Principal Software Developer, Backend Platform

Autodesk
San Francisco, CA, United States
5 days ago
Apply on startup.jobs
Prepare application

Role details

Contract type
Permanent contract
Employment type
Full-time (> 32 hours)
Working hours
Regular working hours
Languages
English
Job source

Tech stack

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) Artificial Intelligence Amazon Web Services Continuous Integration Distributed Systems Node.Js TypeScript Backend Event Driven Architecture Graphql Terraform

Job description

We’re building an AI-native platform for our internal developers, over 150 of them, guided by a single question: does this shorten the time from idea to value, for the teams building on our platform and for the customers they ultimately serve?

The smooth path is the safe, fast path, because the platform makes it the default. We build the route that maximizes AI acceleration.

You’ll set the technical direction for how backend services get built, shipped, and operated across the engineering org - not just for one team.

What you’ll do:

  • Shape the technical direction, governance and architecture of the backend platform
  • Shape AI-native workflows into the platform itself, changing how the org builds services with developers and agents
  • Proactively identify and drive resolution of cross-cutting technical challenges before they become delivery blockers, working across multiple engineering teams
  • Define and evolve platform-wide standards, patterns, and abstractions adopted across teams
  • Influence roadmap priorities by framing trade-offs, surfacing opportunities, and driving alignment across engineering, product, and analytics
  • Drive adoption of changes across teams, not just their delivery
  • Mentor and elevate senior engineers through complex problems and architectural decisions
  • Navigate ambiguity and lead complex, multi-squad initiatives with minimal direction
  • Participate in the on-call rotation

Requirements

  • A strong AI-native mindset - you’ve brought AI-assisted workflows into a platform or org, not just your own workflow.
  • Deep expertise in distributed systems, demonstrated with experience making architectural decisions with long-term, cross-org, multi-year consequences
  • Deep exposure across several of the platform’s key domains: cloud (AWS), IaC infrastructure (Terraform/Atmos), CI/CD, GraphQL federation, Event driven systems, APIs, and developer experience
  • Expert in Node.js, TypeScript, or similar languages, with a track record of setting standards others adopt.
  • Track record of cross-team impact: changing how multiple teams build, decide, or deliver
  • Demonstrated ability to frame ambiguous technical problems and drive them to resolution with minimal guidance
  • Experience navigating organizational complexity, aligning stakeholders and using data to demonstrate impact
  • Strong technical judgment balanced with pragmatism: knows when to advocate for the right solution and when to move forward
  • Expert-level English, spoken and written - you’ll lead platform engineering managers across multiple teams and present technical priorities to executive stakeholders.

Benefits & conditions

Compensation and benefits. Base pay is one part of the package. Depending on the role, compensation may also include commission, an annual bonus and equity. Benefits differ by country. For roles in the United States, Autodesk’s benefits are described at benefits.autodesk.com. For roles in Canada and other countries, the plan differs on health coverage, retirement and leave, and your recruiter will walk you through it.

About the company

MaintainX is a leading mobile-first work execution platform for industrial and frontline teams. More than 13,000 customers, including Duracell, McDonald’s, Shell, DHL and Volvo, use MaintainX to cut unplanned downtime and run better operations, across 13.9 million managed assets and 79.5 million completed work orders.

In August 2026 MaintainX became part of Autodesk, joining Autodesk Operations Solutions, the organization unifying Autodesk’s operations platform alongside Tandem, FlexSim and Fusion Operations. Autodesk’s strategy is to converge design, make and operate into one continuous lifecycle: design an asset, build it, run it, then feed what you learn running it back into the next design. Autodesk had design and make. Operate is the phase that tells you what actually happened, and it is ours.

We’re growing fast and hiring the Engineering talent to match.

Apply for this position

This job is hosted externally. Click below to view the full posting and apply.

Apply on startup.jobs
Prepare application

Good distractions

Talks and stories from around this role — technically off-topic, practically not.

45 sec

Working securely with Node.js path application programming interfaces

Sonya Moisset · World Congress 2023

1:52 min

Structuring and scaling the backend engineering team

Stefan Lingler Stefan Lingler +1 · Coffee With Developers

2:52 min

Generating APIs with the Neo4j GraphQL library

William Lyon · LIVE

4:18 min

Prioritizing communication and structural awareness over strict tool mastery

Liam Hurrel +1 · World Congress 2021

3:55 min

Identifying underlying Node.js runtime vulnerabilities using fuzzing tools

Sonya Moisset · World Congress 2023

1:20 min

Identifying multi-disciplinary talent for developer experience engineering roles

Hazal Mestci +1 · Coffee With Developers

Videos

See all

Related articles

See all