Principal Engineer, Engineering Core Services

Jeppesen ForeFlight; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 208,000 - 244,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

Open PTO policy

401(k) with up to 10% company matching

12 weeks paid parent leave

Flight training rewards

Job summary

Jeppesen ForeFlight is hiring a Principal Engineer based in Austin, TX, to set technical direction for the Engineering Core Services portfolio. This role involves ownership of architecture, influencing standards, and mentoring senior engineers in a hybrid environment.

Key responsibilities include leading the CIAM platform strategy and driving simplification across product lines. Candidates should have 12+ years of engineering experience, with a preference for cloud-native architecture expertise. Benefits include comprehensive health insurance and 401(k) matching.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of engineering experience, with at least 7 as a primary architect.
• Deep production experience architecting a CIAM platform at scale.
• Strong systems-integration judgment across heterogeneous environments.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture and 2-3 year roadmap for Core Services.
• Lead the long-term subscription and billing platform strategy.
• Mentor senior engineers and influence broader engineering organization.

Skills

CIAM platform architecture

OAuth 2.0

SAML 2.0

API security

Cloud-native architecture (AWS)

Cross-functional leadership

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes/EKS

Job description

About the Role

We are hiring a Principal Engineer to set the technical direction and long‑term architecture for our Engineering Core Services portfolio. The role is an Individual Contributor that will own the architecture across the Core Services, influence standards and practices, and mentor senior engineers.

The position is hybrid with preferred work locations in Austin, TX; Houston, TX; or Denver, CO, but a virtual arrangement will be considered for the right candidate.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the architecture, 2‑3 year roadmap, and decision authority for the Engineering Core Services portfolio, including the platform‑versus‑product boundary.
• Own the CIAM platform architecture and lead its consolidation onto a modern shared identity foundation across product lines, covering authentication, authorization, federation, and account lifecycle.
• Lead the long‑term subscription and billing platform strategy, evaluating build, buy, or hybrid options and migrating legacy capabilities onto modern shared platforms.
• Drive simplification and standardization of contract, entitlement, and catalog models across product lines.
• Define the integration patterns and platform standards that product engineering teams use to consume our services.
• Mentor senior engineers, influence the broader engineering organization, and represent Engineering Core Services in forums with senior product, security, finance, and customer‑facing leadership.
• Engage directly with stakeholders on architecture questions that cross product boundaries.
• Set the privacy, security, and regulatory posture for shared platform services, with particular ownership of identity compliance.

Success in Your First Year

• A modern shared identity foundation is operating across product lines, with established architecture and standards.
• A long‑term subscription and billing platform strategy is in place, and the first migrations are underway.
• Patterns, standards, and architectural practices for the Core Services portfolio are established and adopted by product engineering teams.
• Senior engineers within Core Services and product organizations consult you for architectural decisions rather than operating independently.
• You are the trusted technical voice with senior product, engineering, security, and customer‑facing leaders on shared platform questions.

Basic Qualifications

• 12+ years of engineering experience, with at least 7 as a primary architect for a portfolio of shared services across multiple product organizations or business lines (e.g., identity, commerce, customer operations).
• Track record in the coupled customer‑foundation paradigm at a multi‑product company, architecting identity, commerce, entitlement, and customer operations as a unified platform rather than independent services.
• Deep production experience architecting and operating a CIAM platform at scale, with expert command of OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML 2.0, API security, and federation. Auth0 preferred; other major platforms (Okta CI, Entra ID, Ping, ForgeRock) also relevant.
• Deep production experience in at least one other shared platform domain: commerce/billing, customer operations/CRM, or enterprise data integration.
• Strong systems‑integration judgment across heterogeneous environments and multiple business models—including APIs, eventing, data modeling, and representing contracts, entitlements, and catalogs across subscriptions, enterprise contracts, per‑seat and per‑asset licensing, and reseller flows.
• Cloud‑native architecture experience (AWS, Kubernetes/EKS, service mesh, Terraform, observability, secrets management) combined with operating experience in legacy enterprise environments (ERP, SOAP/XML APIs, longstanding catalogs), or strong evidence that you can become productive across both.
• Cross‑functional leadership, comfortable as a peer with senior product, finance, security, legal, and customer‑facing leaders, including direct engagement with major enterprise customers and partners on architecture.
• Comfortable with the coordination work of a recently combined company: divergent stacks and processes, in‑flight unification, and the political work that comes with it.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience leading a migration from a legacy identity solution to a modern shared platform.
• Experience post‑M&A integrating engineering platforms across two or more legacy stacks.
• Hands‑on experience with one or more commerce and subscription platforms (Stripe Billing, Recurly, Zuora, or similar) in addition to home‑grown commerce systems.
• Experience taking a Platform Services organization from a set of disconnected services to a coherent platform with shared standards and adoption across product teams.
• Experience supporting subscription and billing platforms through audit‑readiness, financial‑controls maturity, and revenue‑recognition requirements.
• Experience in aviation, regulated industries, or other domains with mission‑critical customers and complex contract structures.
• Privacy and regulatory experience: GDPR, SOC 2, aviation‑relevant frameworks, and financial‑controls frameworks relevant to subscription and billing platforms.
• Background in security engineering or DevSecOps, with strong instincts for threat modeling of authentication systems.
• Experience contributing to or evaluating identity standards (IETF, OpenID Foundation, etc.).

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance with employer‑paid health premiums.
• Open PTO policy.
• 401(k) with up to 10% company matching and immediate vesting.
• 12 weeks paid parent leave.
• Flight training rewards.
• Pay range: $208,000 - $244,000, based on experience and qualifications.

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