Principal Software Engineer
Cotality · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $160,000 / year
- United States
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Job highlights
- Lead Location Services architecture and technical strategy.
- Design scalable, reliable, and accurate location systems.
- Own critical geospatial components and drive initiatives.
- Collaborate with product and infrastructure teams.
- Mentor engineers and foster engineering excellence.
About the role
Role Overview
We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to provide technical leadership for our Location Services team. This role is responsible for shaping architecture, driving cross‑team technical strategy, and ensuring the scalability, correctness, and operational excellence of location‑based systems across the company. The Principal Engineer operates with broad scope and influence, partnering closely with engineering leaders, product teams, and stakeholders to align technical outcomes with business priorities.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Leadership & Architecture
- Own and evolve the architecture of core Location Services and geospatial capabilities
- Lead system design for highly scalable, low‑latency, and highly available location‑based services
- Define standards and best practices for geospatial data modeling, querying, and processing
- Evaluate and introduce new technologies, patterns, and frameworks where they provide material benefit
Platform Ownership & Delivery
- Serve as technical owner for critical geospatial components and services
- Guide teams through complex technical initiatives spanning multiple services or domains
- Ensure solutions meet requirements for performance, accuracy, reliability, and security
- Actively influence roadmap direction through technical insight and risk assessment
Cross‑Team Influence
- Partner with product, data, and infrastructure teams to align technical direction with business goals
- Provide technical insights to multiple engineering teams consuming Location Services
- Resolve cross‑cutting technical issues and reduce architectural fragmentation
Operational Excellence
- Drive improvements in observability, resilience, and fault tolerance for geospatial systems
- Lead root‑cause analysis for significant production issues and ensure long‑term corrective action
- Champion automation, testing strategies, and reliability engineering practices
Mentorship & Engineering Culture
- Mentor senior and mid‑level engineers, strengthening overall technical capability
- Set a high bar for engineering rigor, system design quality, and documentation
- Act as a role model for pragmatic decision‑making and long‑term systems thinking
Job Qualifications
Required Qualifications
- 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with demonstrated senior technical leadership
- Deep experience designing and operating large‑scale distributed systems
- Strong expertise in geospatial concepts, such as: Spatial data models and indexing, Geospatial queries, transformations, and projections, Location accuracy, precision, and data quality considerations
- Proficiency in one or more backend programming languages (e.g., Java, C++, Python)
- Experience building and operating cloud‑native services (e.g., GCP, AWS, or Azure)
- Strong understanding of data storage technologies (relational, NoSQL, time‑series, or geospatial databases)
- Proven ability to influence technical direction across teams without direct authority
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical trade‑offs to diverse audiences
Preferred Qualifications
- Prior ownership of location‑based or geospatial platforms in production environments
- Experience with real‑time or near‑real‑time location processing pipelines
- Familiarity with geospatial tooling and standards
- Experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Background in reliability engineering, performance tuning, and scalability testing
- Experience guiding architectural decisions in a platform or shared‑services organization
Key skills/competency
- Software Engineering
- Technical Leadership
- System Design
- Distributed Systems
- Geospatial Data
- Cloud-Native Services
- Backend Programming
- Data Storage Technologies
- Reliability Engineering
- Mentorship
Skills & topics
- Principal Software Engineer
- Software Engineering
- Technical Leadership
- System Design
- Distributed Systems
- Geospatial Data
- Cloud-Native
- Backend Development
- Architecture
- Mentorship
- Java
- C++
- Python
- GCP
- AWS
- Azure
- Remote
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight 10+ years of senior technical leadership and distributed systems experience, emphasizing geospatial expertise.
- Showcase cloud and backend skills: Detail your proficiency in languages like Java, C++, Python, and cloud platforms (GCP, AWS, Azure).
- Demonstrate influence and communication: Provide examples of guiding technical direction without direct authority and articulating complex trade-offs.
- Prepare for technical deep dives: Be ready to discuss system design for scalability, geospatial concepts, and data storage solutions.
- Understand Cotality's mission: Align your application with Cotality's goal of making the property industry smarter and more people-centric.
Technical preparation
Master distributed system design principles.,Deepen knowledge of geospatial data and queries.,Practice designing scalable cloud-native services.,Prepare to discuss large-scale data storage.
Behavioral questions
Describe leading architectural decisions for complex systems.,How do you influence teams without direct authority?,Share an example of mentoring senior engineers.,Discuss a time you improved system reliability.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the primary focus of the Principal Software Engineer role at Cotality?
- The Principal Software Engineer at Cotality will provide technical leadership for the Location Services team, focusing on architecture, cross-team strategy, and the scalability and operational excellence of location-based systems.
- What kind of technical experience is crucial for this Principal Software Engineer position?
- Key technical experience includes 10+ years in software engineering with senior technical leadership, designing and operating large-scale distributed systems, and deep expertise in geospatial concepts and data. Proficiency in backend languages and cloud-native services is also essential.
- How does Cotality support employee growth and development for a Principal Software Engineer?
- Cotality offers an empowered work environment that encourages creativity, initiative, and professional growth, including mentorship opportunities and a competitive salary and benefits package designed to help employees thrive.
- What are the preferred qualifications for the Principal Software Engineer role at Cotality?
- Preferred qualifications include prior ownership of location-based platforms, experience with real-time processing, familiarity with geospatial tooling, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and a background in reliability engineering and performance tuning.
- Can a candidate with strong distributed systems experience but less direct geospatial experience apply for the Principal Software Engineer role at Cotality?
- While deep geospatial expertise is required, candidates with strong distributed systems experience and a proven ability to learn quickly may be considered if they demonstrate a solid foundation in backend programming and cloud-native services, and a strong aptitude for mastering geospatial concepts.
- What is the work arrangement for the Principal Software Engineer position at Cotality?
- The job description indicates '#LI-Remote', suggesting this is a remote position.
- How does Cotality ensure the operational excellence of its location-based systems?
- Cotality drives improvements in observability, resilience, and fault tolerance for geospatial systems, leading root-cause analysis for production issues, and championing automation, testing strategies, and reliability engineering practices.
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