> Markdown version of [/jobs/ext/2707551-principal-engineer-core](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/2707551-principal-engineer-core). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Principal Engineer - Core - **Company:** Fanatics Inc - **Location:** New York, United States - **Experience:** Expert - **Salary:** $239,560.0 - $299,450.0 - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Systems Engineering, Distributed Systems, Redis, Software Engineering, Technical Debt, Apache Kafka - **Published:** September 4, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.dice.com/job-detail/460c7e6f-cba9-4656-b175-aa5c84a7c543 ## About the Role * 15+ years of overall software engineering experience, including 10+ years operating at Senior Staff or above - owning technical design for large, cross-team projects. * Experience leading programs that span multiple teams or verticals over a multi-quarter timeline, with minimal oversight. * Proven ability to identify business-critical problems and build the case for new investment, independent of being assigned the work. * Track record of setting technical patterns or standards that other teams have adopted without your direct involvement. * Experience mentoring Staff/Senior Staff engineers and contributing to their growth toward technical leadership. * Strong track record leading through incidents or operational risk, with a focus on systemic hardening rather than one-off fixes. * Excellent communication skills, with experience building consensus across both engineering and business/executive stakeholders. Preferred * Experience in payments, identity, or loyalty platforms specifically, ideally in a regulated (gaming, fintech) environment. * Experience with org convergence, platform consolidation, or large-scale architectural migration. * Familiarity with SOX, PCI, or similar control frameworks as they intersect with engineering systems. Depending on the role, your interview and onboarding experience may include in-person components, such as onsite interviews or Launching into Better: LIVE-a multi-day cultural immersion in New York City for full-time, non-seasonal hires. These sessions are designed to build connection and bring our culture to life, though specific travel and participation requirements will be confirmed based on your role and location. Your recruiter will provide clear guidance at each stage of the process. ## Description We're looking for a Principal Engineer, for our Strategic Engineering Group, who serve as the technical North Star. You set the standard, make the hard calls, and shape how we scale for the next several years. This isn't a heads-down IC role. It's a seat at the table for every major technical decision we make - from how we handle sub-millisecond latency on Kafka/Redis at peak volume, to how the entire engineering org thinks about distributed systems design. You will work closely with Product Engineering, Security, Infrastructure IT, and other platform teams to build, enhance, and support our platform. Days are varied - you will sometimes lead the engineering charge on a major initiative, other times be working across all teams in fCore to shape our direction, or consulting to drive change across Fanatics, or disrupting our technical status quo with a quick proof of concept to grow and challenge a domain. Responsibilities * Set the long-term architecture strategy for our event-driven platform, proactively eliminating risks and simplifying the codebase to prevent systemic technical debt. * Drive strategically critical, cross-vertical initiatives. Establish the patterns and trade-off frameworks that become the standard for building, operating, and scaling systems. * Serve as an ultimate escalation point for complex distributed systems problems, providing technical guidance to resolve high-stakes issues and unblock teams. * Mentor and elevate senior engineers and technical leaders, fostering a culture of accountability and raising the technical ceiling of the entire organization. * Partner with product and business leaders to define technical strategy, navigating ambiguity to build consensus on high-impact initiatives. * Champion organizational excellence by setting standards for testing, observability, incident response, and platform resilience. * Represent the organization externally through technical writing, conference talks, and open-source contributions, bringing external innovation in and sharing our progress with the broader community. ## Related Videos - [Reducing LLM Calls with Vector Search Patterns - Raphael De Lio (Redis)](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1714-reducing-llm-calls-with-vector-search-patterns-raphael-de-lio-redis) - [How to Benchmark Your Apache Kafka](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/76-how-to-benchmark-your-apache-kafka) - [Resolving technical debts in software architecture](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1680-resolving-technical-debts-in-software-architecture) - [Developers don't need onboarding, do they? The balance between corporate culture and day-to-day project work.](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1063-developers-don-t-need-onboarding-do-they-the-balance-between-corporate-culture-and-day-to-day-project-work) - [Accelerating Authentication Architecture: Taking Passwordless to the Next Level](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/733-accelerating-authentication-architecture-taking-passwordless-to-the-next-level) - [Shipping Faster with Less: Render on Cloud Hosting, AI Workloads, and the Future of DevOps](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1894-shipping-faster-with-less-render-on-cloud-hosting-ai-workloads-and-the-future-of-devops) ## Related Articles - [Fully Remote Software Engineer Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/447-fully-remote-software-engineer-jobs) - [Why Attend a Developer Event in 2026?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/688-why-attend-a-developer-event-in-2026) - [How Much FAANG Companies Actually Pay Software Engineers in 2025](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/230-how-much-faang-companies-actually-pay-software-engineers-in-2025) - [Where to Find Entry-Level Software Engineering Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/397-where-to-find-entry-level-software-engineering-jobs) - [Where To Find Software Engineering Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/396-where-to-find-software-engineering-jobs) - [How to Answer the Interview Question: “Why Do You Want to Be a Software Engineer?”](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/392-how-to-answer-the-interview-question-why-do-you-want-to-be-a-software-engineer)