Principal Software Engineer

Ro; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 251,200 - 340,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Flexible PTO

Wellbeing and growth reimbursements

Job summary

A direct-to-patient healthcare company in New York is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead architectural strategies and mentor the engineering team. The ideal candidate will have 12+ years of experience in software systems, strong expertise in backend engineering, and proficiency in Python. This role involves evaluating technologies, driving system scalability, and translating complex problems into actionable technical roadmaps. Competitive compensation includes full medical benefits and flexible work options.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of experience building scalable, maintainable software systems.
• Proven track record of technical leadership across multiple teams.
• Deep expertise in backend engineering and experience with distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the architectural vision for key systems and platforms.
• Evaluate and recommend foundational technologies for future growth.
• Translate ambiguous problem spaces into clear technical roadmaps.
• Lead organization-wide initiatives for system health and operational excellence.
• Mentor and support engineers in technical and strategic growth.

Skills

Technical leadership

Backend engineering

Python proficiency

Communication skills

Architectural skills

Mentorship

Tools

Datadog

Job description

Join to apply for the Principal Software Engineer role at Ro

Ro is a direct‑to‑patient healthcare company with a mission of helping patients achieve their health goals by delivering the easiest, most effective care possible. Ro is the only company to offer nationwide telehealth, labs, and pharmacy services. This is enabled by Ro's vertically integrated platform that helps patients achieve their goals through a convenient, end‑to‑end healthcare experience spanning from diagnosis, to delivery of medication, to ongoing care. Since 2017, Ro has helped millions of patients, including one in every county in the United States, and in 98% of primary care deserts.

Ro has been recognized as a Fortune Best Workplace in New York and Health Care for four consecutive years (2021-2024). In 2023, Ro was also named Best Workplace for Parents for the third year in a row. In 2022, Ro was listed as a CNBC Disruptor 50.

The Role

We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join the team at Ro. In this role, you’ll operate as a senior technical leader across our engineering organization — helping shape the long‑term technical direction of our platform, stewarding the health and evolution of critical systems, and driving architectural decisions that enable Ro to scale sustainably, safely, and quickly.

Principal Engineers at Ro operate with deep technical expertise, broad organizational awareness, and a proactive, future‑facing mindset. You will partner with teammates across engineering, product, design, and cross‑functional leaders to define and deliver technical strategies that support both near‑term product goals and long‑term business outcomes. You will identify opportunities, anticipate risks, and guide teams toward resilient, maintainable, high‑quality solutions.

If you’re energized by system‑wide impact, solving ambiguous and complex technical challenges, and elevating the engineering organization through mentorship, thought partnership, and architectural leadership, we’d love to talk.

What You’ll Do

• Define and drive the architectural vision for key systems and platforms, ensuring scalability, reliability, resilience, and long‑term maintainability.
• Evaluate and recommend foundational technologies, patterns, and practices that position Ro for future growth.
• Translate complex, ambiguous problem spaces into clear technical roadmaps, identifying tradeoffs and guiding teams toward strategic solutions.
• Lead organization‑wide initiatives that improve system health, observability, performance, security, and operational excellence.
• Partner with product, design, data, and other teams to align technical strategy with business priorities.
• Break down large, multi‑team initiatives into actionable plans and drive them from concept to delivery.
• Mentor and support Staff, Senior, and early‑career engineers in both technical and strategic growth.
• Foster a culture of high‑quality engineering, thoughtful design, rigorous review, and continuous learning.
• Provide technical leadership in design reviews, architecture discussions, and cross‑team forums.
• Act as a trusted technical advisor to engineering leadership and cross‑functional partners.

What You’ll Bring To The Team

• 12+ years of experience building scalable, maintainable software systems
• A proven track record of technical leadership across multiple teams or domains, including designing and evolving complex distributed systems.
• Deep expertise in backend engineering (preferably with a strong proficiency in Python) and experience with distributed systems and relational databases.
• Experience in metrics instrumentation and data‑driven performance tuning, leveraging load testing infrastructure and tools like Datadog.
• Strong architectural skills with the ability to reason about long‑term tradeoffs, system interactions, operational risks, and platform evolution.
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical strategy, drive alignment across multiple teams, and guide organizations through ambiguity.
• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to articulate technical concepts to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• A passion for and strong track record of developing other engineers and raising the technical bar through mentorship, coaching, and leadership.

Bonus Skills

• Experience in telehealth or other highly‑regulated industries.

We’ve Got You Covered

• Full medical, dental, and vision insurance + OneMedical membership
• Healthcare and Dependent Care FSA
• 401(k) with company match
• Flexible PTO
• Wellbeing + Learning & Growth reimbursements
• Paid parental leave + Fertility benefits
• Pet insurance
• Student loan refinancing
• Virtual resources for mindfulness, counseling, and fitness

The target base salary for this position ranges from $251,200 to $340,000, in addition to a competitive equity and benefits package (as applicable). When determining compensation, we analyze and carefully consider several factors, including location, job‑related knowledge, skills and experience. These considerations may cause your compensation to vary.

Ro recognizes the power of in‑person collaboration, while supporting the flexibility to work anywhere in the United States. For our Ro’ers in the tri‑state (NY) area, you will join us at HQ on Tuesdays and Thursdays. For those outside of the tri‑state area, you will be able to join in‑person collaborations throughout the year (i.e., during team on‑sites).

At Ro, we believe that our diverse perspectives are our biggest strengths — and that embracing them will create real change in healthcare. As an equal opportunity employer, we provide equal opportunity in all aspects of employment, including recruiting, hiring, compensation, training and promotion, termination, and any other terms and conditions of employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, familial status, age, disability and/or any other legally protected classification protected by federal, state, or local law.

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