Principal Software Engineer (Data)

Doist; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

equity

PTO

other benefits

Job summary

Beacon Biosignals seeks a Principal Software Engineer to join the Datastore team, shaping scalable data models and event-driven pipelines for brain data across studies and applications.

You will coach engineers, drive architectural direction, draft RFCs, and partner with product leaders to raise data integrity and maintainability as the platform grows.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of backend development experience.
• Strong SQL proficiency with PostgreSQL.
• Experience with data streaming systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ, Pulsar, Kinesis).
• Proficiency in a modern general-purpose language; willingness to learn Datastore stack.
• Interest in using LLM-assisted tools in production.
• Experience deploying and operating services in containerized environments (Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/Helm).
• Collaborative mindset and remote-friendly communication.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.

Responsibilities

• Architect and design scalable data models and pipelines for the Beacon Datastore.
• Draft RFCs and lead complex feature discovery and design phases.
• Coach engineers and stakeholders on design patterns and best practices.
• Partner with product and platform teams to guide architectural direction and standards.

Skills

Backend development

SQL (PostgreSQL)

Data streaming

General purpose programming

LLM tooling

Containerization (Kubernetes)

IaC (Terraform/Helm)

Collaboration

Asynchronous communication

Tools

Kafka

RabbitMQ

Pulsar

Amazon Kinesis

Kubernetes

Terraform

Helm

Job description

Beacon Biosignals is transforming precision medicine for the brain, from clinical development to clinical care. For Life Sciences partners, we offer the leading at-home EEG platform for clinical development of novel therapeutics for neurological, psychiatric, and sleep disorders. Our Diagnostics business is building the most comprehensive at-home platform for precision diagnostics, combining EEG and cardiopulmonary signals to deliver reimbursable assessments for sleep and central nervous system disorders. Together, we're changing the way patients are diagnosed and treated for any disorder that affects brain physiology. Beacon Biosignals is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to join our Datastore team. The Datastore sits at the heart of Beacon's platform. It defines our foundational data model and serves as the centralized repository and API for brain data collected from clinical studies, supporting the analytical tools, services, and applications used by our scientists, clinicians, and partners. This role emphasizes the architecture and design of solutions spanning the Beacon Platform, with a focus on scalable data models to serve expanding business needs, event-driven pipelines, and engineering best practices. You will coach engineers and stakeholders of the Datastore on design patterns, collaborate with product and technical leads across platform and scientific teams, and help shape architectural direction and standards across Platform teams. Beacon's robust asynchronous work practices ensure a first-class remote work experience, but we also have in-person office hubs available located in Boston, New York and Paris. This role is fully remote working anywhere in the US.

What success looks like

You partner with engineering and product leaders and Datastore stakeholders to guide architecture and solutions for the Beacon Datastore, and influence architectural standards across Platform teams. You implement features that model best practices, and coach team members to develop their skills. You hold the Datastore to ever higher standards for data integrity, design soundness, and maintainability as it grows. You draft RFCs to lead complex feature discovery and technical design phases, soliciting and incorporating input and building alignment on the decisions that guide development.

What you will bring

• 10+ years of backend development experience, including significant experience focused on data engineering, data platforms, and infrastructure for data-centric applications
• Strong proficiency in SQL, with production experience working with PostgreSQL
• Proficiency with data streaming and event processing, using tools such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, Pulsar, or a cloud-based equivalent like Amazon Kinesis
• Strong proficiency in a modern general-purpose language; proficiency in the Datastore's specific stack (SQL/TypeScript/Julia) is not required, but you should be able and excited to learn quickly!
• Experience with, or interest in, using LLM-assisted or agentic coding tools in a production setting, with good judgment about what guardrails are needed
• Experience deploying and operating services in containerized environments, with familiarity in Kubernetes and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools such as Terraform and/or Helm
• A collaborative mindset - you enjoy working across disciplines and believe people achieve more together than alone
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, especially in asynchronous and remote-friendly environments

The salary range for this role is $190,000 – $210,000. Salary ranges are determined using current market compensation data for this role and adjusted based on experience, skills, and location. The base salary is one component of the total compensation package, which includes equity, PTO, and other benefits. At Beacon, we've found that cultural and scientific impact is driven most by those that lead by example. As such, we're always seeking new contributors whose work demonstrates an avid curiosity, a bias towards simplicity, an eye for composibility, a self-service mindset, and - most of all - a deep empathy towards colleagues, stakeholders, users, and patients.

• equity
• PTO
• other benefits

We believe a diverse team builds more robust systems and achieves higher impact.

We don't expect every candidate to check every box. If you bring strong fundamentals, care about data infrastructure for health, and are excited to learn, we’d love to hear from you!