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← Kargo

Principal Engineer

Kargo
Location
New York, NY
Posted
23 days ago
Department
Engineering - Brand
What they actually want (must-haves)
  • 12+ years in software engineering
  • 3+ years at Staff, Principal, or equivalent senior IC scope
  • Deep experience designing and operating distributed systems at scale
  • Experience with event streaming and async messaging (Kafka, Pub/Sub)
  • Strong data modeling instincts and experience with system of record
  • Hands-on experience building LLM-backed or agentic systems in production
Nice to have
  • AdTech or programmatic experience
  • Experience owning a system-of-record or integration-heavy platform
What the job really is

As a Principal Engineer at Kargo, you will lead the architectural direction for the company's core platforms, including Workflow, Self-Service Agentic Ad Buying, and Creative Hub. Your role involves making high-stakes decisions on system architecture, mentoring senior engineers, and ensuring the technical strategy aligns with business goals. You will also focus on transitioning from legacy systems to scalable services while fostering collaboration across teams.

Benefits
  • Base salary range of $200,000 — $230,000 USD
  • Eligible for variable compensation or annual discretionary bonus
Things to weigh
  • No specific mention of remote work options
  • High level of responsibility with significant architectural decisions
  • Focus on transitioning from legacy systems may imply challenges ahead
Job score2.8/5
Benefits1/5
Freshness4/5
Career value4/5
Role clarity5/5
Pay transparency0/5

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