Principal Engineer

The position:

A Place for Mom is building the next generation of intelligent, scalable platforms that connect families, providers, and advisors through AI-driven experiences. We’re looking for a Principal Engineer to lead the technical design and evolution of our full-stack platform, powering real-time engagement across web, data, and communication systems.

You will shape the architectural foundation that underpins our product ecosystem, bridging modern web technologies, backend systems, and AI/data services into a cohesive, high-performing platform. This role combines deep technical expertise, system-level thinking, and hands-on mentorship to drive innovation at scale.

You’re a hands-on systems thinker who loves designing elegant solutions to complex problems. You thrive at the intersection of application architecture, data engineering, and AI integration, and can translate business goals into scalable, maintainable systems.

You are a multiplier, someone who raises the bar for technical excellence across multiple teams by mentoring engineers, defining best practices, and driving cross-functional alignment between engineering, product, and data.

• Architect and evolve core platform systems spanning frontend, backend, and data services, balancing performance, extensibility, and security.
• Design scalable, event-driven architectures that integrate APIs, conversational interfaces, and data pipelines across products.
• Lead full-stack engineering strategy across Next.js, NestJS, Type Script, and Node.js, ensuring alignment on quality, standards, and maintainability.
• Build AI-native solutions that embed intelligence and automation throughout our platform, partnering closely with Data, ML, and Product teams to translate models and insights into production-ready features.
• Stay ahead of the evolving AI ecosystem, evaluating new frameworks, model interfaces, and development best practices, and championing their responsible adoption across the engineering organization.
• Advance platform observability and reliability through instrumentation, alerting, and automation, owning SLAs, Web Vitals, and uptime goals.
• Partner across disciplines to align technical decisions with product strategy, ensuring the platform supports AI, analytics, and experimentation needs.
• Mentor senior engineers and influence architectural direction across teams, fostering a culture of learning, documentation, and accountability.

• 14+ years of software engineering experience with modern JavaScript/Type Script stacks (React, Next.js, Node.js, NestJS).
• Proven ability to architect and scale distributed, service-oriented systems with strong attention to performance and maintainability.
• Deep understanding of API design, event streaming (Redis/Kafka), and real-time communication systems.
• Experience with relational databases (Postgres) and data-driven service design; familiarity with Graph
  
  QL or REST service layers.
• Track record of building and integrating complex web platforms that combine front-end, back-end, and data systems into unified experiences.
• Excellent communicator able to explain complex technical concepts clearly across audiences from engineers to executives.
• Demonstrated leadership in defining engineering standards, mentoring senior talent, and driving architectural strategy.

• Exposure to AI/ML-integrated products or large-scale personalization systems.
• Familiarity with data lake and analytics platforms (Databricks, Fivetran, Post Hog, or similar).
• Experience with real-time communication APIs (Twilio, Customer.io) and event-driven microservices.
• Background in multi-tenant SaaS or high-volume consumer platforms.
• Contributions to engineering communities or open-source frameworks.

• Base Salary: $180,000 to $200,000 + 30% Bonus
• Benefits:
  • 401(k) plus match
  • Dental insurance
  • Health insurance
  • Vision Insurance
  • Paid Time Off

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A Place for Mom has recently become aware of the fraudulent use of our name on job postings and via recruiting emails that are illegitimate and not in any way associated with us. APFM will never ask you to…