Principal Software Engineer, Platform Engineering

Principal Software Engineer- Platform Engineering Remote, United States Job Overview We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to serve as a technical force-multiplier on Legion's Platform Engineering Team — the backbone of our multi-tenant SaaS application. As a Principal, you independently own significant platform domains, drive architectural decisions that span multiple teams, and elevate the engineering capability of everyone around you. This role is fundamentally about software engineering at scale. You will design and build the core platform services, APIs, and data systems that power Legion's product. You remain deeply hands-on — writing and reviewing production code — while operating with the judgment and autonomy of a staff-level engineer. You are a builder first. Responsibilities And Duties Technical Domain Ownership Own the design, implementation, and evolution of one or more core platform domains — such as multi-tenancy, API framework, job processing, data pipelines, or platform SDK/extension points. Lead end-to-end software design for significant new capabilities, from technical specification through production delivery and long-term maintainability. Proactively identify and resolve scalability, correctness, and security issues in platform code and data models before they reach production. Drive data modeling, API design, and service decomposition decisions for high-concurrency, enterprise-scale workloads. Actively use GenAI coding tools (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code) as a standard part of your software development workflow — demonstrated prior use required. Establish team-wide best practices for AI-assisted development and code review. Cross-Team Technical Leadership Produce and champion design docs that establish engineering patterns adopted across Platform and adjacent product teams. Lead design reviews for complex systems built by senior and mid-level engineers; provide structured, high-signal feedback that improves both the design and the engineer. Partner closely with architects to translate long-term strategy into well-sequenced, concrete engineering work. Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, QA, and Data Engineering to align software design with product and operational requirements. Code Quality and Engineering Standards Define and uphold coding standards, testing practices, and API design conventions for the Platform team. Drive initiatives that measurably improve platform reliability and developer experience through better software design — not just tooling or process. Lead post-mortems for significant production issues with a focus on durable software fixes, not operational workarounds. Participate in on-call rotation; serve as the senior escalation point for complex production issues requiring deep code-level diagnosis. Mentorship and Talent Development Actively mentor Engineers through technical pairing, design feedback, and structured growth conversations. Identify and close skill gaps on the team through knowledge-sharing, internal documentation, and architectural walkthroughs. Contribute to hiring: define the technical bar, design engineering interview problems, and provide substantive written debrief feedback. Required Skills And Qualifications 8–12 years of experience designing and building backend or platform software for enterprise SaaS or cloud-native applications, with a primary focus on application-layer engineering, not infrastructure operations. Deep expertise in Java, Spring Boot, Hibernate, MySQL, and RESTful API design — demonstrated through architecting complex, high-throughput production systems. 5+ years working in cloud environments (AWS preferred); strong understanding of how cloud services affect software design, performance, and cost — not just how to configure them. Demonstrated experience independently driving multi-team software design decisions: writing design docs, facilitating alignment, and managing technical tradeoffs. Strong command of distributed systems concepts: event-driven architecture, eventual consistency, multi-tenancy isolation, rate limiting, and fault tolerance — applied through code, not configuration. Demonstrated active use of Generative AI coding tools in professional software development within the past 12 months. Preferred Qualifications And Attributes Hands-on experience with Elasticsearch and real-time messaging systems (Kafka, SQS, or equivalent) as components of application architecture. Experience with feature flags and experimentation frameworks integrated into application code in high-scale SaaS environments. Background in Workforce Management, HR Tech, scheduling, or other complex regulated enterprise domains. Familiarity with multi-jurisdiction labor compliance requirements. COMPENSATION & BENEFITS Salary Range: Base Salary Range: $250,000 - $350,000 + Stock Equity At Legion, we offer competitive compensation and benefits packages to all employees. As a fully remote employer, pay for positions is determined using local, national, and industry-specific survey data. Our posted salary range is based on national data and may be refined for a candidate's region or cost-of-living. Salaries will be based on the applicant's location, level of experience, education, and specialized knowledge and skills. Additionally, we consider the external market rate, the amount we have budgeted internally, and internal equity for the same position within the company. $0 monthly premium and other flexible medical, dental, and vision plans effective on the first day of employment 401k plan Discretionary Paid Time Off and Paid Holidays Parental Leave Equity Monthly Wellness Reimbursement Monthly Lunch on Legion ABOUT LEGION Join Legion's mission to turn hourly jobs into good jobs. We're a remote, mission-driven team seeking exceptional talent to propel this vision. Embrace a culture that's collaborative, fast-paced, and entrepreneurial. With us, you'll grow your skills, work closely with experienced executives, and contribute significantly to our mission. Legion Technologies delivers the industry's most innovative workforce management platform. It enables businesses to maximize labor efficiency and employee engagement simultaneously. The award-winning, AI-driven Legion WFM platform is intelligent, automated, and employee-centric. It's proven to deliver 13x ROI through schedule optimization, reduced attrition, increased productivity, and increased operational efficiency. Legion delivers cutting-edge technology in an easy-to-use platform and mobile app that employees love. If you're ready to make an impact and grow your career, Legion is where you belong. Join us in making hourly work rewarding and fulfilling. BACKGROUND AND OPPORTUNITY There are almost 75 million hourly workers in the United States, representing more than half of the entire workforce. Historically, managing hourly employees has been difficult due to high attrition (average of 60%) and high replacement costs (average of $3,200 per employee in retail). The ongoing labor shortage and competition from the gig economy make it more difficult to attract and retain hourly employees. The top reasons hourly employees leave their jobs are a lack of schedule empowerment, poor communication with employers, and an inability to get paid early. Gen Z and the millennial workforce demand gig-like flexibility, modern technology, and compelling work options. Legion's mission is to turn hourly jobs into good jobs, serving the hourly workers who make up the majority of the US workforce. We believe in empowering employees and helping employers be efficient and innovative by enabling intelligent automation powered by Legion's Workforce Management platform to optimize labor efficiency and enhance the employee experience simultaneously. Legion WFM was built for the cloud with AI at the core and designed to handle the complexity of modern businesses and meet the needs of today's hourly employees. Our team is comprised of dedicated individuals from all backgrounds and experiences, globally distributed across all time zones. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY Legion Technologies is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer and is committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive work environment. All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, veteran status, and any other legally protected status under federal, state, or local anti-discrimination laws. DISABILITY ACCOMMODATION For individuals with disabilities who need additional assistance at any point in the application and interview process, please email recruiting@legion.co J-18808-Ljbffr