Principal Software Engineer

iSolved HCM; United States; On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

isolved is seeking a Principal Software Engineer for the WFM team to lead architecture and hands-on development in an AI-first environment. You will drive decisions on data strategy, service design, and integration while coaching engineers and aligning with product goals.

You will work across product, UX, engineering, and QA to ensure trustworthy AI output, using tools like Copilot, Claude Code, and Cursor to accelerate delivery and maintain technical excellence.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of web application/services development.
• 10+ years large enterprise or e-business systems experience.
• Experience with AI-assisted development tools as part of professional workflows.
• Ability to balance technical quality with product and business needs.
• Strong communication and mentoring across multiple levels.
• Experience with Azure, Microservice Architecture, C#, SQL, .NET, JavaScript, HTML.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement complex functionality with hands-on ownership from architecture to delivery.
• Own architectural decisions for WFM/Time domain, data strategies and integrations.
• Set technical standards around AI-generated code and quality gates.
• Act as primary technical contact for product owners and external teams.
• Provide production support and resolve escalations.
• Coach engineers on problem decomposition, product thinking, and architecture.

Skills

AI development

Architectural design

Leadership mentoring

Technical communication

Problem solving

Azure

C#

JavaScript

HTML

Unit Testing

Education

BS or BA degree

Tools

GitHub Copilot

Claude Code

Cursor

Azure CosmosDB

SQL Server

Docker

NoSQL databases

Job description

Why Work Here

• Headquarters is in Charlotte, NC
• Recently expanded to nearshore
• isolved ranked for SMB Payroll in 2023 Sapient Report
• Voted top places to work in USA 2023

Job Description

The Principal Software Engineer for the WFM team is a technical leader who shapes how the team builds software in an AI-first development environment. This role combines deep architectural judgment with product awareness, helping the team make the right decisions about what to build, how to build it, and when AI-generated output is trustworthy versus when it needs human expertise.

This role is hands-on. This person brings clarity to ambiguous problems, coaches engineers on both stack proficiency and systems/product thinking, and ensures architectural decisions serve both current needs and long-term product direction. They are a key participant in the team's AI Development Lifecycle, an operating model where product, UX, engineering, and QA collaborate in real time to define and deliver solutions together. AI-assisted development is a core part of how the team works, and we expect you to use agentic coding, spec-driven development, and AI-augmented code review in your daily workflow.

Core Job Duties

Technical Leadership and Architecture

• Designing and implementing complex functionality, with hands-on ownership from architecture through delivery
• Owning architectural decisions for the WFM/Time product domain, including service design, data strategy (SQL Server, Azure CosmosDB or other NoSQL), and system integration patterns
• Setting and maintaining technical standards that account for AI-generated code, including review criteria, testing expectations, and quality gates
• Serving as primary technical contact for product owners and external teams
• Responsible for production support, including investigating and resolving third-level support escalations

AI-First Development

• Working within the AI Development Lifecycle model, collaborating live with product, UX, engineering, and QA to define, build, and validate solutions in real time
• Leveraging AI coding tools, including GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, and Cursor, as a core part of the development workflow
• Critically evaluating AI-generated code for correctness, performance, security, and architectural fit
• Helping define and evolve the team's AI development practices, identifying where AI accelerates delivery and where human judgment is essential

Coaching and Team Development

• Providing frequent guidance and support to other developers, including hands-on, stack-specific mentoring (C#, Angular, SQL Server, etc.)
• Coaching engineers on problem decomposition, product thinking, and architectural judgment in addition to syntax and implementation detail
• Raising the team's ability to articulate problems clearly, evaluate AI output critically, and reason about systems holistically
• Helping engineers at all levels develop the judgment to know when AI-suggested solutions will create downstream pain

Product and Process

• Participating on the agile team to estimate and groom backlog items, plan development activities, and improve the development process
• Working with business analysts to clarify requirements and debug problems
• Anticipating how architectural decisions affect the product roadmap, and proactively surfacing risks and opportunities

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of relevant web application/services development
• 10+ years large enterprise or e-business systems experience
• Demonstrated use of AI-assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, or similar) as a core part of professional development workflows
• Demonstrated ability to make architectural decisions that balance technical quality with product and business needs
• Ability to work independently to research and solve complex problems
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
• Experience mentoring and coaching engineers across multiple levels
• Strong skills with: Azure, Microservice Architecture, C#, SQL, Unit Testing, .NET, JavaScript, HTML
• Angular, Azure CosmosDB or other NoSQL database
• Pub/Sub and asynchronous messaging
• Docker, MVVM
• Experience with large (500+ database table) system development a plus
• Experience with the following a plus: working within an AI-first or AI Development Lifecycle model, Agile/Scrum experience including distributed teams
• Eager to learn and grow
• BS or BA degree preferred

About isolved

isolved is a leading provider of human capital management (HCM) solutions that combines modern technology with expert services and support. Purpose-built for People Heroes, isolved gives HR, payroll and benefits leaders the tools and insights to streamline operations and deliver employee experiences that matter. isolved People Cloud is a connected HCM platform with built-in artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics that brings together HR, payroll, benefits, workforce management and talent management in one experience. Built on a legacy of 40 years in the market, isolved is trusted by more than 200,000 employers and used by 9 million U.S. employees, representing about one in 20 American workers. Visit www.isolvedhcm.com.

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