Sr. Principal Software Engineer

Merchants Distributors, Inc. (MDI); Hickory (NC); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Alex Lee is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to deliver high-performing, scalable software while mentoring engineers across products. You will lead design, code reviews, and cross-functional collaboration to align with architectural standards and best practices.

You will influence technical strategy, drive long-term roadmaps, and report project status to stakeholders. Strong communication, proactive learning, and a passion for continuous improvement are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience with the listed tech stack.
• Proficiency in C# and SQL; JavaScript/React is beneficial but not required.
• Experience with ASP.NET MVC, .NET Core, Entity Framework, microservices, REST APIs, and cloud tooling.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and mentor engineers to build extensible, maintainable software.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define requirements and roadmaps; drive project plans and releases.
• Document system designs and architectures for transparency and future reference; report project status to stakeholders.
• Lead and participate in code reviews to ensure quality, security, and maintainability; promote best practices across teams.

Skills

C# proficiency

SQL

JavaScript

React

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

ASP.NET MVC

.NET Core

Entity Framework

Microservices

REST APIs

Azure DevOps

Git

Azure CI/CD

T-SQL

Relational Database Design

Hangfire

Kendo UI

jQuery

RabbitMQ

Azure Service Bus

Job description

Overview

As a Principal Software Engineer at Alex Lee, you deliver high performing, robust, scalable and maintainable software, and lead and mentor other software engineers to do the same. You collaborate with cross-functional teams, document system designs, and report on project status. Continuous improvement and adoption of the best practices are essential to your success as a Sr. Principal software engineer. Your contributions enhance product performance and business value while maintaining high standards.

Responsibilities

• 1. Technical Leadership:
  • Leads by example and mentors others to produce extensible and maintainable code used across products.
  • Holds accountability as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI), mentoring engineers across products/solutions, working on-call to monitor system/product/service for degradation, downtime, or interruptions.
  • Serves as a subject matter expert for many of the solutions in the Alex Lee software portfolio, providing mentorship and expertise to build knowledge and capabilities within engineering teams.
  • Plays an active role in maintaining an inclusive and positive culture through leading and facilitating team discourse, providing mentorship for junior team members and fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
  • Actively schedules and attends code reviews to maximize quality, security and maintainability of all software.
  • Quickly identify and resolve complex technical issues and recommend and implement permanent robust solutions. Recommends software development process changes to prevent future issues.
  • Identify development practices or software that introduces risks to business operations.
  • Introduce technology and design concepts that will enhance business operations and deliver incremental business value.
• 2. Collaboration and Cross-Functional Teams:
  • Partners with and leverages cross-functional teams determine user requirements and drive project plans, releases, and overall development.
  • Influences technical strategy by collaborating with cross-functional teams, leveraging your experience to develop a long-term technical roadmap that meets stakeholders and growing business needs.
  • Collaborate with peers and leaders at all levels across the organization on projects that turn opportunity into results.
• 3. Documentation and Transparency:
  • Documents system designs, processes, and architecture for transparency and future reference, complying with standards developed by architecture teams.
  • Reports on project status, challenges, and results to stakeholders.
• 4. Continuous Improvement and Best Practices:
  • Proactively seeks new knowledge and adapts to new trends, technical solutions, and patterns to improve the availability, reliability, efficiency, observability, and performance of products while sharing knowledge with other engineers.
  • Contribute to the continual improvement of your team’s quality standards and engineering processes.
  • Balances innovation with business value to drive modern approaches and the adoption of best practices within your team.

Qualifications

• Requires either a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years software engineering experience including but not limited to the following technologies/skills:
  • Coding Languages: Proficiency in C# and SQL; knowledge of Javascript, CSS, HTML5, React is beneficial but not required.
  • Coding Skills/Technology Stacks: Familiarity with ASP.NET MVC, .NET Core, Entity Framework, Microservices, LINQ (proficient), REST APIs, Full Stack Applications, Azure DevOps & GIT, Azure CI/CD Pipelines, T-SQL, Relational Database Design/Development, Hangfire, Kendo UI, jQuery, RabbitMQ, Azure Service Bus, etc.
  • .NET Experience. Multiple years of full-time experience with .NET Core 3 framework or higher. We are continually transitioning to the latest .NET Frameworks. Experience with classic .NET is also valued.
  • Agile Experience: Daily Standups/Scrums, Sprint Planning, Reviews & Retrospectives, and daily peer code reviews. Proficiency in these areas is important, especially at the senior level and above, where we expect individuals to lead and engage in these agile ceremonies effectively.
  • Soft Skills: Problem-solving abilities, effective time management, willingness to learn and seek assistance, openness to daily feedback from multiple perspectives through Pull Request reviews, and the ability to peer review other team members.
  • Not required, but beneficial: Azure AD B2C Custom Policy Development; Docker/Kubernetes experience; AWS/Google Cloud Development Experience.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong self-motivation and organizational skills.
• Demonstrated ability to context switch between multiple concurrent projects.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to quickly assess a need or problem and assign responsibility and priority.
• Self-sufficiency and excitement for working in a fast paced, result-driven environment.
• Demonstrated coaching and mentorship skills.