Principal Software Engineer

### Who you are
- 10+ years of software engineering experience, including deep experience building and operating distributed systems at scale
- Strong background in backend architecture, distributed systems, or high-scale platform infrastructure
- Proven ability to design systems that support high-throughput user-facing applications
- Experience building or scaling experimentation platforms, engagement systems, or growth-focused product infrastructure
- Demonstrated experience influencing technical strategy across multiple teams without direct authority
- Strong understanding of system reliability, observability, and operational best practices
- Experience partnering closely with Product, Data, and cross-functional stakeholders to deliver measurable business outcomes
- Ability to evaluate architectural tradeoffs and communicate complex technical decisions clearly
- Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools to improve engineering productivity and system quality
- Experience working on growth, retention, loyalty, marketplace, or monetization systems
- Experience supporting high-volume consumer mobile applications
- Familiarity with experimentation frameworks, event-driven architectures, and analytics pipelines
- Experience designing systems that support real-time notifications, messaging systems, or user engagement platforms
- Strong programming experience in Go, Java, Kotlin, or similar backend languages
- Experience improving developer velocity through platform improvements or internal tooling
- Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear explanations for non-technical partners

### What the job involves
- Fetch is entering a pivotal phase where user lifecycle growth is the company’s north star for 2026. The Growth Engineering organization owns the platforms and product systems that drive acquisition, activation, engagement, retention, and reactivation across the Fetch consumer ecosystem
- This team focuses on accelerating experimentation, improving user journeys, and building the engagement infrastructure that systematically increases MAU growth, retention, and lifetime value
- As a Principal Engineer in Growth, you will operate as a senior technical leader responsible for shaping the architecture, scalability, and evolution of these platforms
- You will partner closely with Engineering, Product, Growth Marketing, and Data to design systems that enable faster experimentation, stronger engagement loops, and measurable growth outcomes
- This is a hands-on technical leadership role with influence across multiple teams. You will guide system design, define technical standards, and mentor engineers while helping the organization move faster without sacrificing reliability or long-term system health
- Architect and Scale Growth Platforms
- Design and evolve the systems that power Fetch’s core engagement experiences, including loyalty mechanics, notifications, gaming systems, and retention-driving product features. Ensure platforms scale reliably to support millions of users and high event throughput
- Enable Rapid Experimentation and Learning
- Shape the experimentation infrastructure used by Growth teams, enabling faster A/B testing, iteration, and measurement. Help engineering teams balance experimentation velocity with platform stability and maintainable architecture
- Lead System Design and Technical Strategy
- Guide architecture decisions across Growth systems, ensuring services remain scalable, observable, and resilient. Identify opportunities to simplify systems, reduce operational complexity, and improve developer velocity
- Drive Cross-Team Technical Alignment
- Partner with Product, Data, Platform, and Growth Marketing teams to translate business growth goals into scalable technical systems. Influence technical direction across multiple teams and ensure architectural consistency
- Improve Platform Performance and Reliability
- Establish standards for reliability, performance, and observability across Growth services. Improve system resilience under high traffic, and ensure services can support sustained user growth
- Mentor and Elevate Engineering Teams
- Provide technical mentorship to senior engineers and emerging technical leaders. Raise the bar for system design, operational excellence, and engineering craftsmanship across the organization
- Accelerate Engineering Productivity
- Champion tooling and development practices that increase engineering velocity, including AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot or Claude Code, improved CI/CD pipelines, and better observability
- Model Technical Excellence
- Lead by example through thoughtful architecture, pragmatic decision making, and strong engineering fundamentals. Promote a culture of ownership, accountability, and measurable impact

### Benefits
- Equity: Hop on the rocketship and have your own stake in Fetch's success with generous equity.
- 401k Match: Fetch matches 100% of the first 4% of your 401(k) contribution.
- People Benefits: Enjoy a competitive suite of ebenfits to promote health for you and your family,. Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance. Flexible Spending Accounts & Health Savings Account, with automatic employer HSA contributions per pay period. Family forming benefit with $10k lifetime stipend.
- Pet Benefits: We know your furry friends are family, too. Pet insurance is fully covered for your first pet.
- Continuing Education: Fetch provides $10,000+/year in education reimbursement support for job-related courses or programs.
- Flexible Paid Time Off: At Fetch, you'll plan your time off as you see fit with our flexible PTO policy. On top of our flexible PTO, Fetch observes 9 paid holidays as well as a year-end-week-long break.
- Robust Leave Policies: Fetch offers generous leave time for health and personal needs, including 20 weeks of parental leave for primary caregivers and 14 weeks for secondary caregivers + $2,000 incentive to assist employees with covering the cost of childcare, clothing, diapers and much more!
- Flexible Work Environment: Experience our beautiful work spaces, or get things done from the comfort of your couch. Choose what's best for each day.