Principal Software Engineer

Summary

Join FiscalNote as a Principal Software Engineer and play a pivotal role in building the Developer Experience team. You will own complex infrastructure, applications, and services, contributing hands-on to the codebase and making a significant impact. Responsibilities include shaping internal guidelines, providing architectural direction, mentoring engineers, leading code reviews, and driving improvements in developer workflows. You will work across diverse codebases and tech stacks, collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver scalable solutions. The ideal candidate possesses 8+ years of experience in designing, building, and maintaining production-grade software systems, strong backend engineering skills, and proficiency across the full application stack. A deep understanding of CI/CD workflows and modern engineering automation practices is essential.

Requirements

• 8+ years of professional experience designing, building, and maintaining production-grade software systems across varied tech stacks
• Strong backend engineering skills, with experience designing APIs, building scalable services, and working in distributed environments
• Proficiency working across the full application stack, including frontend frameworks, backend services, and cloud infrastructure
• Proficiency with AWS services and cloud infrastructure, with a working understanding of VPCs, IAM, EC2, ECS, and S3
• Comfortable navigating a variety of technologies, with experience in stacks ranging from Python to JavaScript-based frameworks like MEAN
• Deep understanding of CI/CD workflows and modern engineering automation practices; experienced with tools like GitHub Actions, CircleCI, or similar
• Practical knowledge of containerization and orchestration using tools such as Docker and Kubernetes
• Strong database experience, including both relational (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL) and non-relational (e.g., MongoDB) systems
• A clear, thoughtful communicator who collaborates effectively across engineering, product, and business teams
• Demonstrated ability to deliver projects end to end, from early design through to deployment and monitoring
• Experienced in mentoring engineers and fostering an inclusive, growth-oriented engineering culture
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and take ownership of complex, high-impact applications and services that are critical to the organization’s success and scalability
• Work across a variety of codebases and tech stacks, ranging from legacy systems to modern frameworks, bringing hands-on contributions wherever you can add the most value
• Drive and advise the full lifecycle of application development, from frontend interfaces to backend services and cloud infrastructure
• Define and promote engineering best practices, coding standards, and architectural guidelines to raise the bar for quality and consistency
• Collaborate with cross-functional partners, engineering, product, design, data, and AI, to deliver scalable, impactful solutions
• Improve CI/CD pipelines, test automation, observability, and deployment workflows to support faster, safer releases
• Participate in the operational health of systems by ensuring stability, uptime, and observability of critical engineering services
• Mentor engineers through code reviews, design sessions, pair programming, and ongoing knowledge-sharing
• Communicate clearly and effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders to align priorities and expectations
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, collaboration, and engineering excellence across teams

Benefits

• Competitive salaries
• Retirement accounts
• Equity packages