Principal Software Engineer

Summary

Join PagerDuty as a Principal Software Engineer and lead the technical vision and architectural design across four high-impact teams within the Operations Cloud Platform division. Partner with product management and engineering leadership to define and execute a long-range technical strategy for our SaaS platform. Serve as a trusted advisor, hands-on architect, and mentor to engineers across multiple domains. This role requires deep expertise in backend architectures, microservices, and cloud-native technologies, along with proven experience in leading cross-team architecture discussions and building technical prototypes. The position offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package, including flexible work arrangements and generous paid time off. We are only considering remote candidates located in the East Coast.

Requirements

• At least 12 years of demonstrated hands-on experience in software engineering, architecture, and design at leading SaaS companies
• Proven record of delivering enterprise-scale platforms and driving significant technical change across multiple teams or domains
• Deep expertise in backend architectures, including microservices, APIs, and cloud-native technologies
• Proficiency in modern programming languages (e.g., Java, Go, Python, Elixir, Ruby, or similar), strong foundations in distributed systems, security practices, and cost-effective scaling strategies
• Proven ability to define and communicate a long-term technical roadmap that impacts business strategy
• Experience leading cross-team architecture discussions, building technical prototypes, and driving the adoption of best practices across diverse engineering teams

Responsibilities

• Define and articulate the long-range technical roadmaps and architecture for our core SaaS platform
• Develop, prototype, and implement complex, scalable solutions in collaboration with cross-team leaders across our Authentication and Authorization, Monetization and Entitlements, the Developer Ecosystem and Public APIs, and Account and Admin Experience teams
• Evaluate new technologies and design innovative solutions that drive platform evolution over a 3–5 year horizon
• Act as a technical leader and consultant across multiple teams, breaking down ambiguous problems and translating them into effective engineering solutions
• Foster a culture of collaboration by mentoring engineers, facilitating technical discussions, and ensuring that design decisions are clearly articulated across the teams
• Oversee and contribute to the technical design and evolving architecture of critical systems
• Ensure that designs meet rigorous standards in coding, reliability, scalability, security, and cost efficiency
• Provide guidance on technical decisions that align with short-term project needs and long-term strategic goals
• Serve as a technical resource for high-impact projects and complex problem-solving
• Coach and mentor Senior and Staff engineers, establishing development standards and fostering a learning environment
• Work closely with Product Managers, Engineering Managers, and other stakeholders to prioritize engineering initiatives that align with overall business objectives, including customer experience, cost optimization, and operational excellence
• Ensure that each team’s roadmap is harmonized with the overarching technical vision
• Lead efforts to evaluate emerging technologies and create prototypes that address complex challenges within our platform
• Use data-driven approaches to validate architectural ideas and measure their impact on system performance and customer success

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience in a SaaS environment with responsibility over high-availability platforms
• Familiarity with security protocols and patterns such as SSO, MFA, OAuth2, and audit logging systems
• Experience working with cloud providers (AWS, GCP, or Azure), modern DevOps practices, Infrastructure as Code, and container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes)
• A strong record of published work in technical forums, contributions to open source projects, or research innovations
• Experience with designing authentication & authorization systems, scalability management, and integration of third-party services
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Demonstrated mentorship and leadership in driving collaboration, facilitating design reviews, and codifying technical standards

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Comprehensive benefits package from day one
• Flexible work arrangements
• Generous paid vacation time
• Paid holidays and sick leave
• Dutonian Wellness Days - scheduled company-wide paid days off in addition to PTO
• Company equity*
• ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Program)*
• Retirement or pension plan*
• Paid parental leave - up to 22 weeks for pregnant parent, up to 12 weeks for non-pregnant parent (some countries have longer leave standards and we comply with local laws)*
• HibernationDuty - an annual company paid week off when everyone at PagerDuty, with the exception of a small, coverage crew, is asked to take a much needed break to truly disconnect and recharge
• Paid volunteer time off - 20 hours per year
• Company-wide hack weeks
• Mental wellness programs