Senior Principal Software Engineer – Backend (Machine Identity Security, SaaS Control Plane)

About the role

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to join our Machine Identity Security team. This role focuses on backend systems that power the control plane of our platform, leading the design and evolution of scalable backend services, APIs, and integrations.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of backend services and APIs that power the Machine Identity Security control plane
• Own and drive backend architecture and system design for control plane services, with a focus on scalability, reliability, and extensibility
• Define and influence how control plane capabilities are exposed through APIs, SDKs, and integrations
• Build and guide the development of integrations between the control plane and external systems/tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible, enterprise platforms)
• Design and operate high-throughput distributed systems supporting large-scale, multi-tenant SaaS control plane environments, with a focus on latency, reliability, and data consistency
• Optimize backend services for performance at scale, including request throughput, concurrency, and system efficiency under load
• Partner closely with product, platform, and security teams to define and evolve control plane capabilities and long-term system direction
• Drive consistency and best practices across teams building control plane services, influencing design patterns, service communication, and data handling at a platform level
• Diagnose and resolve complex technical issues across distributed control plane services, setting patterns and approaches for other engineers to follow
• Mentor engineers and contribute to raising the technical bar through design reviews and technical leadership
• Drive technical decisions and influence backend direction across teams working on the platform
• Drive improvements in development workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and engineering standards
• Contribute to evolving engineering practices that incorporate modern development tooling responsibly, with attention to security, correctness, and maintainability

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
• 8+ years of professional experience in software development, with demonstrated ownership of complex backend or control plane systems
• Strong experience building backend services and APIs using Java (primary); Go experience is a plus
• Deep experience designing and scaling distributed systems and microservices architectures
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP), ideally in SaaS environments
• Strong system design expertise, including API design, performance optimization, and scalability patterns
• Experience building or operating systems under real production load, including high request throughput, concurrency, and performance optimization at scale
• Experience building and supporting APIs, SDKs, and integrations used by internal and external customers
• Experience with data streaming, messaging systems, or real-time processing (e.g., Kafka)
• Experience with CI/CD, containerization (Docker), and orchestration (Kubernetes)
• Familiarity with identity, authentication, or security systems (SAML, OAuth, certificate management) is a plus
• Proven ability to lead large-scale system design efforts and influence technical direction across multiple teams or services
• Ability to influence technical direction, mentor engineers, and drive alignment across teams
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to operate effectively in a collaborative, fast-paced environment