Principal Engineer

We believe small businesses are at the heart of our communities, and championing them is worth fighting for. We empower small business owners to manage their finances fearlessly, by offering the simplest, all-in-one financial management solution they can't live without.

About the Engineering Team:

As a member of the technology leadership team and reporting into the CTO, the Principal Engineer is responsible for leading our architectural strategy and ensuring the alignment of technology solutions with business goals. The role involves collaborating with stakeholders to define technology roadmaps, developing innovative architectural solutions, and ensuring alignment with industry standards and best practices. You will work to deliver exciting products and provide architectural leadership and vision for projects, and investigate new ideas as we help small businesses find their thrive.

Here’s What You Should Know About Engineering at Wave:

• Our Technology: Wave is powered by several key technologies. Our toolkit is primarily Python and Django on the service layer, with some Ruby and Golang as well. GraphQL and REST power our APIs, and our web/mobile front-ends are React and ReactNative with Typescript. We expect software developers to have proficiency in one or more of these areas. You will be expected to be able to cross technical domains and contribute to both the back-end and front-end as needs arise.
• Your Work Will Matter: Engineering managers at Wave are responsible to their teams and their stakeholders. You will need to maintain solid relationships with Product Managers, Designers, and members of the Product Compliance team. You will work to keep team morale and productivity high, providing a viable career path to everyone on your team. You will evaluate, coach and promote your team members, learning from other Engineering managers at Wave as you hone your own people management skills.
• We Are a Community: Wave is about the size of a small neighbourhood. It is possible to get to know everyone on a personal basis. If you’re trying to solve a hard problem that has roots in some other part of the company, odds are pretty good that you’ll find someone close by who can help you out.
• You Will be Stretched: We’re big on transparency and we know Wave isn’t for everyone. However, if you’re ready to flex your creativity, excel at your craft, fuel your curiosity, and thrive in a dynamic environment, we’re confident you’ll love being a Waver

Here’s How You Make an Impact:

• Define and lead architectural strategy across the technology organization: Develop and maintain the architectural vision across multiple technology teams, ensuring security, scalability/reliability, and performance. Help to shape a technology strategy that will enable Wave to achieve our objectives as a business.
• Enable Wave’s business strategy and company objectives; engage with stakeholders to create scalable, robust and secure technical designs; balancing objectives with optimal performance of applications. Accelerate customer, business, and technology outcomes by identifying and driving key opportunities across Wave.
• Foster cross-team collaboration and drive strategic technology direction: Work closely with cross-functional teams, including Engineering, Product Management, Security, and Data and AI to ensure seamless integration of architectural solutions.
• Innovate and future proof our business: Drive the technical strategy and build multi-year (3+) roadmaps with hands-on leadership in architecture and implementation. Stay current with industry trends and emerging technologies, evaluating their potential impact on Wave’s architectural landscape.
• Hands-on engineering leadership; Create and review architectural designs, specifications, and documentation for various projects, ensuring high quality and adherence to industry best practices. Solve technical problems of the highest scope, complexity, and ambiguity for the business. Teach, mentor, grow, and provide advice to other domain experts, individual contributors, across several teams within Technology.

You Thrive Here By Possessing the Following:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in software architecture and system design helping scale systems and processes efficiently.
• Passionate and knowledgeable about engineering excellence and have the ability to educate others through documentation, design decisions and mentorship.
• Experience leading through influence; partnering across multiple teams in a matrixed organization.
• Proven experience in a senior architectural role, with a strong background in software development and systems integration.
• Deep knowledge of cloud computing, microservices architecture, and modern development practices.
• Strong leadership, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Experience with agile methodologies and project management.