Principal Software Engineer

America's Test Kitchen (ATK) is seeking a hands‑on Principal Software Engineer to be a critical technical leader across our digital platforms and help drive the execution of our technical vision. This high‑impact role is focused on designing and implementing complex, scalable solutions across our website, app, and digital subscription and MarTech platforms, ensuring technical excellence and high‑impact delivery.

The successful candidate will be a deep technical expert and a pragmatic architect who thrives on directly building solutions, technical mentoring, setting technical standards, and ensuring our architectural strategy directly enables ATK's business growth goals.

This is a newly created role that will report to the Chief Product and Technology Officer.

Core Technical Responsibilities

Technical Capabilities:

Drive Architectural Excellence: Define and implement robust, scalable, and secure architecture for core components of ATK's digital platforms, with a focus on high‑traffic websites, mobile applications, and high‑volume MarTech systems.

Hands‑on Development: Act as a lead engineer on complex, cross‑functional projects, writing high‑quality, performant code, and setting the standard for engineering best practices.

Technical Guidance and Mentoring: Provide technical mentorship, code reviews, and architectural guidance to multiple development teams, helping to elevate the technical skill and maturity of the entire organization.

Establish Standards: Define and promote engineering best practices, design patterns, quality standards, and consistent application of security principles across the software development lifecycle.

Strategic Alignment and Execution:

Technical Vision Translation: Partner closely with Engineering Leaders, Product Managers, and other stakeholders to translate ambitious business objectives into clear, well‑defined, and achievable technical designs and implementation plans.

Cross‑System Integration: Oversee the technical integration and design of complex features spanning multiple systems (e.g., CMS, Subscription Billing, MarTech tools).

Performance and Reliability: Lead initiatives to optimize system performance, scalability, and reliability, ensuring our platforms can support continuous traffic and user growth.

Technology Evaluation: Research, evaluate, and recommend new technologies, tools, and platforms that can provide a strategic advantage or improve engineering efficiency.

Skills and Experience Required

Deep Technical Expertise & Influence:

Expert Software Development: 8+ years of progressive, hands‑on experience in software development, with at least 2-3 years operating in a Principal or Staff‑level capacity.

Architectural Design: Proven experience designing and successfully launching large‑scale, distributed web applications and APIs.

Platform Proficiency: Expert‑level knowledge with Node.js , Python, and React. Java is a bonus.

Cloud Infrastructure: Extensive experience with AWS and familiarity with services, containerization and modern CI/CD pipelines.

Execution and Communication:

Problem Solver: Exceptional ability to diagnose and solve highly complex technical and architectural problems across the full stack.

Technical Communication: Superior ability to document and articulate complex technical designs, trade‑offs, and strategies clearly to both technical and non‑technical audiences.

Mentorship: Demonstrated track record of leading and influencing technical decisions across multiple teams without direct managerial authority.

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent professional experience.

10+ years of progressive experience in software development.

Extensive experience with high‑traffic, customer‑facing websites and apps in a product technology environment.

Location: This role can be based in our Boston, MA headquarters or is open to qualified remote applicants.

Salary Range:

$220,000 to $250,000

The range provided is based on what we reasonably expect to pay for this job as of the time of posting. The actual salary offered will be determined based on multiple factors, including but not limited to the candidate’s relevant experience, job‑related knowledge, skills, geographical location, and other job‑related factors permitted by law.

About America's Test Kitchen

The mission of America's Test Kitchen (ATK) is to empower and inspire confidence, community, and creativity in the kitchen. Founded in 1992, the company is the leading multimedia cooking resource serving millions of fans with TV shows (America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country, and America's Test Kitchen: The Next Generation), magazines (Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country), cookbooks, a podcast (Proof), FAST channels, short‑form video series, and the ATK Essential Membership for digital content. Based in a state‑of‑the‑art 15,000‑square‑foot test kitchen in Boston's Seaport District, ATK has earned the trust of home cooks and culinary experts alike thanks to its one‑of‑a‑kind processes and best‑in‑class techniques. Fifty full‑time (admittedly very meticulous) test cooks, editors, and product testers spend their days tweaking every variable to find the very best recipes, equipment, ingredients, and techniques. Learn more at .

Why America's Test Kitchen:

We're passionate about cooking, and about creating the best place to work. We're small enough for your ideas to make a big impact, and large enough to offer you opportunities to grow professionally at any stage of your career. We want you to take risks and make mistakes — that's how innovation happens in our test kitchen, in our offices, and in life.

We at America's Test Kitchen believe food media can be a powerful force for social change. We are passionate about building an inclusive workforce that represents many different cultures, backgrounds, abilities, identities, and perspectives.