operative

operative

Principal Software Architect (Platform)

United States · Principal

Sponsorship not specifiedDetected 20 days ago
PythonJavaSpringDistributed SystemsBackend DevelopmentCode ReviewSQLMongoDBRedisElasticsearchAWSCloud PlatformsKubernetesCI/CDDevOpsPlatform EngineeringAPI DevelopmentKafkaData EngineeringAgentic AILeadershipCollaborationMentoring

About the role

  • Built on a modern, cloud-native SaaS architecture with microservices at its core, the Operative platform is engineered to handle the scale and operational demands of the world's largest broadcasters and publishers.
  • This individual will serve as a senior technical authority across Operative's platform engineering disciplines, spanning backend services, distributed data infrastructure, and cloud-native architecture.
  • AI adoption and maturity is a strategic priority at Operative, and this individual will play a direct role in advancing both the use of AI within engineering workflows and the development of agentic capabilities within the platform itself.

Responsibilities

  • Architect and lead delivery of complex, cross-functional initiatives spanning backend services, data pipelines, and cloud infrastructure
  • Drive the adoption and maturity of AI within engineering workflows, including agentic tooling, AI-assisted development practices, and the integration of autonomous AI agents into platform capabilities
  • Identify systemic technical challenges across reliability, performance, scalability, and observability, and own the path to resolution
  • Define and uphold engineering standards across code quality, testing practices, API design, data modeling, and deployment patterns
  • Partner with Product and business stakeholders to translate complex requirements into coherent technical strategy

Requirements

  • 10 or more years of software engineering experience with demonstrated scope at the architectural level
  • Prior experience as a senior technical owner of a complex distributed system, with accountability beyond individual contribution
  • Track record of identifying, prioritizing, and driving technical initiatives independently, not solely executing a defined roadmap
  • Experience working effectively within globally distributed engineering organizations
  • Demonstrated ability to improve the technical quality of a team or platform in a measurable and lasting way
  • Operates with a high degree of autonomy and self-direction

Skills

  • Candidates should demonstrate strong proficiency across the following areas:
  • Java / Spring Boot
  • Kafka / Kafka Connect
  • Elasticsearch
  • Serverless / Lambda
  • S3 / Object Storage
  • CI/CD & DevOps
  • Familiarity with the following areas is also valued:
  • Platform observability, including distributed tracing, metrics infrastructure, and structured logging at scale
  • Data pipeline architecture, including stream processing, schema evolution, and backpressure management
  • Security and compliance practices within cloud-native environments

Compensation

  • Competitive compensation commensurate with experience and scope of impact

Company info

  • Engineers at Operative have access to AI tooling as a standard part of their workflow, and we are investing in building increasingly autonomous agents that accelerate development.
  • Provide mentorship and technical guidance to engineers across the broader global team through design reviews, documentation, code review, and direct collaboration

This listing is sourced directly from operative's careers page and normalized into a canonical job model.