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, DynamoDB, CloudFormation/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, LangChain, 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.