Principal Software Engineer

Green Dot Corporation; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 159,000 - 229,000; Full time

Job summary

Green Dot Corporation is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to join the Firewire team in Los Angeles. You will design APIs and microservices, influence architectural decisions, and drive best practices across the engineering organization.

The role requires 9+ years of software experience, leadership ability, and strong skills in C#, .NET, SQL, and cloud technologies. This is a structured hybrid role with on-site collaboration and some remote work.

Qualifications

• 9+ years of hands-on software engineering experience.
• Experience leading technical teams and delivering secure scalable systems.
• Strong knowledge of C#, .NET, SQL, and cloud platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and development of APIs and microservices for Firewire stack.
• Drive architecture decisions, coding standards, and best practices.

Skills

C#

.NET

SQL

Azure

Containers

Caching

REST API

OAuth2

OpenAPI

Event-driven

Microservices

Datadog

Grafana

Git

DevOps

Agile Scrum

Security Best Practices

Leadership

Mentoring

Job description

## Principal Software EngineerApply: Los Angeles, California: Full time: Posted Today: R4168We’re looking for talented professionals to join us in bringing smart money management and payment solutions to everyone’s fingertips.This position is classified as structured hybrid, with an expectation of a minimum of three (3) days per week working in the office and flexibility to work remotely on the remaining days. On-site expectations may evolve over time to support business needs, with clear communication provided in advance.<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>> **JOB DESCRIPTION****Location Requirement** This position is open only to candidates who currently reside in one of the following approved locations:**West Los Angeles, CA**## ## Role OverviewWe are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Lead Software Engineer to join our Firewire team, supporting a highly transactional (approx. 500-800 TPS) system. This role will be instrumental in building and supporting scalable, secure, and high-performance systems that enable embedded financial services across our partner ecosystem.## Key Responsibilities* Lead the design and development of APIs and microservices that support Firewire stack.* Design, develop, and oversee large-scale software systems, ensuring alignment with business goals and long-term scalability. Make high-level design choices and establish coding standards, design patterns, and architectural principles for the engineering organization* Collaborate with product managers, architects, and other engineering teams to define technical requirements and deliver robust solutions.* Drive engineering excellence through code reviews, mentoring, and best practices in CI/CD, testing, and observability.* Ensure compliance with SLA standards and contribute to the development of monitoring and alerting systems.* Lead incident response and root cause analysis to improve system reliability.* Drive architectural decisions and long-term technical strategy for BaaS platform, including generating documentation around architectural and design options analysis and decisions.* Champion emerging technologies evaluation and adoption.* Refactor and extend the existing codebase to fix defects and add features/functionality* Create systems that are durable and flexible by developing for change – favor configurability over customization.* Manage software development projects, including planning, system analysis, testing, deployment, and troubleshooting complex issues* Operate in an **AI driven SDLC environment** and familiarity with **AI code assistants** like **GitHub Copilot** or similar tools.* Work closely with product managers, architects, and cross-functional teams to translate requirements into robust technical designs and ensure software meets user needs* Drive adoption of new technologies, frameworks, and development methodologies, and develop prototypes or proofs-of-concept to mitigate implementation risks## Qualifications* 9+ years of hands-on experience in software engineering, with at least 2 years in a technical leadership role.* Strong portfolio of work showing experience developing secure and standards-compliant code across multiple platforms.* Advanced experience in several of the following languages/platforms/libraries: C#, .NET, SQL, and hands-on experience with cloud platforms (Azure native services such as APIM, Azure SQL, Cosmos DB and Key Vault), container technologies, and caching frameworks.* Deep understanding of RESTful API design, OAuth2, and OpenAPI specifications.* Strong expertise in event-driven (Service Bus, Event Hubs) and microservice based architecture patterns.* Ability to troubleshoot complex software issues, work independently, and provide innovative solutions* Hands-on experience with leveraging and implementing observability dashboards and platforms (Datadog, Grafana).* Strong leadership, communication, and collaboration skills, with a passion for quality, learning, and mentoring* Ability to handle a fast-paced environment for iterative project turnarounds on mission & revenue critical, customer-facing applications* Deep knowledge in Git, DevOps, Agile Scrum, and security best practices in financial services and compliance standards (PCI DSS, SOC 2).## Preferred Qualifications* Prior experience in fintech or embedded finance platforms.* Familiarity with partner integration workflows using API and SLA management.* Contributions to open-source projects or technical publications.\\*\\***Ability to work in the U.S. without sponsorship\\*\\* \\*\\*Ability to meet the location requirement outlined above\\*\\*****POSITION TYPE**Contractor**PAY RANGE**The targeted base salary for this position is $159,400 to $229,300 per year. The final compensation will be determined by a number of factors such as qualifications, expertise, and the candidate’s geographical location.