Principal Software Engineer

MediaAlpha is a customer acquisition solutions provider powered by technology and data science. The company provides industry-leading solutions designed to reach consumers shopping within high-consideration categories such as property and casualty insurance, health insurance, life insurance, and more.

Hybrid role: 3 days/week in office

Role Overview

As a Principal Software Engineer at MediaAlpha, you will be a technical leader accountable at the ecosystem level. You own the architecture, health, and strategic technical direction across large and complex systems that span multiple teams—ensuring sound design, operational excellence, and alignment with business needs across the ecosystem. You will shape broad architecture, partner with engineering and business leaders to define roadmaps, and drive technical standards that the organization builds on.

Principal Engineers are hands-on technical leaders. You write code, make architectural decisions, and solve the hardest technical problems in the ecosystem. Your work sets the standard for engineering quality and shapes how systems evolve. The difference at this level is that your technical contributions have ecosystem-wide impact—you define the patterns, frameworks, and architectural direction that other engineers build within.

Everything we build, decide, and deliver is measured against four pillars: Fast, Flexible, Robust, and Transparent. Principal Engineers serve these pillars through architectural clarity that eliminates wasted motion, systems designed for change and adaptability, patterns and standards that ensure long-term health, and active ambassadorship that makes technical direction visible across the organization.

The ideal candidate is a masterful engineer who operates at ecosystem scope—driving technical strategy across teams and groups, shaping architecture that spans organizational boundaries, and developing senior technical leaders. You operate effectively across organizational boundaries, mentor and lead engineers throughout the organization, and drive technical excellence at ecosystem scale. We are an intentionally small organization, designed for agility, speed, collaboration, and workability, where Principal Engineers serve as the technical authorities and go-to leaders across multiple teams and groups.

Responsibilities

Ecosystem Architecture & Technical Ownership

Own large and complex systems end to end with accountability at the ecosystem level—ensuring sound requirements, design, architecture, coding, processes, and operations for holistically complete solutions

Shape broad architecture by leading projects involving multiple large components, complex libraries, or major pieces of application infrastructure, with multi-quarter strategic vision

Proactively monitor and maintain the health of all systems within your area of accountability, identifying and driving high-risk, long-term tradeoff decisions at the ecosystem level

Engineering Standards & Technical Strategy

Define new patterns and advanced methodologies that ensure all engineering work maintains standards for maintainability, scalability, security, reliability, privacy, and compliance at ecosystem scale

Partner with technical leaders to establish and evangelize standards for architecture, code quality, and system design across the engineering organization

Identify and proactively tackle system-wide and organizational technical debt, driving measurable improvements in platform health and engineering effectiveness

Leadership & Cross-Organizational Influence

Lead at the group level as a role model; actively mentor engineers throughout the organization and guide senior technical leaders in decision-making at the feature and component level

Develop senior technical leaders toward broader impact—growing their ability to own systems, set standards, and influence architecture beyond their immediate team

Engage cross-team and cross-organizational stakeholders to define strategy, principles, goals, and requirements that align technical direction with business needs

Represent groups and ecosystems to the broader company; be accountable for ecosystem infrastructure, design, and architecture and serve as the go-to technical authority across teams

Requirements

10+ years experience in software development with a track record of increasing technical scope and organizational influence

Demonstrated ability to own and drive ecosystem-level technical initiatives spanning multiple teams and multiple quarters from conception through completion

Track record of defining architectural patterns, engineering standards, and frameworks that are adopted and referenced across an organization

Experience mentoring and developing engineers at multiple levels, including guiding senior technical decision-making

Proven ability to shape broad architecture and lead complex, multi-component projects that span organizational boundaries

Strong understanding of software engineering methodologies, system design, and architecture at the ecosystem level

Strong SQL skills and understanding of database and query optimizations

Excellent communication skills with the ability to represent technical strategy and architectural direction to both engineering and business audiences

Ability to identify and drive high-risk, long-term tradeoff decisions with sound judgment and clear rationale

A self-starter, comfortable with ambiguity, who creates clarity and structure for others

B.S. in a technical discipline preferred; equivalent experience and a proven track record of results will be valued equally

The Bottom Line

The measure of a Principal Engineer’s success is the health and trajectory of the ecosystems they own.

The best Principal Engineers define the architectural direction that guides technical decisions across teams, set engineering standards that raise the bar for the entire organization, solve the problems no one else can, and develop the engineers around them into stronger technical leaders.

Compensation & Benefits

We are excited to offer a competitive base pay range of $200,000 to $350,000 per year for this position, based on experience and qualifications. But that's not all - as a valued member of our team, you will also have access to an array of top-notch benefits, including:

Annual bonus program and participation in our Restricted Stock Unit program

100% Employer-paid health, dental, and vision insurance for you, your dependents, and spouse or registered domestic partner

100% Employer paid long term disability, and life insurance

401(k) retirement plan with matching contributions to help you plan for your future

Open Paid Time Off policy with a Brthday Hookie day off, 13 holiday, and 5 Recharge days

Professional development reimbursement along with a subscription to LinkedIn Learning

Cell Phone, Wellness, and Internet expense reimbursement, along with a subscription to the Calm App

100% fully paid parental leave for team members up to 22 weeks for the primary caregiver and 12 weeks for the secondary caregiver

Dog-friendly offices (LA and AZ) along with a $300 pet adoption reimbursement

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

MediaAlpha is committed to fostering, cultivating, and maintaining a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our philosophy and actions are built on the premise that as an employer and citizens of our communities, we can create opportunities for lasting change.

Fair Chance

MediaAlpha will consider qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with state and local "Fair Chance" laws. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans in our application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us at [email protected] or (213) 316-6256.