Principal, Software Engineer, Payroll

About the position

We are looking for a highly skilled and hands-on Principal Engineer to drive the architecture and development of our AI-powered, next-generation unified payroll platform. As a senior individual contributor, you will be responsible for designing scalable systems, integrating cutting-edge technologies, and solving complex problems at the intersection of AI, automation, and payroll compliance. This role is ideal for a deeply technical engineer who thrives in designing enterprise-grade platforms and building critical components with precision and quality—especially in domains involving union labor rules, pay scales, and compliance-heavy workflows.

Responsibilities

• Architect scalable, event-driven microservices using .NET Core and AWS.
• Design resilient backend systems and services focused on high throughput, fault tolerance, and low latency.
• Build and optimize data pipelines using PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, Redis, and Elasticsearch.
• Implement AI/ML and NLP models to power smart payroll features.
• Integrate Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) pipelines to extract structured data from labor union contracts, including pay rules, deduction rules, and scale rates.
• Design systems that learn, adapt, and validate contractual logic in real time.
• Write production-grade code and frameworks in C#, React, and AWS infrastructure.
• Contribute to DevOps automation, CI/CD pipelines, and observability tooling.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to ensure architectural alignment and technical quality.
• Serve as a technical mentor and thought leader within the engineering organization.
• Integrate messaging platforms like Kafka or AWS SQS for distributed service communication.
• Implement RPA tools and APIs for automating manual processes in payroll workflows.
• Work with product and compliance teams to validate ingestion logic against real-world contracts.

Requirements

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with strong expertise in backend and distributed system design.
• Advanced proficiency in .NET Core, C#, and microservices architecture.
• Proven experience with AI/ML and NLP integration in production systems.
• Hands-on experience building IDP-based workflows using AWS Textract, GCP Document AI, or similar platforms.
• Expertise in messaging systems (Kafka, AWS SQS), REST/gRPC APIs, and system observability.
• Deep knowledge of SQL and NoSQL technologies such as PostgreSQL and DynamoDB.
• Experience working with Redis, Elasticsearch, and scalable cloud-native infrastructure.
• Solid front-end understanding with React and integration best practices.
• Strong communication and documentation skills, with the ability to work independently in a collaborative environment.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with payroll, finance, or labor compliance systems.
• Familiarity with domain-driven design (DDD), rule engines, and contract ingestion.
• Prior involvement in designing systems to ingest and apply union labor contracts and rate sheets.
• Exposure to RPA tools, automated testing frameworks, and platform observability patterns.
• Entertainment/media tech experience is a plus.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, Vision
• PTO
• Health and wellness programs
• Employee discounts
• Comprehensive package of employee benefits