Principal Software Engineer (USA Remote)

Position Overview

Turnitin is a recognized innovator in the global education space, committed to promoting honesty, consistency, and fairness in education for over 25 years. We are seeking a Principal Domain Architect / Engineer with a deep, hands-on engineering background to drive the technical design and evolution of complex, large-scale systems. In this role, you will contribute code, prototypes, and technical frameworks while defining architectural direction across a specific domain or set of platforms. You will work closely with senior engineers, engineering managers, and product leaders to translate business needs into durable, scalable, and well-engineered solutions.

Salary: $130,350/year to $217,250/year
Compensation: Bonus eligible / commission-based

Key Responsibilities

• Remain highly hands-on by contributing code, prototypes, and technical frameworks.
• Define and drive the architectural direction for a specific domain or set of platforms.
• Collaborate with senior engineers, engineering managers, and product leaders to convert business needs into scalable, durable solutions.

Required Qualifications

• Experience Required: 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong emphasis on building and operating production systems.
• Demonstrated experience designing and evolving large-scale, distributed, or service-oriented systems.
• Proven ability to operate as a hands-on Principal-level engineer or architect, influencing direction while remaining close to the code.
• Strong understanding of system design fundamentals: concurrency, data modeling, APIs, messaging, and integration patterns.
• Experience working across the full software lifecycle, from design through production support.
• Strong proficiency in one or more mainstream programming languages such as Java, C#, C++, .NET, or similar.
• Solid understanding of operating system concepts, networking fundamentals, and system internals.
• Experience designing APIs, services, and shared frameworks consumed by multiple teams.
• Familiarity with modern development practices: CI/CD, automated testing, version control, and code review.
• Ability to influence technical direction across teams without direct authority.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain complex designs clearly.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring senior and staff-level engineers.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with cloud-based and distributed architectures.
• Background in performance optimization, scalability tuning, or reliability engineering.
• Exposure to security, privacy, or compliance considerations as part of system design.
• Experience modernizing legacy systems or leading large technical refactors.
• Contributions to internal platforms, shared services, or developer enablement efforts.

Benefits & Perks

• Benefits: Remote First Culture, Health Care Coverage, Education Reimbursement, Competitive Paid Time Off, Self-Care Days, National Holidays, 2 Founder Days + Juneteenth Observed, Paid Volunteer Time Off, Charitable Contribution Match, Monthly Wellness or Home Office Reimbursement, Access to Employee Assistance Program, Parental Leave, Retirement Plan with match/contribution.