Principal Software Engineer

Chirp; Dublin; On-site; EUR 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Chirp seeks a Principal Software Engineer to drive architecture, development, and delivery of high-throughput backend services and modern cloud platforms. You will lead engineering best practices, champion AI-driven development workflows, and mentor the team in AI-assisted engineering patterns.

You will own technical leadership across AI enablement, cloud design, REST/gRPC APIs, and secure, scalable systems, guiding the group toward robust, performant solutions at scale.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with architectural leadership.
• 6+ years in .NET / C# development and distributed systems design.
• BSc / MSc in Computer Science, Mathematics, or related technical discipline.
• Advanced AI tooling mastery: Claude, Cursor, Copilot, ChatGPT for rapid prototyping and architectural analysis.
• Cloud & DevOps: Azure or AWS with hands-on experience.
• API & System Design: RESTful and gRPC APIs, distributed patterns, messaging and caching.
• Data Layer: SQL schema design and NoSQL document/key-value stores.
• Security & Reliability: API security (OAuth2/OIDC, mTLS) and PEN testing processes.

Responsibilities

• Architect, design, and develop resilient, high-performance distributed systems and backend services using modern .NET.
• Design, implement, and maintain robust REST and gRPC APIs with enterprise patterns.
• Deploy and manage scalable workloads across cloud platforms (Azure/AWS) with CI/CD and infrastructure as code.
• Architect integrations across relational SQL and NoSQL databases.
• Own end-to-end code quality, test automation and performance optimization.
• Champion security by design with secure coding and automated scanning.

Skills

Technical leadership

AI enablement

Distributed systems

C# / .NET

REST & gRPC APIs

Education

BSc / MSc in CS or related

Tools

Azure

AWS

CI/CD

Infrastructure as Code

Job description

We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to drive the architecture, development, and delivery of high-throughput backend services and modern cloud platforms. In this role, you will lead engineering best practices, champion the integration of AI-driven development workflows, and guide the team in adopting modern AI-assisted engineering and architecture patterns.

Role Composition

• Technical Leadership, Mentoring & AI Enablement: 30%

Key Responsibilities

Technical Architecture & Delivery

• Architect, design, and develop resilient, high-performance distributed systems and backend services using modern .NET.
• Design, implement, and maintain robust REST and gRPC APIs leveraging enterprise design patterns (e.g., asynchronous request-reply, event-driven architectures, work queues).
• Deploy and manage scalable workloads across cloud platforms (AWS / Azure), implementing robust CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code.
• Architect integrations across relational (SQL) and non-relational (NoSQL) database technologies.
• Own end-to-end code quality, test automation (unit, integration, system test support), and application performance.
• Champion application security by design—incorporating secure coding standards, API security, automated scanning, and addressing penetration test remediations.

AI Engineering & Productivity Leadership

• Champion an AI-first engineering culture, optimizing team productivity through the advanced use of AI coding tools, agents, and LLM-driven workflows (e.g., Claude, Cursor, GitHub Copilot).
• Architect systems that safely integrate AI services, LLMs, and intelligent automation into core backend pipelines where applicable.
• Establish quality guardrails, verification strategies, and security reviews for AI-generated code and system designs.
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers on modern software engineering paradigms, architectural patterns, and AI-assisted development techniques.

Role Requirements

Experience & Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with a track record of architectural leadership.
• 6+ years of deep experience in .NET / C# development and distributed systems design.
• BSc / MSc in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related technical discipline (or equivalent practical experience/professional certifications).
• Advanced AI Tooling Mastery: Proven track record leveraging AI development assistants (Claude, Cursor, Copilot, ChatGPT) for rapid prototyping, complex refactoring, test generation, and architectural analysis.
• Cloud & DevOps: Strong hands-on experience designing and deploying cloud-native solutions in Azure or AWS.
• API & System Design: Deep expertise in RESTful and gRPC APIs, distributed transaction patterns, messaging queues, and caching strategies.
• Data Layer: Strong knowledge of SQL schema design, query optimization, and NoSQL document/key-value stores.
• Security & Reliability: Thorough understanding of API security protocols (OAuth2/OIDC, mTLS), vulnerability mitigation (OWASP), and PEN testing processes.