Principal Software Engineer – Backend

Job Title: Principal Software Engineer – Backend

Employment Type: Full-time

Location: Remote (Preferred Dallas)

About DeepHow

DeepHow is a Physical AI platform for industrial manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and utilities that helps organizations capture expert know-how, turn it into dynamic work instructions, and drive verified execution on the front line.

The platform spans knowledge capture and sharing, AI-powered verification through Smart Compare and photo/video validation, and time and motion intelligence through guided workflows, SOP adherence, and real-time execution visibility. DeepHow supports customers from knowledge capture to verified execution, with strategic account expansion often centered on verification, AI-guided workflows, and time and motion intelligence.

The Role

We're looking for a Principal Backend Engineer to lead the design and development of our backend systems, enabling rapid, high-quality product releases in a fast-moving environment.

Responsibilities & Requirements

●    SaaS Expertise: Experience working in a SaaS company is required.

●    Architecture & Leadership: Lead the architecture, development, and optimization of scalable backend systems; provide technical mentorship and leadership within an agile, fast-paced startup team.

●    Polyglot Backend Development: * Expert in Node.js for building high-performance applications.

○    Proficient in Python development for backend services, automation, or data processing.

●    Cloud Infrastructure (GCP): Proficient with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), including BigQuery, Cloud Run, Cloud Functions, App Engine, Compute Engine, and GKE.

●    Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Hands-on experience using Terraform to provision and manage cloud resources efficiently and consistently.

●    Observability & Monitoring: Skilled in implementing observability tools (e.g., Datadog, New Relic, or GCP Cloud Monitoring) to ensure system health, logging, and proactive issue resolution.

●    Data Management: * Experience with Redis, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and Firestore for scalable data storage.

○    Experience designing and maintaining data pipelines and working with large datasets.

●    Networking & Orchestration: * Skilled in Docker and Kubernetes (GKE) for container orchestration.

○    Strong understanding of VPC, load balancers, and cloud networking fundamentals.

●    DevOps & Security: * Hands-on experience building and managing CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins.

○    In-depth knowledge of OAuth, SAML, and secure authentication/authorization mechanisms.

○    Familiar with infrastructure security best practices: secret management, service account keys, encryption, and secret rotation.

●    Performance & Reliability: * Experience with system performance tuning, scaling, and fault tolerance.

○    Proven ability to deliver production-grade, maintainable code under tight timelines.

●    Media Processing (Plus): Experience with video transcoding, FFmpeg, and HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) is a strong plus.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience)
• 10+ years of experience in backend software engineering, with a strong track record of building and scaling production systems
• Experience in a SaaS or cloud-native environment is required
• Prior experience in a Principal, Staff, or Senior Lead Engineer role, with demonstrated ownership of architecture and system design
• Proven ability to lead complex technical initiatives and mentor engineering teams
• Experience working in fast-paced startup or high-growth environments is strongly preferred
• Exposure to AI/ML-driven platforms, data-intensive systems, or industrial/manufacturing domains is a plus