Principal Backend Engineer: AI-Driven, Scalable Systems

Hard Rock Digital; United States; Remote; USD 190,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

Flexible vacation

Remote work flexibility

Startup culture backed by a global, .

Job summary

Hard Rock Digital is seeking a Principal Backend Engineer for our Casino Technology Team to shape backend architecture across Casino and Sportsbook apps. You will own technical direction, drive scalable systems, and mentor engineers, while partnering with product managers to deliver high-impact features.

You bring 10+ years of experience, strong AWS and Java/Spring proficiency, plus fluency in English. Remote-friendly, with a startup mindset and a passion for AI-assisted engineering.

Qualifications

• Min 10+ years of work experience.
• Hands-on experience using AI-assisted dev tools in daily workflow.
• Strong communication skills in English, both written and verbal.
• Experience with high-traffic architectures that scale.
• Deep understanding of AWS cloud technologies and multi-region apps.
• Experience with Java/SpringBoot, RDBMS, streaming (Kafka, Kinesis), and messaging (SQS/RabbitMQ).
• Experience with Agile development and containerization (Docker/Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with microservices/SOA architectures and AI-enabled engineering practices.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction and architecture for cross-team systems.
• Contribute to design and implementation of complex features.
• Mentor Staff and Senior Engineers and perform code reviews.
• Advise stakeholders on roadmap and architectural decisions.
• Champion AI-assisted development practices to raise velocity and quality.
• Ensure quality, scope, and timeliness of deliverables.

Skills

AI-assisted development tools

AWS Cloud

Java / SpringBoot

Distributed systems

Docker / Kubernetes

Tools

GitHub Copilot

Claude Code

Cursor

Docker

Kubernetes

Kafka

SQS

RabbitMQ

Job description

Hard Rock Digital is seeking a Principal Backend Engineer for our Casino Technology Team to shape backend architecture across Casino and Sportsbook apps. You will own technical direction, drive scalable systems, and mentor engineers, while partnering with product managers to deliver high-impact features.

You bring 10+ years of experience, strong AWS and Java/Spring proficiency, plus fluency in English. Remote-friendly, with a startup mindset and a passion for AI-assisted engineering.