ASAP Talent Services

Compensation

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Description Principal Engineer d Location: Redwood City, California (The Bay Area) - ideal for someone in Menlo Park, Redwood City, or San Francisco Bay Area. Home office with some travel to the office. Reports To: Head of Product and Engineering • *Compensation: role comes with strong and competitive base salary, annual bonus and ESOP program (equity/shares) in a late stage Pre-IPO business! Total package is higher than the publicly posted target salary range** About the company: SaaS that helps connect physical locations, digital systems, and intelligent automation into one unified ecosystem. We build scalable, cloud-native systems that integrate hardware, IoT, AI-driven applications, and enterprise SaaS to transform our clients business processes. We are looking for a hands-on Principal Engineer who thrives at the intersection of system architecture, hardware-software integration, and scalable SaaS platforms. Role Overview As a Principal Engineer, you will be a technical leader responsible for architecting, designing, and scaling mission-critical systems across cloud, edge, and in-store environments. You will work across hardware interfaces, distributed systems, AI-enabled applications, and multi-tenant SaaS platforms. This role requires deep technical expertise, strong ownership mindset, and the ability to operate in a fast-paced startup environment. Key Responsibilities System Architecture & Technical Leadership • Drive end-to-end system-level architecture across cloud, edge, and in-store components. • Define scalable, resilient, and secure architectures for multi-tenant SaaS platforms. • Lead design reviews, technical strategy discussions, and long-term roadmap planning. • Mentor senior engineers and influence engineering best practices. Hardware-Software Integration • Design and develop robust hardware-to-software interfaces. • Integrate RFID, IoT, and edge devices with cloud platforms. • Ensure real-time data ingestion, processing, and reliability at scale. • Optimize performance across distributed systems and physical environments. Cloud & SaaS Engineering • Architect and build cloud-native applications on GCP (Google Cloud) • Design and implement multi-tenancy models. • Develop microservices-based architectures using: • Kubernetes • Docker / Containers • Message Queues (Kafka) • Redis • BigQuery • MongoDB • Ensure high availability, observability, and scalability. Application Development • Develop backend systems using: • Java (Spring Boot) • Python (FastAPI or similar frameworks) • Node/NPM-based frameworks • Contribute to API design, distributed system patterns, and event-driven architectures. AI & Data Integration • Work with AI/ML teams to integrate modeling outputs into production applications. • Implement data pipelines and support analytics use cases. • Apply AI-driven insights into real-world retail workflows. Required Qualifications • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field OR equivalent demonstrated real-world engineering experience. • 10+ years of experience in software engineering with deep system-level exposure. • Proven expertise in: • Cloud-native SaaS systems (GCP preferred) • Multi-tenant architectures • Kubernetes & container orchestration • Microservices architecture • Kafka, Redis, MongoDB, BigQuery • Java (Spring Boot), Python frameworks, and Node/NPM ecosystem • Experience designing scalable distributed systems. • Strong understanding of hardware-software interaction patterns. Preferred Qualifications • Experience with RFID systems and IoT integration. • Background in retail technology or operational systems. • Exposure to AI/ML modeling and productionizing models. • Experience building edge-to-cloud architectures. Leadership & Cultural Fit We are looking for someone who: • Is a hands-on technical leader, not just a reviewer. • Understands that "we are in the same boat" - collaborates deeply across teams. • Is a self-starter who takes ownership without waiting for direction. • Thrives in a fast-paced startup environment. • Balances architectural thinking with pragmatic execution. What Success Looks Like • Scalable architecture that supports rapid customer growth. • Reliable integration between store hardware and cloud systems. • Clean, maintainable, high-performance codebases. • Strong engineering culture with technical excellence as the bar.