Principal Software Engineer

Highnote

$190K — $240K *
Enterprise Technology
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 12+ years experience building production software systems.
  • Proven record of writing scalable, performant, and maintainable code.
  • Passion for developing customer-centric software solutions.
  • Proficient in Java (>= 11), JPA ORM, SQL, and testing frameworks.
  • Strong engineering skills valued over familiarity with specific frameworks.

Responsibilities

  • Build secure and compliant platform products to meet customer needs.
  • Write high-quality, well-tested code primarily in Java.
  • Analyze customer problems to develop appropriate solutions.
  • Document work processes to aid company scalability.
  • Collaborate across various company domains to enhance the platform.

Benefits

  • Flexible Paid Time Off
  • 100% healthcare coverage + 75% for dependents
  • 401k program
  • Generous paid parental leave
  • Equity options in Highnote
  • Home office setup stipend and internet reimbursement
Full Job Description
What you'll be doing
  • Building secure and compliant platform products that solve customer needs
  • Writing high quality and robustly tested code, mostly in Java
  • Understanding customer problems to build the right solutions
  • Documenting your work to support our rapidly-scaling company
  • Interfacing with a variety of the company's domains to strengthen our platform
What we are looking for
  • 12+ years experience building production software systems
  • A history of writing scalable, performant and maintainable code. We strongly believe languages can be learned and care more about your engineering skill over frameworks
  • Excitement about shipping customer centric software
  • Experience with Java >= 11, JPA ORM mapping, Crafting SQLs, unit and integration testing
  • Proficiency using AI-powered development tools (e.g., Claude Code) across the full software development lifecycle - including design, prototyping, development, testing, and iteration. A demonstrated passion for AI-driven development, a commitment to continuously advancing AI skills, and a drive to push the boundaries of productivity and engineering outcomes.
Bonus skills
  • Experience contributing to Card Acquiring platforms
  • Experience with cloud platforms such as GCP or AWS
  • SpringBoot, Docker, and Kubernetes
  • Experience with big data technologies such as BigQuery and RedShift
  • A background in the fin-tech space
  • Experience building AI agents for financial or payment platforms
  • Familiarity with AI agent frameworks (e.g., LangChain, CrewAI, or AutoGen)
Why Highnote?
  • We're a startup that allows for our employees to truly build from the ground up and impact every layer of our organization.
  • We're a team of payments obsessed individuals. While some of us come from the fintech world, some of us don't. We value the varied backgrounds and the diverse perspectives of our employees.
  • We're small on hierarchy and big on growth. We're a flat organization that allows everyone to have direct exposure to our leadership team. We are looking for builders who thrive in ambiguity.
  • We're backed by Oak HC/FT, Costanoa Ventures, Adams Street Partners, Westcap, and Pinegrove Venture Partners. Angel Investors include Bill Ready (CEO at Pinterest) and Renaud Laplanche (Co-Founder & CEO of Upgrade).
Highnote benefits
  • Flexible Paid Time Off
  • 100% healthcare coverage + 75% coverage for dependents
  • 401k program
  • Paid Parental Leave: Up to 16 weeks paid leave for the birth parent, and up to 6 weeks paid leave for the non-birth parent
  • Equity in Highnote
  • Stipend to build out your home office; internet reimbursement
  • At Highnote we have built a total rewards philosophy that includes fair, equitable, geo-based compensation that is performance and potential based. Our compensation packages are competitive based on robust market research and are a combination of a cash salary, equity, and benefits. In compliance with the Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, the annual salary range for applicants is $190,000-$240,000.

Please note that positions located in San Francisco are hybrid and include core working days of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in office. We provide flexible work options based on distance from our downtown SF office. Highnote believes in the power of face-to-face, personal connection. As a result, we prioritize in-person candidates.

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