engineering
Posted 2 weeks agoPrincipal Software Engineer, Backend
at Headspace
New York City, United StatesHybrid
Responsibilities
- Lead architecture and design of high-scale, low-latency applications that are core to Headspace’s business and member experience.
- Define long-term technical strategies and implementation paths for complex systems.
- Own and drive engineering excellence across multiple domains or squads.
- Write high-quality, performant, and testable code — primarily in Typescript and Python — and set the standard for craftsmanship across the organization.
- Author technical specs and RFCs that guide not only your product pillar, but the entire company through critical design decisions.
- Mentor and elevate engineers across levels, helping them scale their impact while promoting inclusive and empowering team dynamics.
- Drive operational excellence by developing resilient systems, implementing observability, and guiding production support practices.
- Lead efforts to improve system reliability, developer velocity, and cost efficiency.
- Define coding standards, development processes, and best practices to ensure high-quality software development across engineering.
- Track record of improving engineering velocity and reducing tech debt at scale.
Requirements
- A big goal needs talented people, so come join us and give your day job a sense of purpose! What you will do:
- Deep expertise in system design and software architecture, with the ability to decompose complex problems into scalable, maintainable components. Extensive
- experience with Node.js, TypeScript, and Python especially in the context of building high-scale backend services. •
- Experience leading the definition, design, and delivery of complex software features in asynchronous and distributed team environments. Strong hands-on
- experience with unit, integration, and end-to-end testing, along with building and maintaining robust CI/CD pipelines for reliable, automated delivery.
- BS/MS degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Deep knowledge of database design, data modeling, and query performance optimization across both relational and NoSQL systems.
- Familiarity with cloud-native architectures and services (e.g., AWS, GCP, Kubernetes) and modern DevOps practices.
- Demonstrated ability to drive build vs. buy vs. refactor decisions with long-term implications in mind. •
- Experience designing or maintaining Server-Driven UI (SDUI) systems to enable dynamic, schema-based UI rendering across web and mobile clients.
- Candidates must permanently reside in the US full-time.
- We strive to create a diverse & inclusive environment where everyone can thrive, feel a sense of belonging, and do impactful work together.
Experience
- 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a proven track record of building and scaling production-grade APIs and distributed backend systems.
Benefits
- Our mission is to transform mental healthcare to improve the health and happiness of people all over the world, so join us to make that happen! As a Principal Engineer, you’ll play a key role in shaping the technical foundation of our platform as we scale to serve millions of users.
- Shape product and platform evolution by partnering with PMs, EMs, and stakeholders across Product, Data, Security, and Infrastructure to align technical vision with business goals.
- Your recruiter will share more details. Pay & Benefits :
- The anticipated new hire base salary range for this full-time position is $162,000-$225,000 + equity + benefits.
- For candidates based in San Francisco, New York City, or Seattle, a separate salary range of $207,000-$258,750 applies, consistent with our location-based compensation philosophy.
- Our salary ranges are based on the job, level, and location, and reflect the lowest to highest geographic markets where we are hiring for this role within the United States.
- Within this range, individual compensation is determined by a candidate’s location as well as a range of factors including but not limited to: unique relevant experience, job-related skills, and education or training.
- Your recruiter will provide more details on the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process.
- At Headspace, base salary is but one component of our Total Rewards package.
- We’re proud of our robust package inclusive of: base salary, stock awards, comprehensive healthcare coverage, monthly wellness stipend, retirement savings match, lifetime Headspace membership, generous parental leave, and more.
- Additional details about our Total Rewards package will be provided during the recruitment process. About Headspace
- We combine evidence-based content, clinical care, and innovative technology to help millions of members around the world get support that’s effective, personalized, and truly accessible whenever and wherever they need it.
- They’re our shared commitment to building a more connected, human-centered team—one that’s redefining how mental health care supports people today and for generations to come.
- The chance to shape what mental health care looks like next Competitive pay and
- How we feel about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging:
- A dual relationship occurs when a mental health care provider has a second, significantly different relationship with their client in addition to the traditional client-therapist relationship—including, for example, a managerial relationship.
Contact
- For how how we will use the personal information you provide as part of the application process, please see: https://www.headspace.com/applicant-notice
Additional details
- At Headspace, you’ll be working on a highly impactful consumer facing product that impacts millions of members globally.
- You will help us bring new features to life to meet our mission, while also helping push our platform to newer technologies as we embrace the cutting edge.
- Take end-to-end ownership of features, from ideation and architecture to monitoring in production.
- Act as a thought leader and multiplier, identifying systemic issues and architecting platform-level solutions with reusability and extensibility in mind.
- Provide a point of escalation for engineering teams facing complex technical challenges.
- Stay abreast of emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices, evaluating their potential application and driving innovation within the software engineering and tech team broadly.
- Exceptional communication and collaboration skills—you can influence technical direction, align stakeholders, and clearly articulate trade-offs and decisions to both technical and non-technical audiences. •
- Experience mentoring engineers and leading cross-functional technical initiatives across teams.
- Ownership mindset: you thrive in ambiguity, consistently raise the bar, and take accountability for outcomes across teams.
- Comfortable making strategic technical decisions and coaching others through uncertainty, with a pragmatic eye on long-term impact and technical debt.