Principal Engineer

Relativity

Illinois

On-site

USD 210,000 - 314,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work arrangements

Winter break

401k matching

Paid parental leave

Discretionary time off

Job summary

A prominent leader in legal data intelligence is looking for a Principal Engineer to drive the development of their next generation of cloud-native platform systems. This role demands over 12 years of experience in building large-scale systems, defining technical standards, and working closely with senior leadership. The successful candidate will tackle complex challenges, ensuring alignment with the company’s strategy while fostering innovation in a collaborative environment. The position offers competitive compensation and benefits, promoting continuous learning and growth.

Qualifications

12+ years of experience owning, building, and shaping large-scale, cloud-native platforms.
Experience defining organization-wide technical standards.
Deep involvement in security, compliance, and reliability strategy.
Ability to align technical vision with company-level strategy.
Proven influence at senior and executive levels.
Exceptional mentorship, communication, and strategic thinking skills.

Responsibilities

Deliver critical business value by solving complex problems that span teams and organizations.
Design and build architecture that is flexible, performant, and efficient to the needs of the business.
Prioritize capabilities over features, plan for change and abstract complexity away from dependent teams.
Partner with fellow leaders to identify problems and align on their nature.
Set enterprise standards for system flexibility, maintainability, security, testability, and reliability.

Skills

Agile Methodology

Algorithms

Automation

Distributed Systems

Mentorship

Problem Solving

Software Architectures

Strategic Planning

System Designs

Technical Leadership

Job description

Posting Type

Remote/Hybrid

Job Overview

Relativity is a private equity-backed, legal data intelligence Software as a Service leader trusted by legal teams, governments, and enterprises around the world. Our platform powers investigations, litigation, and compliance for some of the most complex data challenges. By combining advanced AI, powerful analytics, and cloud-based technology, we help teams make sense of massive volumes of information and move critical work forward faster and more accurately.

With a culture that values curiosity, collaboration, and continuous learning, this is your chance to join a company that combines the stability of an established leader with the energy of a startup.

Job Description and Requirements

What We Do

At Relativity, engineers don’t just write code—they shape how industries uncover critical insights, ensure compliance, advance access to justice and continuously evolve our platform using the latest technologies, including cloud-native architectures, AI capabilities, and modern developer tooling. Our AI powers privacy programs, identifies confidential information, and detects language indicating misconduct. We’re reimagining how legal professionals uncover truth at scale, and engineering is at the heart of that transformation.

We are looking for a Principal Engineer to help define and build our next generation of cloud-native platform systems. This person will help shape our strategy for how we support internal and external customers’ integration needs in a cloud-native, multi-tenant environment.

If you’re passionate about solving hard problems, designing for scale, and building tools that matter—while working in a culture that values transparency, innovation, and shared success—Relativity offers the opportunity to make a measurable difference in the marketplace.

What You’ll Do

Deliver critical business value by solving complex problems that span teams and organizations.
Design and build architecture that is flexible, performant, and efficient to the needs of the business.
Prioritize capabilities over features, plan for change and abstract complexity away from dependent teams.
Partner with fellow leaders to identify problems and align on their nature; solve these problems with elegant, scalable solutions.
Be respected as a technical leader of your domain, demonstrating deep expertise, collaboration, and strong business acumen while embodying engineering excellence.
Set enterprise standards for system flexibility, maintainability, security, testability, and reliability; work with teams to implement them.
Influence and align engineering execution with company-level strategy while shaping executive-level product and platform decisions.
Collaborate daily with a diverse group of teammates and product partners to solve problems & deliver value. Mentor engineers, leaders, and executives.
Be an awesome teammate who demonstrates curiosity and continuous learning while shaping engineering culture at scale.

What We’re Looking For

Required

12+ years of experience owning, building, and shaping large-scale, cloud-native platforms.
Experience defining organization-wide technical standards.
Deep involvement in security, compliance, and reliability strategy.
Ability to align technical vision with company-level strategy.
Proven influence at senior and executive levels.
Exceptional mentorship, communication, and strategic thinking skills.

Nice to Have

Background in legal tech, AI-enabled platforms, or regulated domains.
External thought leadership or industry contribution.
Familiarity with AI development tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor or Claude Code.
Experience working in global or highly distributed organizations.

Why We’re a Great Fit for You

Impactful Mission: Organize Data, Discover the Truth and Act on It - Our customers include Fortune 500 enterprises and leading law firms managing high‑stakes matters on our platform.
Growth Path: Engineers gain exposure across the stack, from distributed systems to AI‑enabled workflows, accelerating career growth.
Engineering Culture: Continuous delivery, strong observability, and end‑to‑end ownership.
Inclusive Environment: Diverse backgrounds and perspectives make us stronger.
Community Impact: Volunteer opportunities and company-sponsored charitable programs.
Compensation & Benefits: Competitive salary, health and retirement programs, wellness resources, discretionary time off (DTO), parental leave for primary and secondary caregivers, two annual company breaks, home office stipend, and an equity program.

When you join Relativity, you’re not just taking a job—you’re contributing to a mission that matters. You’ll work alongside talented professionals across the globe, and tackle complex challenges at scale.

Relativity is committed to competitive, fair, and equitable compensation practices.

This position is eligible for total compensation which includes a competitive base salary, an annual performance bonus, and long‑term incentives.

The expected salary range for this role is between $210,000 and $314,000. The final offered salary will be based on several factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s depth of experience, skill set, qualifications, and internal pay equity. Hiring at the top end of the range would not be typical, to allow for future meaningful salary growth in this position.

Required Skills:

Agile Methodology, Algorithms, Automation, Distributed Systems, Mentorship, Problem Solving, Software Architectures, Strategic Planning, System Designs, Technical Leadership

What Relativity Has to Offer

Relativity's software helps users organize data and quickly identify key issues during litigation, internal investigations, and compliance projects. They offer their employees great benefits like: