Principal Software Engineer

Principal Software Engineer Location: Los Angeles, CA (Hybrid) Contract: 8+ Month This position is open only to candidates who currently reside in West Los Angeles, CA Job Description: Client is seeking a Princ. Software Engineer to join the Firewire team, focusing on building scalable, secure, and resilient payment processing systems behind some of Americas most prominent technology companies. This role will drive technical leadership and innovation in Firewire engineering team, aligning with client best practices. Job Summary Analyzes, designs, programs, debugs, and modifies software enhancements and/or new products used in local, networked, cloud-based or Internet-related computer programs. Code may be used in commercial or end-user applications, such as materials management, financial management, HRIS, mobile apps or desktop applications products. Using current programming language and technologies, writes code, completes programming, and performs testing and debugging of applications. Completes documentation and procedures for installation and maintenance. May interact with users to define system requirements and/or necessary modifications. Lead development of backend services and APIs to support Firewire platform operations including release engineering, DevOps pipelines, and system integrations. Collaborate with cross-functional teams including QA, Security, and Infrastructure to ensure seamless deployment and performance of Firewire services. Lead technical initiatives to improve CI/CD workflows, observability, and platform reliability. Implement monitoring and alerting solutions to ensure SLA adherence and rapid incident response. Mentor junior engineers and contribute to engineering best practices across the Firewire domain. Partner with business stakeholders to translate platform requirements into scalable technical solutions. Operate in an AI driven SDLC environment and familiarity with AI code assistants like GitHub Copilot or similar tools. Implement intelligent testing frameworks that auto-generate test cases, predict bugs, and enable self-healing. Leads and builds test automation frameworks using Standard API testing tools for rest-based APIs hosted on Azure cloud. Integrate test suites into CI/CD pipelines Leads the creation of test strategy, test planning, and test execution related to all aspects of testing like functional, integration, systems, end-to-end testing, accessibility, database validations and automation. Qualifications: 8+ years of software engineering experience, with 2+ years in a technical lead role. Bachelors degree in computer science or related field, or equivalent work experience acceptable. Proficiency in several languages/platforms/libraries such as C#, .NET, SQL Server, and Azure Cloud solutions. Strong understanding of RESTful API design, OAuth2, and microservices architecture. Familiarity with DevOps tools such as GitHub Actions. Strong understanding of Queuing mechanism, multithreading/Multi-Tasking, Distributed computing. Knowledge of container orchestration, release automation, and platform observability tools (e.g., Datadog). Experience implementing secure coding practices and compliance workflows in regulated environments. Strong analytical, multitasking, and organizational skills to manage testing on multiple projects. Experience with Agile methodology and concepts using JIRA or similar Agile tools. Understanding of secure development processes in regulated environments (e.g. PCI DSS, SOC 2) Methodologies- Agile, Scrum Preferred Qualifications: Experience in fast paced fintech organization. Familiarity with peer-to-peer payment processing domains, stability and release management experience. Contributions to open-source projects or technical publications. Demonstrated leadership in building scalable platform engineering practices. Pay Transparency: "The expected pay range for this position is $75.00-$82.00 per hour. Final compensation will be determined based on experience, skills, and qualifications. Non-exempt employees are eligible for overtime. Full-time employees are eligible to select from different benefits packages. Packages may include medical, 401(k) without employer match. Paid Sick leave is provided based on state or local laws."