Tonal
Principal/Architect Software Engineer
Tonal is hiring a Principal/Architect Software Engineer to set technical direction and lead cross-team initiatives across its connected-fitness device, app, and cloud systems. The role stays hands-on with critical-path code, migrations, and production debugging while mentoring senior engineers into technical leaders, requiring deep backend, distributed systems, and cloud expertise.
- Compensation
- $275K–$320K / yr
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
- Work setup
- Remote
- Seniority
- Principal
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Architecture
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- Led architecture and delivery across multiple teams at Senior Staff or Principal scope with measurable results
- Deep backend, distributed systems, and cloud expertise; reasoning across device, mobile, data, and service boundaries
- Builds and operates production software; owned hard integrations or migrations and made pragmatic tradeoffs (speed, reliability, security, cost, maintainability)
- Turns ambiguity into focused plans and gets alignment from technical and nontechnical partners
- Developed senior engineers into stronger technical leaders, improving teams beyond their own
Nice to have
- Experience with connected devices, consumer subscriptions, fitness, digital health, healthcare integrations, or sensitive-data systems
- Experience applying AI in production products or engineering workflows with clear quality, delivery, or cost gains
Full description
Overview
You’ll lead architecture and delivery across Tonal’s device, app, and cloud systems: turn business priorities into technical direction, own initiatives that span teams, and grow senior engineers into technical leaders. You report to engineering leadership and stay hands-on from design through production. Success means shipped outcomes, stronger systems, and teams that move faster.
What You Will Do
- Set 6–12 month technical direction across device, app, and cloud. Turn product priorities into architecture, ownership, and delivery plans.
- Lead a few cross-team initiatives from problem definition to launch and adoption. Settle tradeoffs with team leads; flag priority and resource conflicts early.
- Write critical-path code, build prototypes, guide migrations, and debug hard production issues. Own how your architecture decisions play out in practice.
- Simplify shared systems and interfaces. Improve reliability, observability, security, and developer workflow so teams need less coordination to ship.
- Mentor senior and Staff engineers through design, pairing, and shared delivery. Set up lightweight decision practices so teams can act on their own.
- Use AI-assisted engineering tools where they improve delivery or quality. Partner with Data Science, AI, and platform owners on production integrations.
Who You Are
- You’ve led architecture and delivery across multiple teams at Senior Staff or Principal scope, with measurable results.
- You have deep backend, distributed systems, and cloud expertise and reason well across device, mobile, data, and service boundaries.
- You still build and operate production software. You’ve owned hard integrations or migrations and made pragmatic tradeoffs between speed, reliability, security, cost, and maintainability.
- You turn ambiguity into focused plans and get alignment from technical and nontechnical partners.
- You’ve made other senior engineers stronger technical leaders and can show how your work improved teams beyond your own.
Extra Credit
- Connected devices, consumer subscriptions, fitness, or digital health. Healthcare integrations and sensitive-data systems.
- AI in production products or engineering workflows, with clear quality, delivery, or cost gains.
What Success Looks Like
- 90 days: Set technical priorities. Ship or materially de-risk one important cross-team initiative.
- Six months: Adoption across multiple teams. Measurable gains in delivery speed, reliability, cost, or integration effort.