Principal Software Engineer

• We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join the team at Ro
• In this role, you’ll operate as a senior technical leader across our engineering organization — helping shape the long-term technical direction of our platform, stewarding the health and evolution of critical systems, and driving architectural decisions that enable Ro to scale sustainably, safely, and quickly
• Principal Engineers at Ro operate with deep technical expertise, broad organizational awareness, and a proactive, future-facing mindset
• You will partner with teammates across engineering, product, design, and cross-functional leaders to define and deliver technical strategies that support both near-term product goals and long-term business outcomes
• You will identify opportunities, anticipate risks, and guide teams toward resilient, maintainable, high-quality solutions
• Define and drive the architectural vision for key systems and platforms, ensuring scalability, reliability, resilience, and long-term maintainability
• Evaluate and recommend foundational technologies, patterns, and practices that position Ro for future growth
• Translate complex, ambiguous problem spaces into clear technical roadmaps, identifying tradeoffs and guiding teams toward strategic solutions
• Lead organization-wide initiatives that improve system health, observability, performance, security, and operational excellence
• Partner with product, design, data, and other teams to align technical strategy with business priorities
• Break down large, multi-team initiatives into actionable plans and drive them from concept to delivery
• Mentor and support Staff, Senior, and early-career engineers in both technical and strategic growth
• Foster a culture of high-quality engineering, thoughtful design, rigorous review, and continuous learning
• Provide technical leadership in design reviews, architecture discussions, and cross-team forums
• Act as a trusted technical advisor to engineering leadership and cross-functional partners

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision membership
• Equity for all team members
• Flexible time off
• Paid parental leave, and flexible work arrangement
• Well-stocked office with snacks and bi-weekly free lunches
• Gym, learning, and development stipends

• If you’re energized by system-wide impact, solving ambiguous and complex technical challenges, and elevating the engineering organization through mentorship, thought partnership, and architectural leadership, we’d love to talk
• Strong architectural skills with the ability to reason about long-term tradeoffs, system interactions, operational risks, and platform evolution
• A proven track record of technical leadership across multiple teams or domains, including designing and evolving complex distributed systems
• Deep expertise in backend engineering (preferably with a strong proficiency in Python) and experience with distributed systems and relational databases
• Exceptional communication skills with the ability to articulate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
• 12+ years of experience building scalable, maintainable software systems
• Experience in metrics instrumentation and data-driven performance tuning, leveraging load testing infrastructure and tools like Datadog
• A passion for and strong track record of developing other engineers and raising the technical bar through mentorship, coaching, and leadership
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical strategy, drive alignment across multiple teams, and guide organizations through ambiguity
• Experience in telehealth or other highly-regulated industries