Principal Solutions Architect

At Shippo, our vision is bold and clear:
we are the shipping layer of the internet. Our mission is to make every merchant successful through excellent shipping, delivering world-class logistics technology and infrastructure. We’re building the backbone of global e-commerce — connecting merchants to carriers worldwide through a single API and intuitive dashboard.

As a remote-first and globally distributed team , we believe flexibility fuels trust, autonomy, and performance. Our diverse perspectives — across continents, cultures, and time zones — drive our innovation and enable us to build solutions used by businesses everywhere. We invest in modern, scalable technology so our teams can build, ship, and iterate with confidence.

Every person at Shippo plays a direct role in shaping the infrastructure that powers global commerce and makes shipping simpler for businesses around the world.

We are looking for a Principal Solutions Architect to Lead our Solutions Architects Team that engages with our most critical partnerships and bridges between customers, carriers, product, and engineering to supply a world‑class experience. This position will report directly to the Director of Engineering and partner cross‑functionally to elevate our customer experience and solve complex logistical challenges.

An ideal candidate will possess the ability to build strong relationships and partnerships, navigate complex domains, and have a depth and breadth of technical expertise to provide robust solutions. They will also possess strong leadership skills to continue evolving and improving our Solutions Architects team and the greater organization.

• Lead and Scale the Solutions Architect Team: Provide day‑to‑day leadership for the SA organization, setting clear expectations, priorities, and accountability. Ensure the team operates as a cohesive unit aligned to business objectives and partner outcomes.
• Develop and Mentor Solutions Architects: Own professional growth through coaching, structured feedback, and hands‑on guidance. Build technical depth, customer‑facing effectiveness, and execution discipline across the team.
• Define Standards for Solutions Architect Work and Deliverables: Establish consistent standards for how Solutions Architects scope, design, document, and hand off solutions. Ensure clarity, quality, and repeatability in all SA outputs.
• Own the Solutions Architect Operating Model and Processes: Design and continuously improve the operating model for the SA function, including intake, prioritization, engagement management, and delivery workflows. Balance rigor with speed to support bridge solutions.
• Drive Consistency and Quality Across Engagements: Ensure consistent execution by implementing review cadences, playbooks, and quality checks. Reduce variability in delivery while enabling individual autonomy.
• Measure, Inspect, and Improve Team Performance: Define and track metrics that reflect team effectiveness (e.g., throughput, reuse, cycle time, engagement success). Use data and retrospectives to continuously raise the bar.
• Champion Strategic Partner Relationships: Interface directly with enterprise partners, understand the underlying needs, and drive solutions that expand Shippo's product portfolio and enhance customer capabilities.
• Set Technical Direction for Solution Delivery: Guide the team in creating solution architectures, API specifications, and bridge solutions using Shippo‑approved infrastructure and processes. Own the customer developer experience, including SDKs and documentation.

• 10+ years of experience in software development
• 5+ years leading teams
• History of directly engaging and interfacing with customers, clients, and partners
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work with all levels of the organization.
• Track record of designing scalable integration architectures that can support multiple enterprise clients
• Solid understanding of object‑oriented or functional programming and familiarity with various design and architectural patterns.
• Exceptional verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills. You…