Principal Engineer - Platform

About the Role

We’re hiring a Principal Engineer – Platform to set technical direction and own the architecture of Arya’s core systems.

This is a hands-on senior leadership role. You’ll design and evolve foundational systems (APIs, data flows, infrastructure patterns, reliability standards) while acting as a force multiplier for multiple teams.

You will work directly with the CTO and senior engineers to solve the hardest architectural problems in the system.

If you like untangling complex systems, building primitives other teams depend on, and making engineering organizations move faster — this role is for you.

What You’ll Own

Platform-wide architecture across backend services and infrastructure

Reliability, scalability, and operational excellence

Developer experience and internal tooling

Technical direction across teams

Cross-team architectural standards

High-impact system redesigns

Engineering leverage and mentorship

What You’ll Do

Design and evolve Arya’s platform architecture across services and data systems

Lead technical design for cross-cutting initiatives (multi-tenancy, permissions, async workflows, scaling)

Identify and eliminate architectural bottlenecks

Establish best practices for observability, service ownership, and incident response

Be deeply hands-on in code when it matters

Partner with product and leadership to align technical and business strategy

Mentor senior engineers and raise technical standards across the organization

Who You Are

10+ years of professional software engineering experience

Prior principal-level impact in at least one role

Designed and operated large-scale distributed systems

Strong backend engineering background

Excellent architectural judgment

Comfortable owning systems end-to-end

Able to influence without authority

Low-ego, high-ownership mindset

Excited to build in-person with a small, high-trust team

Technical Experience We Value

(Depth matters more than box-checking.)

Backend systems in Node.js, Python

PostgreSQL and data-heavy applications

Distributed systems and asynchronous processing

Cloud infrastructure (GCP and/or AWS)

Kubernetes and Docker

CI/CD pipelines

Observability (logging, metrics, tracing)

Multi-tenant SaaS architectures

30–60–90 Day Plan (Accelerated, Principal-Level)

Days 0–30 — System Mastery & Early Leverage

Goal: Become dangerous fast.

Deep dive into Arya’s platform architecture

Audit scaling bottlenecks and reliability risks

Build strong trust with senior engineers

Identify 2–3 high-leverage platform improvements

Ship at least one meaningful architectural fix

Deliverables:

Written platform assessment

One high-impact improvement shipped or underway

Clear articulation of architectural risks and tradeoffs

Days 31–60 — Architecture Ownership

Goal: Shape direction.

Lead design for a cross-team architectural initiative

Refine or establish platform standards

Improve observability and reliability patterns

Mentor engineers through structured design reviews

Deliverables:

One major platform RFC approved and in execution

Measurable improvement in system reliability or developer velocity

Reduced architectural load on CTO

Days 61–90 — Force Multiplier

Goal: The organization moves faster because you’re here.

Own platform roadmap for next 2–3 quarters

Proactively resolve systemic risks

Establish platform SLAs and reliability targets

Clarify system ownership boundaries

Deliverables:

Platform roadmap aligned with company goals

Clear ownership model across services

Increased engineering velocity and stability

OUR VALUES

You will thrive at Arya if you can:

1. Think Like a Customer

We win by making our Customers feel like superheroes. This means we must always view our decisions, actions and communication through the lens of our Customers.

2. Find Small Wins Everyday

We believe that speed of making decisions and taking action have a compounding effect. A series of quick, small, daily wins add up to big ones over time, and the absence of these can add up to big losses.

3. Teach and Learn Consistently

We believe that giving context and sharing expertise is everyone's responsibility. We find time to talk about the Why and How of what we do in every interaction.

4. Be Prepared

We believe that progress cannot be left to chance and sudden flashes of genius. We put in the time and effort to prepare ourselves and others to make the most of every opportunity.

5. Communicate Simply

We communicate to be understood. This means that in a complex, global and busy world, we work hard to express our ideas in ways that others find simple and intuitive.

6. Be Kind

We believe that being exceptional and being kind are not mutually exclusive. We strive to treat others with empathy, kindness and respect, even in the most challenging of times.

WHAT WE OFFER

Arya is committed to being transformative to the careers of those who share our values, and are looking to build a generational business. We offer:

The Basics:

Competitive salary + equity

Comprehensive health and wellness benefits

Flexible PTO and generous parental leave

Performance-based incentives

Wellhub subscription with access to premium fitness facilities, team workouts

The Multipliers:

Be part of a company that treats its values as its biggest priority

Learn more about building and scaling a business in months than others will in years

Have ownership, influence and impact that runs far and wide

Work flexibly, with a focus on progress over activity

Never sacrifice your mental health- while we work hard, we're committed to avoiding burnout at all costs