[Hiring] Principal Software Engineer @Next Step Systems

Role Description

As the Principal Software Engineer, AI Email Applications, you own the engineering layer that turns Artificial Intelligence (AI) capability into a reliable product. You will shape the architecture across backend services, APIs, and client applications, while leading a small team of senior engineers. This is a hands-on leadership role. You stay close to the code, make critical architectural decisions, and ensure the system remains fast, reliable, and coherent as it scales.

This position is 100% Remote.

MUST BE WILLING TO TAKE A 60 MINUTE CODING ASSESSMENT.

Principal Software Engineer Responsibilities:

• Own the application engineering strategy and execution across backend, mobile, and desktop.
• Design reliable systems for AI-powered workflows, including state, orchestration, tool use, retries, fallbacks, and failure handling.
• Build the APIs and abstractions that connect Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to real-world product experiences.
• Lead a small, senior engineering team and raise the technical bar through design reviews, code reviews, and hands-on mentorship.
• Make high-impact trade-offs across latency, reliability, cost, security, and user experience.
• Establish strong production foundations: observability, monitoring, testing, and operational excellence.
• Partner closely with Machine Learning (ML) leadership to turn model capabilities into robust, shippable product experiences.
• Move quickly while keeping the architecture simple, maintainable, and ready to scale.

Principal Software Engineer Outcomes:

• Production systems are observable, monitored, and stable under real-world load.
• Decisions consistently balance speed, cost, reliability, and user experience.
• Features across backend, mobile, and desktop work smoothly and reliably.
• Latency and reliability improve measurably over time.

Qualifications

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) experience is required.
• Significant experience leading application or product engineering for complex systems.
• Strong hands-on background building and shipping backend systems used in production.
• Experience building AI-powered products or systems that integrate with modern Machine Learning (ML)/Large Language Model (LLM) capabilities.
• Strong technical judgment and the ability to make decisions with incomplete information.
• Comfortable working across backend and client platforms, with deep expertise in at least one.
• A strong bias toward ownership, shipping, and learning from real-world usage.
• High standards for code quality, reliability, and engineering fundamentals.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Dental
• Vision
• Savings Plan Options
• PTO

Compensation

USD 160,000 - USD 190,000 yearly