Principal Backend Engineer

Kforce has a client in Boston, MA that is seeking a Principal Backend Engineer to work onsite 4 days per week.

Summary:

The Operations Systems Technology team builds and maintains the platforms that power core operational functions across investment operations, accounting, treasury, reference data, and global books-of-record. The team also develops a modern data and platform layer that supports AI-driven use cases, helping internal teams unlock insights and automate critical workflows. As a Principal Engineer, you will be a technical leader guiding the architecture, design, and development of distributed, data-intensive systems.

Duties:

* Define and lead the technical roadmap for large-scale operations and data platforms

* Architect distributed, event-driven systems that power operational
-workflows and data services

* Drive modernization initiatives using cloud-native tooling, observability frameworks, and infrastructure-as-code

* Productionize AI models and automation services

* Lead the design and development of backend components using Python and related frameworks

* Set and enforce engineering best practices to ensure high-quality, maintainable systems

* Collaborate closely with product, data, and operations teams to translate business needs into technical solutions

* Drive continuous improvement across performance, reliability, and developer experience

* Work with product and operations leaders to align technical strategy with organizational goals

* Provide architectural oversight for systems integrating financial data, AI, and platform services

* Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences

* Mentor engineers to elevate technical depth and leadership skills across teams

* Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning

* Contribute to recruiting efforts and help build a world-class engineering organization
* 10+ years of software engineering experience with proven technical leadership

* Expert-level Python skills, particularly in building scalable backend or data systems

* Strong hands-on AWS experience (EKS/ECS, Lambda, S3, Dynamo

DB, Cloud Formation/Terraform)

* Deep understanding of distributed systems: microservices, messaging, caching, concurrency, and resilience

* Experience building or scaling production AI products, automation tools, or inference services

* Familiarity with AI and data platform tools (vector databases, Lang Chain, LiteLLM, LLM APIs)

* Experience with data modeling and modern data platforms such as Snowflake or data lake architectures

* Strong knowledge of relational databases and data integrity design

* Background in financial systems, accounting, treasury, or operational technology is highly valued

* Excellent communication skills and the ability to work across diverse stakeholders

Our tech stack includes Python, Kubernetes, and AWS-embracing modern, cloud-native design principles to support mission-critical systems with performance, reliability, and scale.

Join a high-impact technology organization that's redefining how modern operational and financial systems are built. If you're passionate about solving complex technical challenges and shaping the future of data-driven platforms, this role offers the opportunity to lead at enterprise scale.