brings clarity, pragmatism, and strong engineering judgment to complex enterprise systems.

What this role actually is

This is a hands-on senior technical leadership role for someone who:

• Architects systems by engaging directly with code, teams, and real constraints
• Partners closely with product, business, and customer stakeholders
• Sets direction without dogma and raises the bar without creating friction
• Understands when to go deep, when to delegate, and when to say "no"

You will be trusted to make meaningful technical decisions and expected to explain the why behind them.

What we're looking for

You are someone who:

• Has 15+ years of full-time professional experience delivering custom, enterprise-grade software
• Has operated at Staff, Principal, or Architect level, whether or not that was your title
• Can take loosely defined problems and turn them into clear, shippable solutions
• Has strong architectural opinions—and knows when to change them
• Is accountable for outcomes, not just implementations
• Communicates clearly with engineers, product leaders, and business stakeholders
• Enjoys mentoring and elevating other engineers without needing formal authority
• Values pragmatism, sustainability, and long-term maintainability over novelty

Technical depth we expect

This role spans the full stack, but depth matters more than box-checking.

• Deep experience with TypeScript
• Comfort working with modern CSS tooling (Sass, LESS, PostCSS)
• Experience reasoning about performance, accessibility, and maintainability in large front-end systems

Server-side and systems expertise

• Deep understanding of API design (REST, GraphQL, RPC), caching, and resiliency patterns
• Experience designing and operating scalable, fault-tolerant systems under real load
• Strong grasp of cloud platforms (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and their tradeoffs
• Experience with service-oriented and microservice architectures, including when not to use them
• Proven ability to identify, communicate, and mitigate technical risk across teams and systems
• Experience integrating and normalizing heterogeneous data sources in production environments
• Comfort owning performance optimization and security hardening end-to-end

What you'll do at SitePen

Depending on the engagement and your strengths, you will:

• Lead solution architecture and delivery for complex customer initiatives
• Work hands-on across the stack where it provides the most leverage
• Partner with customer teams to raise engineering maturity, not just ship features
• Mentor and level up engineers through collaboration, reviews, and example
• Help define technical direction while staying grounded in delivery reality
• Contribute to internal standards, practices, and architectural thinking

We expect architects here to be visible, engaged, and opinionated—in service of outcomes.

You don't need to be an expert in everything below, but you should be comfortable navigating and reasoning about systems like these:

• Angular (current versions)
• Python (working knowledge)
• ORM frameworks (Hibernate / JPA)
• Build & CI/CD tooling (Gradle, Maven, GitLab CI, Jenkins)
• Cloud infrastructure on AWS (ECS, Batch, CloudFormation)
• Data and workflow systems (Oracle SQL / PL/SQL, Apache Airflow, Spring Batch)

What we offer

• Work on meaningful, non-trivial systems with real constraints
• Trust, autonomy, and a seat at the table for technical decisions
• Collaboration with deeply experienced engineers and leaders
• A sustainable, respectful work-life balance
• An environment that values clarity, quality, and long-term thinking

Job Location

You'll work at home! Your home just needs to be somewhere within the United States.

To Apply

To be considered for this role, please send us an email that includes your resume, cover letter, and relevant work samples. Thank you!