Principal Software Engineer (Location Services)
Cotality · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $170,000 / year
- United States
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Job highlights
- Lead Location Services architecture and technical strategy.
- Design scalable, high-availability location systems.
- Own critical geospatial components and services.
- Influence technical direction across teams.
- Mentor senior and mid-level engineers.
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
- Principal Software Engineer
- Location Services
- Geospatial Systems
- Distributed Systems
- Cloud-Native Architecture
- System Design
- Technical Leadership
- Mentorship
- Reliability Engineering
- Data Modeling
Skills & topics
- Principal Software Engineer
- Software Engineering
- Location Services
- Geospatial
- Distributed Systems
- Cloud
- Architecture
- Technical Leadership
- Python
- Java
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight experience with distributed systems, geospatial concepts, and cloud-native technologies relevant to Principal Software Engineer roles.
- Showcase leadership: Emphasize instances where you've provided technical direction and mentorship without direct authority.
- Quantify achievements: Use metrics to demonstrate the impact of your architectural decisions and system designs.
- Prepare for technical interviews: Brush up on distributed systems, geospatial data, and cloud technologies.
- Understand Cotality's mission: Align your application and interview responses with their goal of making property intelligence smarter.
Technical preparation
Master distributed systems design principles.,Deepen knowledge of geospatial data and queries.,Practice coding in Java, C++, or Python.,Review cloud-native service deployment and operation.
Behavioral questions
Describe a complex technical challenge you led.,How do you influence technical decisions across teams?,Tell me about mentoring junior engineers.,How do you ensure operational excellence in systems?
Frequently asked questions
- What are the key technical skills required for the Principal Software Engineer Location Services role at Cotality?
- The Principal Software Engineer Location Services role at Cotality requires deep experience in designing and operating large-scale distributed systems, strong expertise in geospatial concepts (data models, indexing, queries, accuracy), proficiency in backend programming languages (Java, C++, Python), experience with cloud-native services (GCP, AWS, Azure), and a strong understanding of various data storage technologies.
- How does Cotality foster a positive work environment for its Principal Software Engineers?
- Cotality is committed to a diverse and inclusive culture that inspires innovation. They offer opportunities for collaboration, skill development, and direct impact on the real estate economy, valuing employees as their greatest asset. They provide an empowered environment encouraging creativity, initiative, and professional growth.
- What is the expected career progression for a Principal Software Engineer at Cotality?
- While specific paths vary, a Principal Software Engineer at Cotality is expected to provide technical leadership, shape architecture, and influence technical strategy across the company. This role offers significant scope and influence, with opportunities to mentor other engineers and drive long-term systems thinking, laying a strong foundation for further senior technical or architectural roles.
- Can I work remotely as a Principal Software Engineer at Cotality?
- The job description doesn't explicitly state the work arrangement for this role, but it mentions a 'flexible working model' as part of their benefits. It is advisable to inquire about the specific work arrangement during the application or interview process for the Principal Software Engineer (Location Services) position.
- What kind of impact can a Principal Software Engineer have on Cotality's mission?
- A Principal Software Engineer at Cotality can significantly impact the company's mission to make the property industry faster, smarter, and more people-centric. By leading the Location Services architecture and ensuring the scalability and accuracy of geospatial systems, they directly contribute to providing 'property intelligence' and fueling a thriving global property ecosystem.
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