Lead Principal Software Engineer

FLSA Status: Exempt

Department: Software R&D

Reports To: Director, Software Engineering

Role Overview

Terradepth has built the category-defining ocean intelligence platform. The Principal Software Engineer, Lead will serve as a foundational player-coach, driving the technical evolution, architecture, and execution of our SaaS software platform, Absolute Ocean (AO).

This is a builder’s role designed for a senior technical leader who loves to remain hands-on in the code while simultaneously mentoring and driving a high-performing team. We intentionally structure this role as a balanced combination of hands-on execution, architecture and planning, and team mentorship. Operating effectively in a dynamic environment, you will make sustainable architectural tradeoffs, write clean and scalable code, and elevate the technical capabilities of the software engineering team to match our steady market growth.

Core Responsibilities

1. Hands-On Execution

• Maintain hands-on mastery of our core software stack: AWS (including GovCloud), Python microservices, Go, React (TypeScript/JavaScript), PostgreSQL, Docker, Kubernetes, and Swagger/OpenAPI.
• Actively code and build across the full stack, implementing front-end interfaces, back-end microservices, APIs, and the core data pipelines for geospatial and bathymetric processing.
• Deliver robust, high-impact code and lead by example to ensure on-time, predictable software commitments tied directly to business goals.
• Enhance existing development practices, robust automated testing frameworks (PyTest, Jest, Playwright), and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) workflows.

2. Architecture & Planning

• Architect and drive the technical design of the end-to-end Absolute Ocean (AO) SaaS platform across public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises environments ensuring high reliability, scalability, and performance.
• Optimize geospatial data ingestion, transmission, and processing pipelines to scale seamlessly from Terabyte (TB) to Petabyte (PB) environments while maintaining elite performance.
• Avoid the over-engineering trap by making fast, practical architectural decisions that support business execution without incurring crippling technical debt or maintenance overhead.
• Partner closely with Product Management and Engineering leaders to translate product requirements into clear technical plans, designs, and actionable JIRA tickets.
• Architect software systems and processes to meet stringent cybersecurity compliance goals, including CMMC L2, NIST 800-53, and future FedRAMP authorization efforts.

3. Mentorship & Technical Leadership

• Mentor and develop a world-class team of software engineers, conducting comprehensive code reviews and guiding collaborative design alignment to elevate overall technical output.
• Lead the thoughtful integration of AI/ML and agentic systems across the platform and internal engineering workflows to automate data processing, enable intelligent mission planning and survey operations, and accelerate overall development productivity.
• Foster a healthy culture of ownership, accountability, technical excellence, resourcefulness under constraint, and continuous improvement.
• Operate as one team with speed, discipline, and collaboration driving how decisions are made and executed.
• Partner with Engineering Leadership, Product Management, Operations, and Business Development as needed to support technical solutioning and keep engineering aligned with company goals.

What Success Looks Like (12 Months)

You will have successfully evolved the AO platform and engineering processes, as demonstrated by the following milestones:

• Absolute Ocean is evolving into a highly repeatable, scalable SaaS platform with system uptime exceeding 99.5% and high-quality data processing speeds.
• Development velocity, predictability, and overall product quality have materially improved across the team as a direct reflection of your mentorship and refined testing workflows.
• Software-driven cost efficiencies have visibly lowered the overall cost per km2 surveyed and cost per TB processed.
• AI and agentic systems are successfully deployed, measurably improving both internal engineering productivity and customer workflows.

Job Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, ideally within high-growth SaaS environments.
• Strong full-stack or heavy backend/data expertise utilizing AWS, Python, Go, React, PostgreSQL, and Swagger/OpenAPI.
• Deep experience defining and building event-based microservice architectures within containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Demonstrated experience as a technical lead, architect, or player-coach responsible for mentoring developers and driving core system designs.

Ideal Experience / Preferred Qualifications

• Proven track record of designing robust test automation strategies, including unit, integration, and end-to-end testing, and embedding them directly into the development process to protect software quality at high velocity.
• Proven experience scaling large-scale data pipelines from Terabyte (TB) to Petabyte (PB) environments.
• Experience packaging cloud-native software for deployment on physical hardware appliances via Virtual Machines (VMs) for offline or air-gapped network environments.
• A hands-on builder mindset with experience delivering high-quality software in a dynamic startup culture, combining a proven ability to navigate ambiguity effectively with a commitment to maintainable documentation and collaborative problem-solving.
• Experience handling complex geospatial data models using tools like CesiumJS, GDAL, ESRI, or related maritime data tools (CARIS, EIVA).
• Hands-on experience deploying practical AI/ML models or agentic systems within a production web application or internal engineering lifecycle.
• Familiarity with security-first development practices aligned with modern compliance frameworks like NIST, CMMC, or FedRAMP.