Principal Software Engineer

Title: Principal Software Engineer

Location: United States

Job Description:

Remote (U.S.-based)

Build the platforms that power global commerce — where accuracy is non-negotiable and scale truly matters.

Blackmere is partnering with one of our clients, a global technology company operating at the intersection of fintech, compliance, and large-scale cloud platforms, to hire a Principal Engineer / Architect. This is a rare opportunity for a deeply technical, hands-on architect who wants to shape the backbone of systems that move money, data, and compliance obligations across borders.

This client builds mission-critical, customer-facing platforms used by businesses operating in highly regulated environments. Downtime isn’t tolerated. Accuracy isn’t optional. And architectural decisions have real-world financial and legal consequences.

If you thrive on complexity, global scale, and building systems that have to work, this role was built for you.

The Opportunity

This Principal Engineer / Architect will play a defining role in the evolution of several high-impact global platforms, including:

• High-volume e-invoicing and live reporting systems used across multiple jurisdictions
• Emerging fintech and payments platforms with fiduciary, audit, and regulatory requirements

This is a senior individual contributor role — ideal for someone who wants to stay close to the code while shaping architectural direction across products and regions. You’ll design and evolve globally distributed systems that must be secure, resilient, auditable, and compliant, all while operating at scale.

You’ll collaborate with engineering teams across the U.S., India, Brazil, and Europe, influencing outcomes through technical leadership, strong design instincts, and hands-on execution.

What You’ll Do

Architect at Global Scale

• Own and guide the architecture of cloud-native platforms handling high-volume financial and compliance transactions
• Design for latency, throughput, data residency, auditability, and regulatory correctness
• Solve complex global deployment challenges, including regional routing and jurisdiction-specific constraints

Be a True Builder

• Write and prototype foundational code that other teams build on
• Review system designs and code to ensure architectural integrity and long-term platform health
• Proactively identify and resolve systemic risks, performance bottlenecks, and scaling challenges

Partner Across the Business

• Work closely with Product, Engineering, and Compliance leaders to translate business needs into durable technical solutions
• Enable distributed teams by establishing clear patterns that reduce friction and dependency

Lead with AI (Substance Over Hype)

• Design and embed meaningful AI-driven capabilities — from automation to reliability and predictive insights
• Set standards for responsible AI usage across architecture, security, and development workflows
• Apply AI thoughtfully to improve outcomes, not just to check a box

Raise the Technical Bar

• Mentor and influence senior engineers through example, not hierarchy
• Establish best practices around system design, documentation, observability, and operational excellence
• Foster a culture of curiosity, adaptability, and continuous improvement

What We’re Looking For

Required Experience

• 15+ years of hands-on software engineering experience with deep system design expertise
• Proven success architecting and scaling distributed systems in regulated or high-risk environments (fintech, payments, compliance, etc.)
• Strong proficiency in Java or C#
• Deep understanding of architectural patterns, tradeoffs, and modern system design
• Experience with AWS</strong>, CI/CD pipelines, and modern DevOps tooling (Terraform, Docker, ECS, etc.)
• Experience evolving monolithic systems into microservices or cloud-native architectures
• Strong grounding in enterprise integration patterns

Strongly Preferred

• Experience supporting global platforms across multiple regions and regulatory jurisdictions
• Background in financial systems, payments, or compliance-heavy domains
• Ability to adapt expertise from adjacent domains into new problem spaces
• A clear builder mindset — this role is not a stepping stone into people management

What Success Looks Like

Within your first 6–12 months, you will:

• Establish clear architectural direction across multiple global products
• Improve platform scalability, resilience, and global traffic efficiency
• Become a trusted technical leader for distributed engineering teams
• Advance the client’s AI strategy in measurable, practical ways
• Enable faster product evolution without sacrificing compliance or correctness

Why This Role Matters

This role sits at the center of a global platform strategy. The systems you design will directly influence how businesses operate legally and confidently across borders — shaping how money, data, and compliance move around the world. For senior engineers who want scale, impact, and real technical ownership, opportunities like this don’t come around often.