Principal Software Engineer

Location: This is a remote role where candidates must currently reside in one of the following states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, or Virginia.

Employment type: Full-time

Work authorization: Must be authorized to work in the U.S. without visa sponsorship

About Tivly
Tivly is one of the largest marketplaces for commercial insurance in the United States, connecting business owners looking to protect their businesses with insurance carriers that fit their needs. Since 2009, Tivly has established a network of over 200 trusted carriers, agents, and brokers serving a wide range of businesses.

About the Role
The Principal Engineer is a highly hands-on technical leadership role at Tivly, responsible for designing, building, and scaling the core software systems that power our technology platform. Reporting directly to the Chief Technology Officer, this role helps define Tivly's technical direction and drives system architecture decisions. You'll apply modern engineering practices, from microservices architecture and API development to multi-language (polyglot) solutions, to improve performance, reliability, and scalability across our products. Success in this position requires deep technical expertise, strong architectural judgment, and a commitment to mentoring engineers. The goal is high-quality, maintainable software that supports business growth and innovation.

What You'll Do

Architecture & Technical Direction

• Own the architecture and design of distributed systems serving millions of insurance leads and transactions.
• Evaluate new technologies and frameworks to enhance performance and maintainability.
• Contribute to strategic technology roadmap planning and cross-team alignment.

Hands-On Engineering

• Lead by example through hands-on coding, technical reviews, and system optimization.
• Support cross-functional development in multiple languages (e.g., Java, Kotlin, Python, TypeScript, Go).
• Ensure security, reliability, and compliance within all engineering deliverables.

Collaboration & Mentorship

• Collaborate with Product, DevOps, and Data teams on scalable API integrations and microservices.
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers, fostering a high-performing and collaborative environment.

What You Bring

• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant time in backend or platform roles.
• Advanced proficiency in Java, plus hands-on experience with at least one additional language such as Kotlin, Python, Go, or TypeScript.
• Proven track record designing, building, and scaling distributed systems and microservice-based architectures in a high-traffic environment.
• Strong experience with RESTful APIs, event-driven architectures, and integrating with internal and external services.
• Deep understanding of system performance, reliability, and observability (profiling, logging, metrics, alerting).
• Practical experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, or Azure), containerization (Docker), and orchestration (Kubernetes).
• Familiarity with modern CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and code quality practices.
• Experience working closely with Product, DevOps, and Data teams to ship features and platform capabilities.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field; equivalent practical experience considered.

Core Competencies

• Technical Leadership: Guides architecture decisions, sets engineering standards, and influences cross-team technical direction.
• Systems Design & Architecture: Designs scalable, resilient distributed systems and microservice-based platforms.
• Polyglot Programming: &l