Jobs and Careers

Principal Software Engineer (Tech Lead)

Schenectady, United StatesRemotefull_timeVerifiedPosted 11 Aug 2026

💰 $175,000/yr($150,000/yr – $175,000/yr)

About the role

Jahnel Group’s mission is to provide the absolute best environment for software creators to pursue their passion by connecting them with great clients doing meaningful work.

We get to build some of the most complex and compelling applications for our clients located across the country. We’re a fast-growing INC 5000 recognized company, yet we still work as a very close-knit team (100+ employees). We’re growing like crazy, and if you’re looking for the next place to call home, hit us up for a beer or coffee.

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

The Principal Engineer is where technical mastery and visionary leadership collide in a highly complex and broad landscape. As a Principal Engineer, you work on the hardest problems, you are a master in performance, scalability, system architecture, and engineering best practices.

Principals are seasoned diplomats and understand how to work exceptionally well with others; you listen, understand, persuade, develop, motivate and are the agent of change. You will be the technical lead for the projects that you work on and ensure success of your projects.

As a Principal Engineer, curiosity is essential, excellence is demanded and adding real value and “moving the needle” is the goal. You must be able to set policies to your team, create procedures, and enforce that they are followed while being a role model for everyone around you.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

Craftsmanship

Master in reading, writing, testing and debugging software with several core technical skill sets
Master and well known advocate of fundamental tools/concepts relevant to your core skills
Master in writing high quality documentation for developers and end users
Expected to hold others accountable to high standards and be champion of best practices throughout the organization

Problem Solving

Master in a variety of software development methods (i.e., Agile, Scrum, etc) and leading multiple teams at the same time
Master in software architecture and design (docs, diagrams, etc)
Master at planning, designing and estimation techniques and managing workloads for several teams
Accountable lead on major efforts (root cause analysis, refactorings, transformational work, etc)
Review and create work items/streams for several teams, work with product owners/external stakeholders to design realistic roadmaps

Operations

Master in source control/branching strategies, pull requests, conducting code reviews and building processes to ensure quality is delivered throughout the pipeline
Set the vision for and govern deployment pipelines and the systems that deliver code to environments
Vigorously seek to eliminate inefficiencies, require others to improve the process, eliminate waste and cost, etc
Directly accountable for establishing and enforcing policies/procedures to monitor production applications. Ensure sufficient training, knowledge and coverage is in place to provide production level support

Collaboration

Visionary leader, orchestrate effective working sessions, lead discussions
Seasoned in coordinating/orchestrating multiple streams of work with multiple teams
Create an environment of courtesy/tact and build cross-functional / organizational teams
Listen, understand and empathize with others and create a supportive environment
Instill a sense of shared organization-wide goals/objectives, do what it takes to achieve them

Influence and Impact

Have an impact up and down the chain of command, distill information, make critical decisions
Persuade, influence, develop and motivate others and be the agent of change
Build cross-functional/organizational relationships to get things done
Build relationships with external partners, vendors and industry experts
Conduct high quality research and analysis and present critical challenges to stakeholders
Lead others to operate with and create a shared sense of care and urgency

Orientation to learn

Self-development is second nature and part of your being
Teach others to delegate and elevate, lead by example
Implement career development plans, identify and pair mentor/mentee setups
Be an organization-wide/industry leader sharing your experience/expertise

Skills and Qualifications

Software Engineers explore a variety of domains throughout their careers. One may start with front end development and then transition to back end. An application engineer may start learning DevOps and eventually support a product as an SRE.

The team is looking for a versat