Principal Engineer

About this role: The Principal Engineer is a senior individual contributor role at PetDesk, reporting directly to the Chief of Staff. This position provides technical leadership across high-impact initiatives, partnering closely with Engineering, Product, Operations, and business stakeholders to shape the architecture, scalability, and long-term technical strategy of our platform. The Principal Engineer will lead complex technical initiatives and drive key architectural decisions that enable teams to deliver reliable, scalable solutions. Beyond technical leadership, this individual will bring strong operational acumen and project management experience, serving as a connective force between engineering execution and business outcomes. They will identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency, contribute to product strategy and roadmap discussions, and ensure that technical investments align with the needs of our customers and the long-term goals of the business. This role requires balancing strategic thinking with pragmatic execution, helping teams solve complex technical challenges while maintaining a strong focus on quality, performance, on-time delivery, and long-term maintainability. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable defining systems architecture and rolling up their sleeves to move critical initiatives forward. They bring a builder's mindset, a bias toward action, and the ability to influence and collaborate effectively across cross-functional teams. Apply if you’re excited to: Lead the technical vision, architecture, and long-term engineering strategy for the PetDesk platform, ensuring systems are scalable, secure, resilient, and adaptable as the business grows Assist with the design and evolve a platform capable of supporting integrations across dozens of third-party systems — including pharmaceutical manufacturers, and clinic systems — while maintaining reliability, observability, and operational excellence Participate to architect data pipelines, APIs, and services that enable seamless data exchange between veterinary clinics, pet owners, drug manufacturers, and industry partners Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Data, and Operations to translate market opportunities and customer needs into scalable technical solutions that directly support product roadmap planning and prioritization Drive architectural decisions that balance speed, flexibility, maintainability, and long-term platform health in a rapidly evolving product environment Identify and drive operational efficiencies across the platform — working with Operations to streamline processes, reduce manual effort, and improve overall system reliability and throughput Oversee the end-to-end technical execution of key initiatives — managing timelines, dependencies, and cross-functional coordination to ensure on-time delivery and high-quality outcomes Serve as a technical point of contact for external stakeholders including third-party drug manufacturers, corporate clinic groups, and individual veterinary clinics — translating complex technical concepts into clear, business-relevant communication Participate with architecture reviews, conduct hands-on technical guidance sessions, and provide project-level oversight for complex initiatives spanning multiple teams and systems Identify and mitigate technical risks associated with third-party integrations, data quality, platform scalability, and system performance before they impact customers or partners Evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends related to integrations, data platforms, APIs, and distributed systems to inform technical roadmaps About You: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience 15+ years of progressive software engineering experience, with at least 3 years operating at a Staff or Principal Engineer level or equivalent technical leadership capacity (.NET) expert as well as deep expertise designing and operating distributed systems, integration platforms, APIs, and data-intensive applications at scale Demonstrated experience building and supporting complex third-party integrations, preferably within healthcare, veterinary technology, fintech, SaaS, or similarly interconnected ecosystems Strong understanding of system architecture, event-driven design, data modeling, and modern cloud-native application development Demonstrated project management experience — ability to plan, track, and drive complex technical initiatives across multiple teams and stakeholders without formal PM authority or certification required Proven operational awareness — experience identifying inefficiencies in technical workflows or business processes and working cross-functionally to implement meaningful improvements Experience serving as a technical point of contact for external customers, partners, or vendors — including the ability to communicate clearly and build trust with non-technical stakeholders such as clinic operators, corporate group contacts, or pharmaceutical manufacturer partners Proven ability to influence technical direction across multiple teams and drive alignment without formal authority Exceptional communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business impact for both technical and non-technical audiences Experience evaluating architectural tradeoffs and making pragmatic decisions that balance short-term business needs with long-term scalability Strong proficiency in modern programming languages and cloud platforms, with the ability to contribute hands-on when needed Self-directed and highly collaborative with a builder's mindset, strong business acumen, and a genuine passion for solving complex problems that impact real customers PetDesk combines the industry's most user-friendly client engagement tools with the highest-rated pet parent app to simplify your veterinary clinic’s operations while strengthening client relationships. Our recruiting process is rooted in “Who: The A Method of Hiring” and consists of an average 2-week hiring timeline. This standardized interview process allows candidates to answer the same questions, experience the same process, and ensure a fair performance review from multiple perspectives. Please, no external recruiters—candidate profiles submitted from external recruiting agencies will not be considered.