Principal Engineer

Location: Remote (Global) HQ: Bellevue, WA
Team: Engineering
Type: Full-Time Deferred Compensation + Bonuses
Reports To: CTO

We are looking for a Principal Engineer to own the architecture of our platform and lead it through its next stage. This is one role with three responsibilities in sequence. First, a hands-on assessment of the platform as it exists today, produced by reading the code, the infrastructure, and the data flows yourself, working alongside our senior engineers, and delivered in roughly three weeks as a written statement of what the architecture is, what is sound, what is fragile, and where the security and scaling risks sit. Second, a target architecture for handling user data and financial transactions securely at scale, with a keep, refactor, or rebuild recommendation for every component and the cost of each path; whether we refactor or rebuild is an output of your assessment, not a premise of this role, and the target is approved by the CTO before anything is built. Third, leading our engineering team through execution while staying hands-on yourself in the highest-risk components, the money flows and the data layer. You will own architecture decisions, made in writing and in the open, subject to peer review and challenge, with the CTO approving the target architecture. This is a hands-on senior engineering position rather than an advisory one: the assessment is produced from the code itself, and the highest-risk components carry your commits. This is a remote-first role with deferred compensation until 60 days post-MVP launch, plus equity, bonuses, and annual offsite perks. We value speed, ownership, and collaborative energy.

What You'll Do

● Spend your first four weeks assessing the platform by reading the code, the infrastructure, and the data flows yourself, with our senior engineers as your guides to the current system

● Deliver that assessment in writing with industry standard notation, accurate to the code as it currently exists: what the architecture is today, what is sound, what is fragile, and where the security and scaling risks are

● Design the target architecture for securely handling user data and financial transactions at scale

● Recommend keep, refactor, or rebuild for each component, state the cost of each path, and defend the recommendation under challenge

● Present the target to the CTO for approval before anything is built

● Lead the engineering team through execution of the approved plan

● Stay hands-on in the highest-risk components, the money flows and the data layer, with your own commits

● Make architecture decisions in writing and in the open, through peer review, and change them when the evidence says to

● Set the technical standards the team builds against, and hold your own work to them

● Report progress, risks, and tradeoffs directly to the CTO

● Document decisions clearly so other engineers on the team do not have to ask you

What You Bring

● 12+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years at staff or principal level on systems carrying real user data and real money

● Current hands-on practice: you are writing production software today

● Demonstrated experience assessing a production system you did not write and publishing findings its owners acted on

● Experience designing and building systems that move money and hold sensitive user data, including payments, identity verification, and the failure modes of both

● Depth across our kind of stack: Node.js and TypeScript services, Python data pipelines, event-driven designs, relational and document stores, and Kubernetes in production

● A track record of evidence-based recommendations in both directions: keeping systems worth keeping and rebuilding systems that warranted it

● Experience leading senior engineers through significant architectural change while contributing code yourself

● Comfort working under peer review and challenge: you put your reasoning in writing, invite review, and adjust when the evidence shows a better path

● Clear written communication, since much of this role is producing documents other people act on

● Bonus: experience in fintech, payments, or digital assets, with compliance frameworks such as SOC 2, or taking a company from first build to scale

Compensation & Benefits

• Competitive pay range:

• Offshore mid-senior rates:

• Deferred compensation model:

• Annual performance bonus (significant portion of total comp)

• Milestone bonuses tied to product delivery

• Health, dental, and vision plans for U.S.-based hires

• Annual paid offsite (Caribbean, Hawaii, ski destinations)

Why Join Us

You will own the architecture of a platform that is close to reaching real customers, with a direct line to the CTO and no committee between your assessment and the decision. What you conclude in your first month sets the company's technical direction, and you will then build the riskiest parts of it with your own hands. If you want authority that is earned through evidence, exercised in the open, and paired with real code, we would love to meet you.

Apply now or reach out directly to sphillips@suncoredigital.com