Principal Product Engineer

Bytoa; Columbia (MD); On-site; USD 235,000 - 255,000; Full time

Job summary

Bytoa is seeking a Principal Product Engineer who lives and breathes building AI-integrated solutions. This role demands relentless commitment to architectural excellence and the impact of work, guiding 25+ developers and shaping the company’s technical direction.

You will engage in passionate debates about system architecture, data infrastructure, AI integration, and performance optimization. You will mentor the team, translate technical decisions into business value, and drive meaningful

Qualifications

• 12 yrs. with a B.S. in a technical discipline or 4 additional yrs. in place of B.S.
• Experience designing and implementing scalable systems.
• Proven track record in production AI/ML integrations.
• Strong architectural vision and leadership capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Participate actively in leadership discussions, contributing architectural depth and product intuition to direction and strategy.
• Drive architectural decisions across full stack, ensuring coherence from data infrastructure to UI.
• Challenge approaches and push for continuous improvement in code quality and system design.
• Connect technical decisions to business outcomes and user impact.
• Mentor and influence the engineering team, establishing high quality standards.
• Engage with customers to translate deep technical requirements into product direction.
• Own the technical narrative of how projects interconnect for compounding value.
• Lead by example in writing code that demonstrates best practices and velocity.
• Foster intense debates to push for better solutions.

Skills

Full stack engineering

AI/ML integration

System architecture

Distributed systems

Technical leadership

Communication

CI/CD & IaC

Observability

Data engineering

Cybersecurity awareness

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a technical discipline

Job description

We're seeking a Principal Product Engineer who lives and breathes the craft of building exceptional AI-integrated solutions. This is not a role for someone looking for comfortable boundaries. We need someone who is genuinely haunted by the possibilities of what we could build, who loses sleep over architectural decisions, and who ties their identity to the quality and impact of their work.

You'll join a contract leadership team as a key voice in shaping technical direction, product strategy, and team evolution. You'll engage in passionate, sometimes heated debates about everything from system architecture to team structure, from code quality to customer impact. Your obsession with excellence will push our team of 25+ developers to constantly question whether we're building the right things in the right way.

This role is for someone who sees the interconnectedness of all parts of our stack - from user research to infrastructure, from AI integration to performance optimization. You'll be expected to have strong opinions loosely held, challenge the status quo relentlessly, and help us build products that create meaningful impact in the cybersecurity AI space.

Salary range:$235,000-255,000
Disclaimer:Salary for this position, along with additional compensation options, will be determined on an individual basis following the interview process, considering various factors such as years of experience, skills, education/certifications, contract specifications, market conditions, etc.

Responsibilities:

• Participate actively in leadership team discussions, bringing technical depth and product intuition to debates about direction, project prioritization, and strategic decisions.
• Drive architectural decisions across our full stack, ensuring coherent design from data infrastructure through AI integration to user interfaces.
• Challenge existing approaches and push for continuous improvement in code quality, system design, and product excellence.
• Connect technical decisions to business outcomes, ensuring every project builds toward a larger vision.
• Mentor and influence the broader engineering team through technical leadership and by setting an uncompromising standard for quality.
• Engage directly with customers when needed to understand deep technical requirements and translate them into product direction.
• Own the technical narrative of how our projects interconnect and build upon each other to create compounding value.
• Lead by example in writing code that demonstrates best practices while maintaining velocity.
• Foster and participate in intense technical debates that push the team toward better solutions.

Skills Requirements:

• 12+ years of software engineering experience with demonstrated impact across the full stack
• Deep expertise in at least two areas of our stack (backend, frontend, data, infrastructure, AI/ML) with working knowledge across all areas.
• Proven track record of designing and implementing complex systems that scale.
• Experience integrating AI/ML capabilities into production systems.
• Strong opinions about software architecture, development practices, and team dynamics, backed by real-world experience.
• Exceptional communication skills - able to articulate technical vision to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders.
• History of pushing teams beyond their comfort zones while maintaining morale and productivity.
• Demonstrated ability to connect technical decisions to business value and user impact.
• Experience with modern development practices including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and observability.
• Comfort with ambiguity and ability to drive clarity through chaos.

Nice to Haves:

• Experience in cyber domain.
• Track record of building and scaling AI-powered products from conception to production.
• Previous experience in a principal or staff engineering role at a high-growth company.
• Contributions to open source projects or thought leadership in the engineering community.
• Experience building and leading distributed or remote engineering teams.
• Background in both startup and enterprise environments.
• Published papers, talks, or blogs demonstrating deep technical thinking.
• Experience with specific AI frameworks and tools relevant to cybersecurity applications.

Experience Requirement:

12 yrs. with a B.S. in a technical discipline or 4 additional yrs. in place of B.S.

Clearance Requirement:

Active TS/SCI with a polygraph