Principal Engineer

About the role

About The Company

8th Light is a renowned technology solutions consultancy founded in 2006 and headquartered in Chicago. The company partners with a diverse range of organizations, from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies, to tackle complex software challenges and deliver durable, impactful results. Their expertise spans building agentic products, platforms, and engineering solutions across all layers of software architecture. Committed to quality, innovation, and continuous learning, 8th Light fosters an open, collaborative culture grounded in honesty and trust. The company's mission is to create meaningful technological advancements that drive business success and user satisfaction. With a focus on mentorship, professional development, and community engagement, 8th Light aims to be a leader in fostering talent and delivering excellence in software engineering.

About The Role

The Principal Engineer role at 8th Light is a senior-level position designed for experienced professionals who excel in leading complex technical initiatives and shaping platform strategies. As a key technologist and strategic partner, you will work closely with clients to understand their business objectives, architect scalable solutions, and drive platform engineering efforts. Your expertise will influence long-term technical visions, guide cross-functional teams, and ensure the delivery of high-quality, maintainable software. This role offers the opportunity to work with diverse industries and technical stacks, including AI, data engineering, and platform development, while mentoring teams and contributing to the company’s growth and innovation. You will be a vital part of our distributed, remote-first culture, fostering relationships with clients and internal teams across multiple geographies.

Qualifications

We are seeking candidates with a minimum of 10+ years of proven success in software engineering, consulting, or related roles. The ideal candidate demonstrates deep technical expertise across multiple programming languages and frameworks such as Java, C#/.NET, Python, TypeScript, React, Go, Ruby, Scala, R, and SQL. Strong experience in building and shipping production-grade platforms, infrastructure, and reusable foundations is essential. Familiarity with AI/ML integration, including RAG pipelines, vector search, and agentic frameworks like LangChain or LlamaIndex, is highly preferred. Candidates should possess excellent stakeholder management skills, the ability to lead modernization efforts, and a track record of guiding ambiguous projects to successful outcomes. A commitment to continuous learning, feedback, and mentorship is vital, along with strong communication skills to articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

As a Principal Engineer at 8th Light, your responsibilities will include:

Building and maintaining trust with clients by demonstrating technical expertise and understanding their domain and strategic goals.

Driving platform engineering initiatives at the client level, translating long-term technical visions into actionable deliverables.

Leading architecture and delivery of diverse platform types, ensuring scalability, security, and performance.

Advising clients on system architecture, platform evolution, and technical best practices aligned with business outcomes.

Collaborating on the full lifecycle of machine learning systems, including data ingestion, model deployment, and performance monitoring.

Proactively identifying innovative technical solutions and surfacing new approaches to enhance product offerings.

Facilitating feedback sessions, retrospectives, and strategy meetings to improve team and project performance.

Documenting technical decisions, outcomes, and action plans to ensure clarity and alignment.

Mentoring team members and supporting the professional development of colleagues across projects.

Designing high-level technical roadmaps and managing large-scale engagement strategies.

Building and maintaining relationships with clients, industry leaders, and internal stakeholders.

Coaching client engineering teams, transferring knowledge, and elevating technical practices.

Influencing executive-level decision-making and aligning technical initiatives with business strategies.

Participating in pre-sales activities, opportunity identification, and technical scoping.

Leading workshops, technical deep-dives, and community engagement activities to promote best practices and innovation.

Benefits

At 8th Light, we prioritize the growth, well-being, and success of our team members. Our comprehensive wellness package includes access to an extensive learning and development program featuring unlimited books, courses, and expert-led training through the O'Reilly learning platform. We offer an annual stipend and dedicated time for professional growth, coworking support for our global remote team, flexible paid time off, and 12 weeks of parental leave for eligible employees. Additional benefits encompass health insurance, retirement plans, and opportunities for community engagement and mentorship. Our goal is to create an environment where our people thrive both professionally and personally, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and shared success.

Equal Opportunity

8th Light is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive environment for all employees. We celebrate diversity and are dedicated to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives. We do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. Our hiring practices are designed to ensure fairness, equity, and equal opportunity for all candidates, and we actively seek to build a diverse team that reflects the communities we serve.