Principal Software Engineer

Fullbay; Phoenix (AZ); On-site; USD 170,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Fullbay is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to drive innovation and architectural direction across our SaaS platform. You will mentor engineers, establish standards, and lead cross-domain decisions in a unified principal engineers team.

This role emphasizes organizational impact over day-to-day execution and requires a strong track record in scalable distributed systems. You will work with frontend and backend stacks (TypeScript/React, Java, Go, Node.js) on AWS, leveraging Terraform and an

Qualifications

• 10–15 years of software design and development experience.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience.
• Proven ability to design and implement scalable, distributed systems.
• Strong communication skills with ability to influence technical decisions across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership & Innovation: lead architectural decisions and drive best practices.
• Design and implement complex, high-impact features that increase business value.
• Drive architectural decisions to simplify implementations and improve performance.
• Investigate and evaluate new technologies and define the stack.
• Prototype solutions and deliver proofs-of-concepts that turn ideas into production.

Skills

Software design

Distributed systems

Leadership

Mentorship

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

TypeScript

React

Java

Go

Node.js

Terraform

AWS

Job description

About Us

At Fullbay, our mission is simple — to create safer roads for our families and yours. As leaders in the heavy-duty repair industry, we power shops with technology that helps them run smarter and more efficiently. As an AI-First company, we invite artificial intelligence to eliminate friction, spark innovation, and drive efficiencies in every conversation— for our teams and our customers.

About Us

At Fullbay, our mission is simple — to create safer roads for our families and yours. As leaders in the heavy-duty repair industry, we power shops with technology that helps them run smarter and more efficiently. As an AI-First company, we invite artificial intelligence to eliminate friction, spark innovation, and drive efficiencies in every conversation— for our teams and our customers.

Position Overview

The Principal Software Engineer is a force-multiplier and technical leader who drives innovation, establishes best practices, and solves complex problems across Fullbay's SaaS platform helping independent mechanics manage their businesses. You'll combine exceptional technical depth with the breadth of experience needed to tackle any challenge—from architecting scalable distributed systems to mentoring engineers and influencing organizational strategy. This role requires someone who can quickly prototype solutions, deliver proof-of- concepts with new technologies, and turn big ideas into reality while maintaining production excellence.

You'll work as part of the Principal Engineers team—a unified group that coordinates cross-domain architectural decisions, establishes technical standards, and provides strategic guidance across the organization. While you'll be assigned to specific domain teams, your primary responsibility is organizational impact, not embedding in day-to-day execution.

What Sets You Apart

You're not just technically excellent—you're a teacher, mentor, and role model who helps elevate the team's capabilities. You have deep product knowledge and can effectively troubleshoot complex issues. When uncertain, you know how to debug systematically to get to the root cause. You're comfortable with greenfield projects and navigating ambiguity. You think strategically about long-term architecture while maintaining focus on delivering practical business value. You can communicate effectively with different audiences—adjusting your message for leadership, peers, and junior engineers. You stay current with industry practices and thoughtfully evaluate how new techniques could improve our products. You demonstrate ownership of production systems, taking responsibility for outcomes and fostering a culture focused on learning and improvement. You're willing to drive consensus through ADRs and documentation rather than dictating solutions.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership & Innovation
• Design and implement complex, high-impact features that significantly increase business value and advance Fullbay's capabilities
• Drive architectural decisions that simplify implementations, improve performance, and establish patterns for the entire engineering organization
• Investigate and evaluate new technologies, establish the technical platform, and define the stack
• Quickly prototype solutions and deliver proof-of-concepts that turn speculative ideas into concrete implementations
• Own production excellence—proactively identify issues, establish monitoring standards, and drive performance, scale, and availability goals
• Cross-Organizational Impact
• Work with principal engineers as a unified team to coordinate on technical initiatives spanning multiple domains
• Establish and promote best practices for software development, including coding standards, system design patterns, and integration approaches
• Lead Architecture Decision Record (ADR) processes and ensure alignment on technical standards
• Serve as technical advisor to senior leadership—communicate development goals, progress, and strategic direction
• Collaborate with the dev lead to define entry/exit criteria for how Product, QA, and Development teams work together, including checkpoints and release cadence
• Mentorship & Team Development
• Train engineers across the organization on modern programming practices, platform capabilities, and effective use of tools
• Mentor other engineers through code reviews, pairing sessions, and formal training
• Establish code review standards, branching strategies, and software development methodologies
• Serve as the "go-to" expert for complex technical challenges across multiple teams
• Build trust and rapport with fellow principal engineers to amplify collective impact
• Platform & Process Excellence
• Work with the Internal Developer Platform to improve developer experience and productivity
• Establish metrics and standards for performance, scale, and availability
• Evaluate and integrate third-party technologies to enhance the Fullbay stack
• Define processes and frameworks for how engineering work happens across the organization
• Contribute to FinOps initiatives and AWS cost optimization strategies
• Work with 3d party applications and companies to add to our Fullbay stack for best results
• Adheres to all confidentiality and compliance regulations.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Our Technical Environment

• Frontend: TypeScript, React (modern patterns with hooks), Module Federation for micro-frontends
• Backend: Java (Quarkus, SnapStart optimization), Node.js/TypeScript, Go
• AWS Services: Lambda (with Lambda resolvers for AppSync), Fargate, AppSync (GraphQL APIs with VTL and JavaScript resolvers), DynamoDB, EventBridge, Step Functions, API Gateway, CloudFront, WAF
• Architecture: Microservices, event-driven systems, serverless-first approach
• Tools: GitHub Enterprise, Terraform for Infrastructure as Code, AI-enhanced development (Claude Code)

Minimum Education & Work Experience

• 10-15 years of experience in software design and development
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience
• Proven ability to design and implement scalable, distributed systems
• Strong communication skills with ability to influence technical decisions across the organization
• Experience working collaboratively with Product Management and QA teams

Key Skills And Qualifications

• Modern Software Design and Coding methodologies
• Development and Design best practices based on experience and knowledge of
• Work with modern industry 3rd party technologies and ability to compare and contrast and help make great buying decisions (or build decisions)
• Knowledge and experience with Product Management and Test methodologies
• Create the process and frameworks for how development will happen in Engineering
• Ability to form-factor messages and communication to Leadership vs peers vs software engineers
• Knowledge and experience with improving Performance, Scale and Availability of software and modern capabilities like processor, caching and backend accelerators of performance

Physical Demands And Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions

• Regularly required to sit at a desk in front of a computer and use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls (including a computer keyboard and operating a telephone), lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.
• Frequently requires the use of hands and arms for reaching, as well as the ability to walk and communicate effectively through speaking and listening.
• Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, color vision, and the ability to adjust focus.
• Noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
• Type on a computer keyboard and look at a computer monitor, and operate a cell phone or a computer-based phone.