[Hiring] Principal Engineer @WunderGraph, Inc.

Role Description

You are an amalgamation of a jack-of-all-trades developer, customer champion, architect, and solution designer. Theoretically, you could build it all yourself, but then, helping others (your team) succeed is equally exciting as you get to guide and teach them along the way. So the challenge you’re deftly solving is standing on the sidelines to help your team win, whilst at the same time trailblazing ahead on hard problems and new ideas. In order to do so, you must have a deep understanding of technology and customer needs whilst wearing an entrepreneur’s hat. This way, you have a profound impact on not just the success of Engineering, but also the success of the whole company.

In this role, you need to be a hustler as well as a problem-solver and servant leader. Prowess in many technologies is mandatory, as is your willingness to dig in and get your hands dirty up to the elbows (at least spending 50% of your time coding). Even though this role can involve actively managing people, the main goal is to guide and grow less senior engineers and lead them to exceptional results.

You are responsible for the development of team members and also own the hiring of new staff. This means you need to have leadership abilities, but you won’t be a line manager. Still, your style and posture will set the standard for all other engineers at WunderGraph, who look to you for advice, technical challenge, and guidance.

Team Integration

• You report to the Head of Engineering.
• You align with the CEO (on product in his role as CPO), the Head of Customer Success (on customer feedback), and the CISO (on information security).
• You work with the Product Delivery Lead and Product Engineering teams to support timely and repeatable delivery of features.
• You support the hiring efforts collaborating with the Head of Engineering and the People team.

Role Objectives

• Have us continuously meet our SLA, security, privacy, and compliance commitments.
• Ensure highest impact of our engineering resources through guidance and training.
• The team fully leverages AI for maximum engineering speed and automation.
• Identify technical game-changers for growth and efficiency.
• You are on top of all the spend and costs plus the vendor agreements, working with the Head of Engineering to keep our operations effective and lean.

Role Tasks

• Software development in various languages (primarily Go, NextJS, Typescript).
• Architectural decisions to maintain a coherent architecture across the stack.
• Support hiring efforts alongside the Head of Engineering and the People team, lending your expertise to interview and screen candidates.
• Enforce, maintain, and evolve our standards throughout the SDLC, e.g., for coding, testing, and security.
• Work with the different Product Engineering teams on more complex projects and features.
• Creation of PoCs / experiments to try out potential solutions.
• Sales / technical meetings with customers where needed.
• Managing external suppliers and vendors, decision on which tools and technologies to use.
• Cost control on tools and environments, keeping things as lean as possible.
• Train and guide engineers on best practices that are appropriate for our setup and goals.
• Work with the Head of Engineering to refine and deploy the AI strategy and encourage the team adoption of AI.
• Prepare and support security audits supporting the Head of Engineering and the CISO.

Role Requirements

• Profound experience in various programming languages and styles, ideally in TypeScript and Go, covering the entire stack. GraphQL knowledge would be a bonus.
• Proven track record of building full solutions (vs. parts), ideally in the SaaS space.
• Proven track record of working with customers to build/improve a product.
• Several years of leadership experience is a plus.
• Avid problem solver, pragmatic and hands-on.
• Experience with API Gateways, Proxies, and Networking in general is a plus, as well as OpenAPI, SOAP, gRPC.
• Excellent communication skills in English.
• Self-starter with a clear sense of priorities - no hand-holding needed.
• Focus on getting things done (we’re still a start-up after all).
• Passionate about building something the world has never seen together with a small, nimble, and badass team.
• You’re able to thrive in a 100% remote environment and enjoy working with a global team.

Benefits

• Work from wherever you thrive—we’re fully remote and globally distributed.
• Pick your preferred work hardware.
• We focus on getting stuff done, and on having fun whilst doing so: work hard, play hard!
• You can make a real difference and find lots of opportunities to grow together with us.
• Discretionary PTO: take the time you need to recharge.
• Competitive compensation.
• Depending on location, we offer healthcare benefits according to local standards.
• Team retreats across the globe.

The Process

We respect your time and interest in WunderGraph. This is why we're aiming to make the process as fast as possible. Here's what you can expect:

• 30 min intro call with Alex or Mariya from our People team.
• 45 min discussion with the hiring manager. Following this, you might receive a small take-home assignment related to the role. This is your chance to prove your skill!
• Complete the assignment and review together with the hiring manager.
• Meet the founders.
• Culture fit call with team members.
• Offer.

Our process also includes reference and background checks. We aim to respond or provide feedback in 2 or 3 days between each stage of the process. We're usually hiring through Deel as our Employer of Record, except for Germany or Florida where we're hiring directly.

WunderGraph is an equal opportunity workplace; we welcome people from all backgrounds.

You can find out more about our ways of working together here: WunderGraph Public Handbook and Resources.

We’re looking forward to your application so we can grow together!