Principal Software Engineer — AI-Augmented Development

About Us

We are a fast-growing technology startup building AI-powered products. We ship fast, iterate based on data, and use modern AI tooling (Claude, GitHub Copilot, agents) to accelerate development without sacrificing quality.

Your Mission

You are a hands-on senior engineer who:

• Codes 50-70% of your time using AI-assisted development
• Makes architectural decisions through code , not PowerPoint
• Understands business metrics and translates them into technical priorities
• Owns end-to-end features: database → backend → frontend → analytics
• Uses AI agents to prototype, test, optimize, and refactor rapidly

You're not managing people. You're shipping fast, building right, and setting the technical bar through example.

Key Responsibilities

Core Development (60%)

• Design and ship scalable features from concept to production
• Use Claude, Copilot, and coding agents to prototype and iterate 10x faster
• Write production-quality code (not just AI-generated drafts—you validate, refactor, optimize)
• Own full-stack ownership: APIs, databases, services, integrations
• Review code for correctness, performance, and maintainability

Architecture & Technical Strategy (25%)

• Make architectural decisions based on speed, cost, and reliability tradeoffs
• Define API design, database schemas, integration patterns
• Know when to use: PostgreSQL vs. MongoDB, REST vs. GraphQL, monolith vs. microservices
• Mentor other engineers through code reviews and pair programming
• Build tools and internal frameworks that make the team faster

Business-Driven Development (15%)

• Understand what metric each feature moves (CAC, churn, AOV, etc.)
• Question requirements: "Will this actually move the needle?"
• Identify technical bottlenecks blocking business goals
• Estimate effort realistically; push back on unrealistic timelines
• Contribute to product decisions (you see the data, you have opinions)

What You Bring

Development

• 5+ years professional software engineering
• Strong fundamentals in Python, TypeScript, or similar
• Comfortable full-stack: backend systems, databases, frontend
• Experience shipping production features under deadline pressure

AI-Augmented Workflow

• Proficient with Claude, GitHub Copilot, or similar AI coding tools
• Can use agents to generate, test, and optimize code at scale
• Know how to validate AI-generated code (not copy-pasting blindly)
• Experience with prompt engineering for code generation

Architecture

• Understand distributed systems, APIs, databases, cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure)
• Can design systems that scale without overthinking microservices
• Know the tradeoffs: speed of development vs. technical debt
• Practical knowledge of Docker, CI/CD, observability

Business Understanding

• Can sit with product/CEO and understand: CAC, retention, unit economics, KPIs
• Know how to turn "we need to reduce churn" into technical architecture
• Care about what gets shipped, not just how it's built
• Experience working in early-stage startups (speed > perfection)

Data & AI (Your advantage)

• Comfortable with analytics and experimentation
• Understand LLMs, embeddings, RAG, basic agent design
• Can integrate AI APIs (OpenAI, Claude, custom models) without overthinking
• Experience with vector databases, analytics stacks a plus

Preferred Tech Stack

• Backend : Python (FastAPI) or TypeScript (Node.js)
• Frontend : React, Next.js
• Database : PostgreSQL (primary), Redis (caching)
• AI/LLM : Claude, OpenAI, vector stores (Qdrant/Pinecone)
• Cloud : AWS or GCP
• Automation : n8n, Make, or similar for orchestration
• DevOps : Docker, GitHub Actions, basic Kubernetes knowledge

What Success Looks Like (12 Months)

• Shipped : Core platform hand