Principal Software Engineer / Golang

Motion Recruitment Partners LLC; Arlington (VA); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Motion Recruitment Partners LLC is assisting an early-stage AI startup in recruiting a Principal Software Engineer for a hybrid role based in Herndon, VA. You will own backend architecture, cloud infrastructure, and distributed systems, and collaborate closely with customers to solve production challenges while guiding the platform's long-term technical direction.

The ideal candidate has 7+ years of software engineering experience and strong proficiency in Go, Kubernetes, Python, and AWS, with

Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong experience with Go, Kubernetes, Python, and AWS.
• Experience designing, building, and owning distributed systems in production.
• Ability to take projects from architecture through deployment and long-term ownership.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to thrive in a collaborative, fast-paced startup environment.
• Heavy customer-facing experience.

Responsibilities

• Own backend architecture and cloud infrastructure.
• Design, build, and maintain distributed systems in production.
• Collaborate with customers to solve production challenges and guide long-term platform direction.

Skills

Go

Kubernetes

Python

AWS

Distributed systems

Ownership

Communication

Autonomy

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Job description

An early-stage AI startup is hiring a Principal Software Engineer to join its team. This is a hybrid opportunity based in Herndon, VA.

The company is building the platform enterprises use to deploy, monitor, and optimize AI systems in production. As organizations move beyond AI pilots and prototypes, they're solving the operational challenges that emerge at scale - from reliability and observability to security, governance, and performance. With a lean engineering team, this role offers significant ownership over backend architecture, cloud infrastructure, and distributed systems, along with the opportunity to work closely with customers to solve real-world production challenges and influence the long-term technical direction of the platform.

Requirements:

• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong experience with Go, Kubernetes, Python, and AWS.
• Experience designing, building, and owning distributed systems in production.
• Demonstrated ability to take projects from architecture through deployment and long-term ownership.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to thrive in a collaborative, fast-paced startup environment.
• Comfortable taking initiative, operating with autonomy, and making technical decisions with a high degree of ownership.
• Heavy customer-facing experience.