Principal Engineer
The Principal Engineer is a senior individual contributor role at PetDesk, reporting directly to the Chief of Staff. This position provides technical leadership across high-impact initiatives, partnering closely with Engineering, Product, Operations, and business stakeholders to shape the architecture, scalability, and long-term technical strategy of our platform.
The Principal Engineer will lead complex technical initiatives and drive key architectural decisions that enable teams to deliver reliable, scalable solutions. Beyond technical leadership, this individual will bring strong operational acumen and project management experience, serving as a connective force between engineering execution and business outcomes. They will identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency, contribute to product strategy and roadmap discussions, and ensure that technical investments align with the needs of our customers and the long-term goals of the business.
This role requires balancing strategic thinking with pragmatic execution, helping teams solve complex technical challenges while maintaining a strong focus on quality, performance, on-time delivery, and long-term maintainability. The ideal candidate is equally comfortable defining systems architecture and rolling up their sleeves to move critical initiatives forward. They bring a builder's mindset, a bias toward action, and the ability to influence and collaborate effectively across cross-functional teams.
Lead the technical vision, architecture, and long-term engineering strategy for the PetDesk platform, ensuring systems are scalable, secure, resilient, and adaptable as the business grows
Assist with the design and evolve a platform capable of supporting integrations across dozens of third-party systems — including pharmaceutical manufacturers, and clinic systems — while maintaining reliability, observability, and operational excellence
Participate to architect data pipelines, APIs, and services that enable seamless data exchange between veterinary clinics, pet owners, drug manufacturers, and industry partners
Partner closely with Product, Engineering, Data, and Operations to translate market opportunities and customer needs into scalable technical solutions that directly support product roadmap planning and prioritization
Drive architectural decisions that balance speed, flexibility, maintainability, and long-term platform health in a rapidly evolving product environment
Identify and drive operational efficiencies across the platform — working with Operations to streamline processes, reduce manual effort, and improve overall system reliability and throughput
Oversee the end-to-end technical execution of key initiatives — managing timelines, dependencies, and cross-functional coordination to ensure on-time delivery and high-quality outcomes
Serve as a technical point of contact for external stakeholders including third-party drug manufacturers, corporate clinic groups, and individual veterinary clinics — translating complex technical concepts into clear, business-relevant communication
Participate with architecture reviews, conduct hands-on technical guidance sessions, and provide project-level oversight for complex initiatives spanning multiple teams and systems
Identify and mitigate technical risks associated with third-party integrations, data quality, platform scalability, and system performance before they impact customers or partners
Evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends related to integrations, data platforms, APIs, and distributed systems to inform technical roadmaps
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
15+ years of progressive software engineering experience, with at least 3 years operating at a Staff or Principal Engineer level or equivalent technical leadership capacity
(.NET) expert as well as deep expertise designing and operating distributed systems, integration platforms, APIs, and data-intensive applications at scale
Demonstrated experience building and supporting complex third-party integrations, preferably within healthcare, veterinary technology, fintech, SaaS, or similarly interconnected ecosystems
Strong understanding of system architecture, event-driven design, data modeling, and modern cloud-native application development
Demonstrated project management experience — ability to plan, track, and drive complex technical initiatives across multiple teams and stakeholders without formal PM authority or certification required
Proven operational awareness — experience identifying inefficiencies in technical workflows or business processes and working cross-functionally to implement meaningful improvements
Experience serving as a technical point of contact for external customers, partners, or vendors — including the ability to communicate clearly and build trust with non-technical stakeholders such as clinic operators, corporate group contacts, or pharmaceutical manufacturer partners
Proven ability to influence technical direction across multiple teams and drive alignment without formal authority
Exceptional communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business impact for both technical and non-technical audiences
Experience evaluating architectural tradeoffs and making pragmatic decisions that balance short-term business needs with long-term scalability
Strong proficiency in modern programming languages and cloud platforms, with the ability to contribute hands-on when needed
Self-directed and highly collaborative with a builder's mindset, strong business acumen, and a genuine passion for solving complex problems that impact real customers