Senior Platform Engineer: Scale Core Services & Data

PTC; San Jose (CA); On-site; Full time

Job description

Sr. Principal Software Engineer – Platform

Location: San Ramon, CA (Hybrid – 2–3 days onsite)

Role Overview

We are seeking an exceptional Sr. Principal Software Engineer – Platform Engineering to play a key role in evolving and scaling our platform ecosystem. In this role, you will work hands‑on to design, build, and improve core platform services while contributing to the technical direction and modernization of our platform architecture. You will partner closely with engineering teams to deliver high‑impact platform capabilities, improve system performance and reliability, and enable broader platform adoption. While contributing to architecture decisions, this role is focused on execution, implementation, and technical depth, rather than pure architecture ownership.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Engineering & Development

• Design and build scalable, high-performance platform services and shared components
• Contribute to the evolution of the platform architecture through hands‑on development and system design
• Develop and maintain Java‑based microservices, APIs, and backend systems
• Write high‑quality, production‑grade code with a focus on reliability, scalability, and maintainability
• Debug, troubleshoot, and resolve complex production issues

Platform Evolution & Modernization

• Assess existing systems and contribute to improvements in architecture, performance, and developer experience
• Help reduce technical debt and improve system health through incremental modernization efforts
• Implement best practices across service design, data modeling, and platform reliability

Data Platform Contributions

• Design and implement PostgreSQL data models optimized for transactional use cases
• Support development of Snowflake data models, schemas, and pipelines
• Apply best‑practice data modeling techniques:
  • Normalization and relational modeling
  • Dimensional models (star schema concepts where applicable)

Platform Adoption & Enablement

• Build reusable services and frameworks that improve developer velocity and platform consistency
• Work with application teams to integrate and adopt platform capabilities
• Contribute to documentation, examples, and reference implementations that simplify adoption

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical guidance to engineers through code reviews and design discussions
• Mentor engineers and help elevate overall technical quality across teams
• Influence architecture through implementation and delivery, not just design artifacts

Required Qualifications

• 12+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Strong hands‑on experience with:
  • Java (core Java, concurrency, distributed systems)
  • Groovy (or exposure via Gradle or similar ecosystems)
• Deep experience building:
  • Microservices and distributed systems
  • REST APIs and backend services
• Strong experience with Spring Framework and modern Java ecosystems
• Experience working with:
  • PostgreSQL or similar relational databases
  • Snowflake or modern data platform technologies (preferred, not exclusive)
• Strong understanding of:
  • Cloud‑native architectures (AWS preferred)
  • Containerized systems and modern DevOps practices
• Experience designing and operating large‑scale, production systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building or supporting data platforms, pipelines, or analytics systems
• Familiarity with event‑driven systems and streaming architectures
• Experience with AI/ML or GenAI‑enabled systems and workflows
• Exposure to graph databases (Neo4j, Neptune) or complex relationship modeling
• Experience improving engineering productivity through automation and developer tooling

What Success Looks Like

• Consistently deliver high-quality, scalable platform code
• Improve platform reliability, performance, and usability
• Enable other teams to build faster through reusable, well‑designed services
• Influence system direction through practical, effective engineering decisions

Key Traits

• Strong hands‑on builder mindset
• Ability to operate at depth in complex systems
• Pragmatic and solutions‑oriented
• Strong collaborator across engineering teams

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary range: $166,500 – $250,000 per year (based on skills, experience, and location)
• Potential performance‑based bonus
• Employee share purchase program (ESPP) and other equity programs
• Medical, dental, vision insurance; paid time off and sick leave
• Tuition reimbursement, 401(k) with employer match, flexible spending accounts
• Life insurance, disability coverage, commuter subsidy (office‑assigned employees)

Equal Opportunity Employer

At PTC, we believe in the power of diverse ideas and perspectives. As a global company that values and respects all identities, cultures, and perspectives, we strive to create an inclusive environment. PTC is an Equal Opportunity Employer and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds. We do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic.