Principal Software Engineer

AlphaSense; United States; On-site; USD 246,000 - 339,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Generous benefits program

Job summary

AlphaSense is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the design and evolution of our global financial data extraction and normalization platform. The role requires over 15 years of experience with large-scale systems and a proven track record in designing data ingestion and extraction systems. You'll focus on enhancing system correctness and trust while reducing human dependency with AI methods. Competitive compensation ranges from $246,000 to $339,000, alongside equity and benefits.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience building and operating large-scale production systems.
• Proven experience designing data ingestion, extraction, or processing systems at scale.
• Strong understanding of system reliability, observability, and iterative hardening.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture and evolution of our large-scale data extraction and normalization platform.
• Design systems that process records across heterogeneous sources with high reliability.
• Define strategies to minimize human-in-the-loop validation through AI-based validation.

Skills

Large-scale production systems

Data ingestion systems

Distributed systems

AI/ML-powered extraction

System reliability

Technical leadership

Cloud-native architectures

Job description

About AlphaSense

About AlphaSense The world’s most sophisticated companies rely on AlphaSense to remove uncertainty from decision-making. With market intelligence and search built on proven AI, AlphaSense delivers insights that matter from content you can trust. Our universe of public and private content includes equity research, company filings, event transcripts, expert calls, news, trade journals, and clients’ own research content.

About The Team

Our diverse Product & Engineering team values innovation, collaboration, and the continuous improvement of our platform. We offer a dynamic work environment where employees can grow and thrive while working on cutting-edge technology that shapes the future of AI and search. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all employees feel valued and empowered to be their authentic selves.

About The Role

We are seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the design, evolution, and reliability of our global financial data extraction and normalization platform. This system ingests filings across formats (HTML, PDF, APIs, spreadsheets), extracts and standardizes financial data using a combination of AI and deterministic systems, and delivers trusted, traceable outputs at scale to downstream financial services teams and customers.

This role owns the self-sourcing and extraction foundation used by multiple teams across the organization. Today, human validation is used as a safety net. Your mission is to systematically reduce human dependency by increasing system correctness, confidence, and trust, without sacrificing speed or scalability.

You will operate at the intersection of distributed systems, AI-driven extraction, data quality, and platform architecture, raising the technical bar and reshaping how we build reliable systems.

Who You Are

• 15+ years of experience building and operating large-scale production systems
• Proven experience designing data ingestion, extraction, or processing systems at scale
• Deep expertise in one or more of:
  • Distributed systems
  • Data platforms and pipelines
  • AI/ML-powered extraction or classification systems
  • Platform or infrastructure engineering
• Demonstrated ability to design trustworthy systems that combine probabilistic (AI) and deterministic approaches
• Strong understanding of system reliability, observability, failure modes, and iterative hardening
• Experience reducing operational or human overhead through better system design
• Track record of technical leadership across teams without formal people management
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and driving clarity where none exists
• Passion for using AI responsibly and effectively to deliver scalable, high-confidence systems
• Nice to Have
  • Experience with document understanding, NLP, or financial data extraction
  • Experience building provenance, lineage, or confidence-scoring systems
  • Familiarity with cloud-native architectures and modern data stacks
  • Experience shaping or owning internal platforms used by multiple teams

What You’ll Do

• Own the architecture and evolution of our large-scale data extraction and normalization platform
• Design systems that process hundreds of thousands of records across heterogeneous sources (PDF, HTML, APIs, XLS) with high reliability
• Define and implement strategies to minimize human-in-the-loop validation through AI-based validation, confidence scoring, provenance tracking, and deterministic safeguards
• Establish clear system contracts for correctness, traceability, and confidence (e.g., “where did this number come from?”)
• Balance AI-driven approaches with procedural and rules-based systems where they improve reliability and explainability
• Identify and remediate architectural and operational bottlenecks impacting scale, accuracy, and developer velocity
• Act as the technical authority to block poor designs, redesign critical systems, and introduce new platforms or tooling when necessary
• Partner with product and downstream consumers to define quality bars, SLAs, and success metrics
• Serve as a technical escalation point for production issues, reliability failures, and systemic risks
• Mentor senior engineers, shape technical culture, and raise expectations for system design and execution
• Contribute to long-term technical strategy while remaining hands-on with critical implementations

Compensation and Benefits

For base compensation, we set standard ranges for all roles based on function and level benchmarked against similar stage growth companies and internal comparables. In order to be compliant with local legislation, as well as to provide greater transparency to candidates, we share salary ranges on all job postings regardless of desired hiring location. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience/expertise and may vary from the amounts listed below.

You may also be offered equity, and a generous benefits program.

Compensation Range

$246,000—$339,000 USD

Equal Opportunity and Compliance

AlphaSense is an equal-opportunity employer. We are committed to a work environment that supports, inspires, and respects all individuals. All employees share in the responsibility for fulfilling AlphaSense’s commitment to equal employment opportunity. AlphaSense does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, military or veteran status, disability, or any other non-merit factor. This policy applies to every aspect of employment at AlphaSense, including recruitment, hiring, training, advancement, and termination.

In addition, it is the policy of AlphaSense to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees who have protected disabilities to the extent required by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances where a particular employee works.

Recruiting Scams and Fraud

We at AlphaSense are aware of fraud and impersonation attempts related to our postings. For example, we never ask candidates to pay for job applications, equipment, or training, and all official communications come from an @alpha-sense.com email address. If you’re unsure about a listing, verify it on our Careers page. If you believe you’ve been targeted by a scam, please contact us. Your security and trust matter to us.