Principal Engineer

The Position: Principal Engineer at A Place for Mom

A Place for Mom is building the next generation of intelligent, scalable platforms that connect families, providers, and advisors through AI-driven experiences. We’re looking for a Principal Engineer to lead the technical design and evolution of our full-stack platform, powering real-time engagement across web, data, and communication systems.

You will shape the architectural foundation that underpins our product ecosystem, bridging modern web technologies, backend systems, and AI/data services into a cohesive, high-performing platform. This role combines deep technical expertise, system-level thinking, and hands-on mentorship to drive innovation at scale.

Who You Are

You’re a hands-on systems thinker who loves designing elegant solutions to complex problems. You thrive at the intersection of application architecture, data engineering, and AI integration, and can translate business goals into scalable, maintainable systems.

You are a multiplier, someone who raises the bar for technical excellence across multiple teams by mentoring engineers, defining best practices, and driving cross-functional alignment between engineering, product, and data.

What You Will Do

• Architect and evolve core platform systems spanning frontend, backend, and data services, balancing performance, extensibility, and security.
• Design scalable, event-driven architectures that integrate APIs, conversational interfaces, and data pipelines across products.
• Lead full-stack engineering strategy across Next.js, NestJS, TypeScript, and Node.js, ensuring alignment on quality, standards, and maintainability.
• Build AI-native solutions that embed intelligence and automation throughout our platform, partnering closely with Data, ML, and Product teams to translate models and insights into production-ready features.
• Stay ahead of the evolving AI ecosystem, evaluating new frameworks, model interfaces, and development best practices, and championing their responsible adoption across the engineering organization.
• Advance platform observability and reliability through instrumentation, alerting, and automation, owning SLAs, Web Vitals, and uptime goals.
• Partner across disciplines to align technical decisions with product strategy, ensuring the platform supports AI, analytics, and experimentation needs.
• Mentor senior engineers and influence architectural direction across teams, fostering a culture of learning, documentation, and accountability.

Qualifications

Required Skills & Competencies:

• 14+ years of software engineering experience with modern JavaScript/TypeScript stacks (React, Next.js, Node.js, NestJS).
• Proven ability to architect and scale distributed, service-oriented systems with strong attention to performance and maintainability.
• Deep understanding of API design, event streaming (Redis/Kafka), and real-time communication systems.
• Experience with relational databases (Postgres) and data-driven service design; familiarity with GraphQL or REST service layers.
• Track record of building and integrating complex web platforms that combine front-end, back-end, and data systems into unified experiences.
• Excellent communicator able to explain complex technical concepts clearly across audiences from engineers to executives.
• Demonstrated leadership in defining engineering standards, mentoring senior talent, and driving architectural strategy.

Preferred Experience:

• Exposure to AI/ML-integrated products or large-scale personalization systems.
• Familiarity with data lake and analytics platforms (Databricks, Fivetran, PostHog, or similar).
• Experience with real-time communication APIs (Twilio, Customer.io) and event-driven microservices.
• Background in multi-tenant SaaS or high-volume consumer platforms.
• Contributions to engineering communities or open-source frameworks.

Compensation & Benefits

Base Salary: $165,000 to $200,000 + 30% Bonus

• 401(k) plus match
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Paid Time Off

About A Place for Mom

A Place for Mom is the leading platform guiding families through every stage of the aging journey. Together, we simplify the senior care search with free, personalized support — connecting caregivers and their loved ones to vetted providers from our network of 15,000+ senior living communities and home care agencies.

Since 2000, our teams have helped millions of families find care that fits their needs. Behind every referral and resource is a shared goal: to help families focus on what matters most — their love for each other.

We’re proud to be a mission-driven company where every role contributes to improving lives. Caring isn’t just a core value — it’s who we are. Whether you’re supporting families directly or driving innovation behind the scenes, your work at A Place for Mom makes a real difference.

Our Employees Live The Company Values Every Day

• Mission Over Me: We find purpose in helping caregivers and their senior loved ones while approaching our work with empathy.
• Do Hard Things: We are energized by solving challenging problems and see it as an opportunity to grow.
• Drive Outcomes as a Team: We each own the outcome but can only achieve it as a team.
• Win The Right Way: We see organizational integrity as the foundation for how we operate.
• Embrace Change: We innovate and constantly evolve.

Key skills/competency

• Full-stack Architecture
• Scalable Systems Design
• AI Integration
• Event-driven Architectures
• API Design
• Modern JavaScript Stacks
• Data Engineering
• Platform Observability
• Technical Mentorship
• Cross-functional Alignment