Principal Software Architect

kadence; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Kadence is seeking a Principal Software Architect to lead new product development with a strong hands-on engineering focus. You will partner with product, design, and customers to translate problems into architectures, prototype solutions, and drive MVPs through production launches.

Ideal candidates bring deep architectural discipline, act as technical leaders, recruit and mentor teams, and shape product direction with ownership and autonomy.

Qualifications

• Extensive professional software engineering experience with architecture responsibility.
• Hands-on engineering background with ability to design, prototype and develop software.
• Proven track record building new products from concept to production.
• Deep understanding of software architecture, distributed systems, APIs, cloud technologies.
• Experience making architectural decisions around scalability, performance, security and maintainability.
• Ability to work across technologies and choose appropriate solutions.

Responsibilities

• Partner with product managers, designers, and customers to identify opportunities for new software products.
• Translate customer problems into technical concepts, architectures, and prototypes.
• Own initiatives from discovery through MVP development to production launch.
• Make pragmatic decisions balancing delivery speed, scalability, reliability and maintainability.
• Define architecture and engineering approach for new products.
• Remain actively involved in development, prototyping, and solving complex engineering problems.
• Evaluate technologies and architectural approaches based on product requirements.
• Design scalable, secure, and reliable applications that evolve from prototypes to production-ready solutions.
• Build cross-functional engineering teams as products move beyond prototypes.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural guidance.
• Establish engineering practices enabling high-quality, efficient delivery.
• Collaborate across engineering, product and business to align goals and milestones.
• Lead technical development from concept to initial commercial release.
• Transition mature products to established teams before the next opportunity.

Skills

Leadership

Distributed systems

Cloud architectures

APIs

Prototyping

Tools

AWS

GCP

Azure

Kubernetes

Job description

Location: Austin, TX / US East Coast / Europe

Compensation: Competitive base salary + performance bonus

About the Opportunity

We are partnering with a global enterprise software company that is investing in the development of a new generation of software products.

We are looking for experienced Principal Software Architects who thrive at the intersection of software engineering, architecture, and product innovation.

This is a unique opportunity for someone who enjoys building products from the ground up, solving complex technical challenges, and taking ownership of new initiatives from initial concept through production launch.

Unlike traditional architecture positions focused on overseeing established systems, this role is highly hands-on. You will be responsible for identifying technical opportunities, designing and prototyping solutions, and helping build the engineering teams that bring new products to market.

The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with a product-oriented mindset and enjoys working in environments where there is significant ownership, autonomy, and opportunity to influence technical direction.

What You'll Be Doing

Lead New Product Development

• Partner closely with product managers, designers, and customers to understand business challenges and identify opportunities for new software products.
• Translate customer problems into technical concepts, product architectures, and working prototypes.
• Take ownership of new product initiatives from early discovery and proof of concept through MVP development and production launch.
• Make pragmatic technical decisions that balance speed of delivery, scalability, reliability, and long-term maintainability.

Own Technical Architecture & Engineering

• Define the architecture, technical direction, and engineering approach for new products.
• Remain actively involved in software development, prototyping, and solving complex engineering problems.
• Evaluate technologies, frameworks, and architectural approaches based on the requirements of each product.
• Design scalable, secure, and reliable applications that can evolve from early prototypes into production-ready solutions.
• Work across modern and established technologies, integrating with existing enterprise systems where necessary.

Build and Lead Engineering Teams

• Help recruit and assemble engineering teams as new products progress beyond the initial prototype.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and architectural guidance throughout development.
• Establish engineering practices that enable teams to deliver high-quality software efficiently.
• Collaborate across engineering, product, and business functions to maintain alignment on product goals and delivery milestones.

Drive Products from Concept to Launch

• Take a pragmatic, execution-focused approach to developing new software products.
• Work iteratively, incorporating customer feedback and evolving requirements into technical decisions.
• Lead the technical development of products through their initial commercial release.
• Transition mature products to established engineering teams before moving on to the next product opportunity.

What We're Looking For

• Extensive professional software engineering experience, including significant responsibility for architecture and technical direction.
• A strong hands-on engineering background, with the ability and willingness to design, prototype, and develop software personally.
• Demonstrated experience building new products, applications, or platforms from initial concept through production.
• Deep understanding of software architecture, distributed systems, APIs, cloud technologies, and modern engineering practices.
• Experience making architectural decisions involving scalability, performance, security, reliability, and maintainability.
• Ability to work across different technologies and select appropriate solutions rather than being tied to a single language or framework.
• Experience working closely with product managers, designers, and business stakeholders.
• Strong technical leadership skills, including mentoring engineers and helping teams deliver complex initiatives.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to translate ambiguous business requirements into actionable technical solutions.

Experience That Would Be Valuable

• Experience developing new products in startup, scale-up, or product incubation environments.
• Previous Staff Engineer, Principal Engineer, Software Architect, or technical leadership experience.
• Experience recruiting and building engineering teams.
• Direct involvement in customer discovery, product strategy, or early-stage product development.
• Background in enterprise SaaS, cloud platforms, developer tools, or complex software products.
• Experience working across both legacy enterprise systems and modern cloud-native architectures.
• Exposure to AI-enabled applications, intelligent automation, or emerging software technologies.

Why This Opportunity?

Build Products, Not Just Platforms

Take ownership of creating entirely new software products rather than focusing exclusively on maintaining or scaling existing systems.

Stay Hands-On

This is an opportunity for senior technical leaders who still love engineering and want to remain directly involved in building software.

Meaningful Technical Ownership

Influence architecture, technology choices, engineering strategy, and product direction from the earliest stages.

Work Closely with Customers

Help shape what gets built by understanding real customer challenges and translating them into practical software solutions.

Build and Develop Teams

Play an important role in assembling the engineering teams that will take new products from prototype to production.

Enjoy the resources and reach of an established global technology organization while working with the ownership, autonomy, and pace associated with building new products.