Principal Software Development Engineer

About the role

About The Company

Cotality is a leading innovator in the property industry, dedicated to transforming the way real estate data and intelligence are leveraged. With a mission to make the property ecosystem faster, smarter, and more people-centric, Cotality provides unmatched property insights through advanced technology and extensive data networks. The company boasts a global team of over 5,000 talented professionals working collaboratively to drive the largest asset class in the world. Cotality’s commitment to innovation, diversity, and inclusion fosters a dynamic work environment where creativity and bold ideas thrive. The organization values its people as its greatest asset and strives to create a culture of collaboration, development, and meaningful impact. By continuously pushing the boundaries of property intelligence, Cotality aims to build a resilient and thriving society through technological excellence and client-centric solutions.

About The Role

The Principal Software Development Engineer at Cotality is a senior-level position that combines technical leadership with hands-on software development. This hybrid-remote role involves leading the design, development, and testing of complex, scalable software systems focused on property intelligence and semantic data management. The successful candidate will spearhead the evolution of Cotality’s Semantic Layer Web Service into a high-scale, automated enterprise platform capable of managing thousands of attributes with high availability and performance. You will serve as the technical lead for the Knowledge Representation and Semantic Search domains, ensuring the system’s architecture supports advanced reasoning capabilities such as Hybrid Graph/Vector search architectures (GraphRAG). Additionally, you will collaborate closely with data science, knowledge engineering, and engineering teams to optimize AI services, automate workflows, and implement rigorous testing frameworks. Mentoring junior and senior engineers, staying abreast of emerging AI trends, and troubleshooting complex AI challenges are integral parts of this role, which aims to drive engineering excellence and innovation across the organization.

Qualifications

Master’s or Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, AI, or a related field

10+ years of professional software engineering experience

Proven expertise in Python and FastAPI for designing and scaling production web services

Deep understanding of Knowledge Representation, Ontologies, and Graph Reasoning

Experience with Vector Databases, Hybrid Search, and retrieval strategies such as Query Expansion, HyDE, and Reranking

Advanced proficiency in AI orchestration tools like ADK and operational trade-offs between LLMs and SLMs

Familiarity with AI evaluation frameworks like RAGAS and DeepEval, and synthetic testing techniques

Strong analytical skills with the ability to apply complex data structures and algorithms for scaling solutions

Experience deploying and managing scalable AI services in cloud environments (GCP, AWS, Azure)

Excellent communication and leadership skills, with a track record of leading high-performing teams

Responsibilities

Architect and lead the evolution of the Semantic Layer Web Service into a scalable, high-availability enterprise platform

Serve as the primary technical lead for Knowledge Representation and Semantic Search projects

Design and implement Hybrid Graph/Vector search architectures (GraphRAG) for complex reasoning across enterprise data

Develop robust backend AI services utilizing tools such as Git, Unix, Python, FastAPI, and ADK

Partner with Data Science teams to architect intelligent routing logic leveraging Small Language Models (SLMs) and Large Language Models (LLMs)

Automate metadata ingestion workflows to streamline ontology management and entity linking

Establish automated evaluation frameworks to ensure system quality and performance during rapid scaling

Conduct thorough code reviews, ensuring adherence to AI engineering standards and architectural integrity

Implement test-driven development practices with comprehensive unit and integration testing

Apply advanced algorithms for entity disambiguation and ontology evolution to address knowledge graph challenges

Optimize system performance and scalability to handle high-dimensional search requirements at enterprise scale

Troubleshoot complex AI issues related to model hallucinations, context window phenomena, and retrieval latency

Stay updated on emerging AI trends, including prompt engineering, synthetic data, and SLM advancements

Mentor and coach engineering team members, sharing expertise in Python, Semantic AI, and Cloud Architecture

Benefits

Generous paid time off, including holidays, well-being, and volunteer days

Up to 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave and a baby stipend

Multiple health plans with mental health and wellness support

401(k) retirement plan with company matching and vesting after one year

Annual well-being stipend and tuition assistance up to $5,250

Recognition rewards, referral bonuses, and exclusive discounts

Equal Opportunity

Cotality is an Equal Opportunity employer committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. We maintain a drug-free workplace and are dedicated to attracting and retaining diverse talent to foster innovation and excellence in all aspects of our business.