MFour Mobile Research

Staff / Principal Engineer

MFour Mobile Research$175K — $200K *
Information Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 10+ years of software engineering experience, particularly at Staff, Principal, or Distinguished Engineer level.
  • Deep expertise in distributed systems architecture, data pipeline design, and backend platform engineering.
  • Experience with real-time data ingestion, identity resolution, and AI query layers at production scale.
  • Ability to identify boundaries of AI-assisted development and manage critical code paths requiring human judgment.
  • Hands-on knowledge of cloud infrastructure (AWS or GCP), observability tooling, and CI/CD best practices.
  • Skill in resolving complex technical problems without predefined solutions and demonstrating intellectual honesty.
  • Strong communication skills to influence architecture discussions effectively.

Responsibilities

  • Resolve critical cross-cutting technical challenges within DANI and Studio.
  • Own and review key code paths for architectural decisions.
  • Establish and uphold engineering quality standards across products.
  • Write essential production code where mistakes have significant impact.
  • Set performance, security, and reliability standards organization-wide.
  • Maintain architectural integrity despite feature demands.
  • Proactively address and reduce technical debt to safeguard system performance.

Benefits

  • Top-tier health benefits including medical, dental, vision, LTD, and life insurance.
  • Mental health support resources.
  • Unlimited PTO for work-life balance.
  • Access to a WeWork office located in downtown Kansas City.
  • A collaborative open space design promoting team interactions.
  • Participation in company-wide celebrations and team bonding events.
Full Job Description
Your Journey to Success:

MFour is seeking a Staff / Principal Engineer to serve as the senior-most individual contributor on our Engineering team. This is not a team management role - it is the highest-leverage technical seat in the org. You will own the hardest cross-cutting technical problems across DANI and Studio, review critical code paths, and raise the engineering quality bar across every surface we ship. You are the voice on every architecture call that keeps us from making decisions we'll regret in two years, and you own the areas of the codebase that AI coding tools cannot safely touch.

Your Mission:

Cross-Cutting Technical Ownership

  • Resolve the hardest cross-cutting problems across DANI, Studio, and the data pipeline.
  • Own critical code-path reviews - the final technical check on architecturally weighty decisions.
  • Define and hold the engineering quality bar across all surfaces.

Hands-On Technical Contribution

  • Write production code where judgment matters most and a wrong call compounds for months.
  • Set and enforce standards for performance, security, and reliability across all teams.

Architecture Integrity

  • Be the primary senior IC voice keeping system design, data models, and infrastructure ahead of feature pressure.
  • Proactively retire technical debt before it threatens availability or velocity.

Platform Reliability & Incident Leadership

  • Lead the highest-severity incidents, own post-mortems, and drive systemic fixes that retire each incident class for good.
  • Partner with the VPs of Architecture and Engineering to turn roadmap direction into validated, executable plans.

AI-Era Engineering Practice

  • Define where AI coding tools can be trusted and where human judgment is non-negotiable.
  • Drive tooling, process, and CI/CD adoption that boosts velocity without sacrificing correctness or safety.
  • Stay current on distributed systems, data platform engineering, and AI-assisted tooling to keep raising the bar.
  • Set observability standards so the org can detect, diagnose, and resolve incidents faster.

Technical Mentorship & Knowledge Transfer

  • Elevate engineers through code reviews, pairing, and direct feedback - without a management span of control.
  • Document architectural decisions and standards so knowledge lives in the codebase, not in people's heads.
  • Be a trusted IC peer to the VPs - the counterweight that keeps management decisions grounded in engineering reality.


What Sets You Apart

  • 10+ years of software engineering experience with a clear track record of operating as a senior IC - Staff, Principal, or Distinguished Engineer level - in a high-growth SaaS or data platform environment.
  • Deep, demonstrable command of distributed systems architecture, data pipeline design, and backend platform engineering - with the scars to prove it.
  • Experience designing and reviewing systems that handle real-time data ingestion, identity resolution, and AI query layers at production scale.
  • Proven ability to identify the boundaries of AI-assisted development and own the code paths that require irreplaceable human engineering judgment.
  • Hands-on fluency with cloud infrastructure (AWS or GCP), observability tooling, and CI/CD - enough to own standards, not just consume them.
  • A demonstrated ability to solve ambiguous, high-stakes technical problems without a playbook - and the intellectual honesty to say when a proposed solution is wrong.
  • The technical credibility and communication clarity to be the most influential voice in any architecture room - without requiring a title to back it up.


In return for your dedication, we offer:

  • Salary
    • $175,000 - $200,000 DOE
  • Health benefits
    • Top-tier health benefits include: medical, dental, vision, LTD, and life insurance
    • Mental health benefits
  • Work-life balance
    • Unlimited PTO
  • Additional benefits
    • In the WeWork office in the heart of the financial district in downtown Kansas City (KC LISTING ONLY)
    • Open space concept & team-focused atmosphere
    • Company-wide celebrations
    • Team bonding events and happy hours


At this time, MFour is unable to provide visa sponsorship or transfer sponsorship for employment.

CHECK US OUT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cabweOxGias&t=1s

OUR APP : https://surveysonthego.com/

About MFour Mobile Research

MFour Mobile Research is a market research company that specializes in mobile research. The company was founded in 2011 by Chris St. Hilaire and has its headquarters in Irvine, California. MFour Mobile Research provides a range of services including mobile surveys, mobile ethnography, mobile diaries, and mobile communities. The company has a proprietary mobile research platform called Surveys on the Go, which has over 2 million active users. MFour Mobile Research has worked with a range of clients including Coca-Cola, Amazon, and Walmart.
Learn more about MFour Mobile Research
Size
100 employees
Industry
Net Income
-$2 million
Founded
2011
5 Year Trend
+50%
Revenue
$20 million

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