Principal Software Engineer: AI-Driven Backend & Microservices

oclc; Dublin (OH); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work environment

Job summary

OCLC is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead technical direction, mentor engineers, and drive innovations across distributed systems and API-driven platforms. You will collaborate with leadership to shape long-term strategy and ensure delivery of high-quality software solutions.

Responsibilities include leading Resource Sharing initiatives, translating architectural plans into scalable designs, and assessing risks and trade-offs for complex programs. Hybrid work model expected.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of professional software development experience.
• Expert-level Java and Spring-based applications.
• Experience with distributed systems, microservices, and REST APIs.
• Front-end experience with React/TypeScript.
• Strong PostgreSQL data modeling and query tuning.
• Linux/Unix environment experience and Git-based workflows.
• CI/CD, automated testing, Gradle/Maven, and secure SDLC practices.
• Ability to mentor, lead initiatives, and collaborate with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Serve as technical leader for Resource Sharing engineering initiatives.
• Translate architectural direction into scalable designs with the Senior Architect.
• Evaluate trade-offs, risks, and dependencies for complex projects.
• Lead work on distributed systems, microservices, and data platforms.
• Mentor engineers and promote quality, security, and operational excellence.
• Foster collaboration among engineering, product, and operations.
• Partner with management to refine technical plans and roadmaps.
• Identify and adopt AI tools and practices in the SDLC.

Skills

Java

Object-Oriented Design

Design Patterns

Spring Framework

Spring Boot

Spring MVC

Spring Data

Hibernate

RESTful APIs

Web Services

Data Modeling

Query Optimization

Linux/Unix

Git SCM

Distributed Systems

Microservices

React

JavaScript/TypeScript

CI/CD Pipelines

JUnit/Mockito

Gradle/Maven

API Integration Patterns

OWASP Security

Jira

Confluence

AI Tools (Cursor)

Agentic AI development

SDLC & Agile (Kanban/Scrum)

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field

Tools

MongoDB

Snowflake

Cloud Platforms

Containerization & Orchestration

Observability & Monitoring

Python scripting

Job description

OCLC is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead technical direction, mentor engineers, and drive innovations across distributed systems and API-driven platforms. You will collaborate with leadership to shape long-term strategy and ensure delivery of high-quality software solutions.

Responsibilities include leading Resource Sharing initiatives, translating architectural plans into scalable designs, and assessing risks and trade-offs for complex programs. Hybrid work model expected.