Principal Software Engineer

Acceldata; Kitchener; On-site; CAD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Acceldata, market leader in Enterprise Data Observability, seeks a Principal Engineer with 14+ years to define the long‑term Open Data Platform strategy and lead complex architectural initiatives. You will collaborate with executive leadership, shape product direction, influence multiple teams, and actively contribute to open‑source governance across multi-cloud and hybrid deployments.

Strong communication and leadership are required to mentor engineers and drive initiatives from concept to

Qualifications

• 14+ years of software development experience with focus on distributed systems or data infrastructure.
• Proven track record leading large-scale technical initiatives across multiple teams.
• Expert-level proficiency in Java/Scala; strong Python and systems languages.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive long-term technical strategy and architecture for the Open Data Platform.
• Own design of complex systems; establish scalable architectural principles.
• Lead R&D initiatives to keep Acceldata on the cutting edge of data platform innovation.
• Serve as a leader in the open-source community; drive Apache project contributions and governance.
• Collaborate with CTO/VP Engineering and product leadership to translate strategy into execution.
• Mentor Staff Engineers and Senior Engineers; elevate engineering practices across teams.
• Resolve the most challenging issues in architecture, performance, and reliability.
• Engage with strategic customers and partners on complex technical discussions.
• Drive alignment across engineering, product, and operations on critical decisions.
• Work across Bare Metals, VM, Kubernetes, multi-cloud, and hybrid enterprise environments.

Skills

Java/Scala

Python

Distributed systems

Big data platforms

Cloud-native

Kubernetes

Open-source governance

Education

Master's or PhD in Computer Science

Tools

Hadoop

Spark

Hive

Trino

Kafka

Flink

Iceberg/Delta/Hudi

Job description

Acceldata is the market leader in Enterprise Data Observability. Founded in 2018 and backed by top investors including Insight Partners, March Capital, Lightspeed, Sorenson Ventures, Industry Ventures, and Emergent Ventures, we are a Series-C funded company headquartered in Silicon Valley.

About The Role:

We are seeking a Principal Engineer with at least 14 years of experience to serve as a technical visionary and thought leader for Acceldata's Open Data Platform (ODP). In this role, you will define the long-term technical strategy, lead the most complex architectural initiatives, and represent Acceldata in the global open-source and distributed systems community. You will work directly with engineering leadership and executives to shape product direction while driving innovation across the organization.

Responsibilities:

• Define and drive the long-term technical strategy and architecture for the Open Data Platform, aligning with business objectives and industry trends.
• Own the design of the most complex, high-impact systems and establish architectural principles and patterns that scale across the organization.
• Identify emerging technologies and industry trends; lead research and development initiatives that position Acceldata at the cutting edge of data platform innovation.
• Serve as a recognized leader in the open-source community; drive Apache project contributions, represent Acceldata at conferences, and influence project roadmaps.
• Collaborate with CTO, VP of Engineering, and Product leadership to translate business strategy into technical execution; provide technical due diligence for strategic initiatives.
• Influence engineering practices, tools, and culture across multiple teams; establish best practices that elevate the entire engineering organization.
• Mentor Staff Engineers and Senior Engineers; develop technical leadership capabilities across the organization.
• Lead resolution of the most challenging technical problems spanning architecture, performance, scalability, and reliability.
• Engage with strategic customers and partners on complex technical discussions; translate customer needs into platform capabilities.
• Drive alignment across engineering, product, and operations on technical decisions with broad organizational impact.
• Work across diverse environments: Bare Metals, VM, Kubernetes, multi-cloud, and hybrid architectures at enterprise scale.

Requirements:

• 12+ years of hands‑on software development experience with at least 8 years focused on distributed systems, big data platforms, or data infrastructure.
• Proven track record of leading large-scale technical initiatives from conception to production across multiple teams.
• Expert‑level proficiency in Java or Scala; strong skills in Python and systems languages.
• Deep expertise in distributed computing, including consensus protocols, distributed transactions, data replication, partitioning strategies, and optimization with modern table formats.
• Extensive experience in architecting and scaling systems using Hadoop, Spark, Hive, Trino, Kafka, Flink, and related technologies at production scale (100s to 1000s of nodes).
• Demonstrated ability to design and evolve complex systems that handle petabyte‑scale data with high availability and performance requirements.
• Expert knowledge of cloud‑native architectures, Kubernetes orchestration, and multi‑cloud deployment patterns.
• Track record of diagnosing and resolving complex distributed system issues, including performance optimization, resource management, and failure mode analysis.
• Significant contributions to major open‑source projects; experience working with distributed global teams and open‑source governance models.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; proven ability to influence technical direction across organizations and with external stakeholders.
• Ability to balance long‑term technical vision with near‑term delivery requirements; experience making build vs. buy decisions.

Preferred:

• PMC member or committer status in Apache projects (e.g., Spark, Kafka, Hive, Hadoop, Iceberg, Flink, Trino).
• Speaker at major conferences (ApacheCon, Spark Summit, Kafka Summit, QCon, etc.); published papers or widely‑read technical content.
• Experience building or contributing to query engines, optimizers, or execution frameworks.
• Deep experience with modern lakehouse architectures, table formats (Iceberg, Delta, Hudi), and data mesh patterns.
• Experience with ML infrastructure, feature stores, or MLOps platforms.
• Experience scaling engineering organizations in high‑growth environments.
• Master's or PhD in Computer Science, with a focus on distributed systems, databases, or related fields.