Principal Software Architect; San Diego

Position: Principal Software Architect (San Diego)
About Carlsmed Our mission is to improve outcomes and decrease the cost of healthcare for spine surgery and beyond. The Carlsmed aprevo personalized surgery platform is designed to improve the standard of care for spine surgery one patient at a time.

Position Description The Principal Software Architect will work on software projects supporting Carlsmed’s proprietary implants, instrumentation, and design automation systems for personalized surgery. In this role, you will provide technical leadership and define scalable architectures that support both current needs and future growth. You will collaborate with engineering teams and senior leadership to align technical strategy with business objectives, guide key architectural decisions, establish best practices, and mentor engineers across the organization.

Responsibilities Define and drive the technical vision and roadmap for our entire platform

Design scalable, maintainable architectures for complex distributed systems

Establish technical standards and best practices across the organization

Lead architectural reviews and provide technical governance

Make critical technology choices that impact the entire organization

Mentor senior engineers and technical leads in architectural thinking

Drive innovation and keep our technology stack modern and competitive

Collaborate with senior leadership to align technical strategy with business goals

Identify and mitigate technical risks across the organization

Guide teams in implementing Node.js-based microservices architecture

Design and govern GraphQL schema architecture across multiple services

Establish patterns for scalable React applications and component libraries

Architect database solutions using PostgreSQL for high-scale applications

Define API standards and integration patterns across the platform

Lead proof-of-concept initiatives for new technologies

Drive technical spikes to validate architectural decisions

Skills and Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field
10–15 years of experience building software systems, including 5+ years of experience leading development teams, required

Experience with spine or orthopedics highly desired

Excellent verbal and written communication

Ability to perform high quality work with speed

Willingness to wear multiple hats when needed to enable excellent patient outcomes

Deep expertise in Node.js ecosystem and distributed systems

Advanced knowledge of GraphQL, including federation and gateway patterns

Expert-level understanding of React architecture and performance optimization

Extensive experience with PostgreSQL at scale, including sharding and replication

Proven track record of leading large-scale technical initiatives

Strong understanding of system design, scalability, and performance

Experience with high-traffic, distributed systems

Excellence in technical communication and documentation

Track record of mentoring senior engineers and technical leads

Experience with Prisma in large-scale applications preferred

Knowledge of modern application frameworks like Remix preferrediOS architecture experience for enterprise applications preferred

Experience with multiple cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure) preferred

Background in API gateway and service mesh technologies preferred

Experience with event-driven architectures and message queuing preferred

Knowledge of security best practices and compliance requirements preferred

Equal Opportunity Employer Carlsmed is an equal opportunity employer.  All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.  Carlsmed is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in…