Principal Data Engineer

Crisis Text Line International; Mississippi; Remote; USD 178,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a mission-driven organization that is transforming crisis support through technology. As a Principal Engineer, you'll guide the development of innovative AI solutions and architect a robust platform that empowers organizations globally to provide critical support. This role is perfect for someone with extensive experience in software development, particularly in cloud and ML/AI, who is ready to make a significant impact on mental well-being worldwide. Collaborate with a diverse team to drive operational efficiency and enhance human-to-human connectivity in crisis situations.

Benefits

20 paid holidays

Flexible paid time off

Medical, dental, and vision benefits

403B retirement plan

12 weeks paid parental leave

Student loan repayment

Virtual childcare platform

Monthly mental health stipend

Monthly internet service stipend

Annual professional development stipend

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software development experience in cloud and enterprise environments.
• Expertise in Go language and API design for high-scale services.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of ML/AI architectures for crisis support.
• Design secure, multi-tenanted architectures using modern technologies.

Skills

Software Development

Machine Learning

AI Solutions

API Design

Go Language

Cloud Services

Service Oriented Architecture

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

AWS

Next.js

GraphQL

Databricks

Job description

This is a remote position.
Department Summary:

At Crisis Text Line, the engineering, product, and design teams form the Build organization. The vision of the Build group is to:

• Build and scale the industry's leading Crisis Care Platform, empowering organizations worldwide to support people in need
• Develop innovative AI solutions to enhance clinical staff effectiveness and crisis response quality, while ensuring the security and ethical use of data
• Architect a robust, API-first platform that leverages federated data and predictive analytics to drive operational efficiency for global affiliates
• Foster a trusted community environment that enables meaningful connections between texters and crisis support providers

Role:

Crisis Text Line's mission is to promote mental well-being for people wherever they are. We aim to make crisis support available to a global audience. Our technology powers our US operations, as well as those of our international partners. To grow this impact worldwide, we need an exceptional Principal Engineer who can guide the technology and architecture to unlock global scale and impact.

As Principal Engineer, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our technology. You will use your experience and expertise in global enterprise SaaS platforms to ensure we are able to support more partners, operate in a sustainable and scalable fashion, and foster crisis support across the globe.

Crisis Text Line aspires to be an organization that reflects the globally diverse audience that our

products and technology serve.

Crisis Text Line is and always will be a mission-driven company. We hire people with a broad set

of technical skills who are ready to take on some of our biggest technology challenges and

make an impact on millions of users that seek help and support in a moment of crisis.

Responsibilities:

Crisis Text Line is a fast moving, growing organization with a big vision and a critical mission. To serve our mission and vision, each role must be agile and flexible to meet the needs of the business, aligning daily work with business priorities as defined by managers and team leaders.

Function 1 - ML/AI Leadership: Lead the charge in leveraging ML/AI to improve the human-to-human connectivity of our platform

• Design and implement scalable ML/AI architectures that enhance human-to-human crisis support
• Champion responsible AI practices, ensuring transparent and ethical use of texter data in model development
• Build robust model evaluation frameworks and monitoring systems to ensure reliable AI performance across diverse user populations
• Create MLOps pipelines that enable rapid experimentation, validation, and deployment of new AI capabilities
• Lead development of AI-powered tooling to augment clinical staff decision-making and response quality

Function 2 - Platform Architecture and Development

• Design a secure, privacy-first, multi-tenanted architecture using Go, Next.js, GraphQL, and Databricks on AWS infrastructure
• Implement infrastructure as code and DevOps practices to ensure consistent, automated deployments across environments
• Drive technical decisions that balance innovation with business objectives, maintaining strong stakeholder alignment
• Provide architectural guidance across teams, fostering a culture of continuous delivery and engineering excellence
• Enable seamless integration with enterprise systems through robust API design and implementation

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 10 years of software development experience within cloud, SaaS, enterprise, and ML/AI.
• Deep experience supporting and evolving high uptime, high scale services and platforms
• Ability to influence multiple stakeholders, achieve strategic goals and evolve technology strategy based on research, data, and industry trends.
• Go language expertise
• API design and development; securing and monitoring API endpoints
• Service Oriented Architecture expertise - gained experience working with micro services, macro services and mini-monolith architectures.
• Able to lead product/engineering teams in pragmatic service design.

Reliable High-Speed Internet Required: Must have a stable high-speed internet connection to support seamless remote collaboration, virtual meetings, online job tasks, etc.

The full salary range for this position, across all United States geographies, is $178,112- $200,000 per year. The upper portion of the salary range is typically reserved for existing employees who demonstrate strong performance over time. Starting salary will vary by location, qualifications, and prior experience; during the interview process, candidates will learn the starting salary range applicable for their location. We pay competitively in the tech-forward nonprofit space and offer a robust benefits package.

Only candidates in the following states will be eligible for employment: CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, IL, IN, IA, MD, MA, MI, MO, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, PA, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA.

Benefits:

Crisis Text Line employee benefits are thoughtfully designed using an equity lens, acknowledging that we are all unique human beings with individual life circumstances that require flexibility and support.

Benefits include:

• 20 paid holidays including:
  • Federal holidays like Juneteenth and Labor Day
  • Election day
  • Holiday break from Dec 24 through January 1
  • 2 renewal days
  • 2 floating holidays
• Flexible paid time off, including:
  • 15 vacation days
  • 3 personal days
  • 7 sick days
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits for the staff member and family at no cost to the employee
• 403B retirement plan (the nonprofit equivalent of a 401K): 3% contribution by Crisis Text Line to support building financial wellness, regardless of personal contribution
• 12 weeks paid parental leave (after 6 months of employment)
• Student loan repayment (after 2 years of continuous full time service)
• Family support through a virtual childcare platform
• Stipends/Allowances
  • Mental health (Monthly)
  • Internet Service (Monthly)
  • Professional Development (Annual)
  • Wellness (Annual)
  • Home office setup (One time/First year)

(Benefits are only for US-based employees. International benefits may differ).