Principal Software Engineer

Principal Software Engineer Melbourne preferred | Remote-first | Salary: $150,000–$170,000 + super We’re working with a growing Australian technology start-up building unique software solutions for the Australian SME market. We’re looking for a Principal Software Engineer who combines strong hands-on technical capability with a high level of ownership and genuine customer focus. You’ll work closely with the founder and leadership team, influence technical direction and help build products where the quality and reliability of what you ship has a direct impact on customers. The business is remote-first, with a preference for someone based in Melbourne to enable regular collaboration with the founder and leadership team. The role As Principal Software Engineer, you’ll be a senior hands-on contributor responsible for designing, building and evolving reliable, scalable customer-facing products. You’ll contribute to technical direction and architecture while remaining close to the code. This is a role for someone who wants ownership across the full lifecycle of what they build, from understanding the customer problem through to development, deployment and performance in production. Programmable telephony is an important part of the product environment. Hands-on Twilio experience is highly desirable, although we’re also interested in engineers who have built comparable solutions using other programmable voice, telephony or communications technologies. You’ll also work closely with offshore engineering resources, collaborating effectively across a distributed team to deliver high-quality outcomes. Tech stack The core development environment includes: React.jsJavaScript / TypeScriptNode.jsREST APIs and third-party integrationsTwilio and programmable telephony / communications Experience with Twilio is highly desirable. Relevant experience with comparable programmable communications technologies will also be considered. What we're looking for We’re looking for an experienced engineer with strong software engineering fundamentals who is still highly hands-on. Ideally, you'll bring: Strong React and JavaScript/TypeScript experienceFull-stack development capability, including Node.jsHands-on Twilio experience or strong experience with equivalent programmable telephony technologyExperience building APIs and complex third-party integrationsExperience building reliable, scalable customer-facing softwareStrong architecture and technical decision-making capabilityExperience working effectively with offshore engineering teams and delivering results across distributed environmentsThe ability to balance engineering quality, customer needs and speed of deliveryHigh ownership of what you build, ship and operate in productionThe ability to thrive in a growing start-up or similarly fast-moving environment Customer obsession Customer obsession is central to the way this business builds technology. We’re looking for an engineer who wants to understand the impact their work has on the customer. Technical decisions shouldn't be made in isolation, reliability, performance, usability and the overall customer experience all matter. There is a high level of ownership over what you ship and deploy. Getting functionality into production is only part of the job. What you build needs to be reliable and scalable, with minimal downtime and a seamless experience for the customers who depend on it. You'll be expected to care about what happens after something ships and take ownership when things don't work as expected. Why consider it? This is an opportunity to join a growing Australian start-up at a stage where a Principal Engineer can have genuine influence over both the product and technical direction. You’ll work closely with the founder and leadership team, have significant autonomy and help build unique solutions for Australia's SME market. The environment will suit someone who enjoys being hands-on, solving difficult technical problems and working with a high degree of ownership rather than operating within a large, highly structured engineering organisation. It will particularly suit an engineer who wants to understand the customer behind the technology and cares deeply about building products that work reliably and create a great experience.