Principal Engineer

Spain - remote
Software Development
3 days ago

How about a job that works for you?

Ever dreamt of a role where you call the shots on where you work? Welcome to Safeguard Global! We're all about making work fit your life, not the other way around.

Our “work in any way” philosophy means tackling projects from the comfort of your couch, breaking up your day to run errands, or taking meetings from a cozy café in another country. At Safeguard Global, you have the flexibility to balance productivity with life’s moments while meeting your deadlines. ️

How you will make a difference:

We're hiring across multiple teams, and as a Principal Engineer, you'll work across these domains: guiding architecture, influencing design, and unblocking complex problems in areas such as:

Knowledge Platform
Client Account Management
Integrations
Client analytics
Time and Attendance

All teams share a common goal: building reliable, scalable systems that power critical business operations for our customers.

This is a fully remote role, working with a distributed team.

How you will make a difference:

Define and drive the architecture of scalable, event-driven systems on AWS
Lead the design and evolution of core platform services and distributed systems
Set technical direction across teams, ensuring consistency and long-term maintainability
Solve complex, cross-cutting engineering problems (e.g. scaling, data consistency, system resilience)
Establish best practices for reliability, observability, and performance across the platform
Design systems that handle high event throughput, failure scenarios, and eventual consistency at scale
Partner closely with Data Engineering to shape data architecture, pipelines, and platform capabilities
Influence and improve engineering standards, tooling, and ways of working
Mentor senior engineers and act as a technical leader across multiple teams
Contribute to strategic technical decisions and roadmap planning

What will give you an advantage:

We care more about what you can do than ticking every box, but strong candidates will have:

Significant experience (typically 8-12+ years) building and scaling backend systems in production environments
Deep expertise in JavaScript/TypeScript (Node.js preferred) or similar backend ecosystems
Strong hands-on experience designing distributed systems and event-driven architectures
Proven experience architecting systems on AWS, particularly serverless (Lambda, EventBridge, S3, API Gateway)
Track record of leading large-scale technical initiatives or platform transformations
Deep understanding of reliability patterns (e.g. idempotency, retries, backpressure, fault tolerance)
Experience operating systems at scale, including observability, monitoring, and incident response
Strong experience with Infrastructure as Code (CDK, Terraform, or similar)
Solid understanding of data modelling and working with high-volume, data-intensive systems
Ability to influence technical direction without direct authority

Nice to Have

Experience with modern data platforms (e.g. dbt, Athena, data lakes)
Experience in multi-tenant SaaS architectures at scale
Familiarity with BI and analytics tools (e.g. QuickSight)
Exposure to frontend technologies (React / Next.js)
Experience introducing or scaling platform engineering practices

How We Work

Fully remote, async-friendly, and collaborative
Small teams with end-to-end ownership
Strong engineering culture with high autonomy and accountability
Ship often via CI/CD
Emphasis on reliability, observability, and real-world impact
We actively use AI-assisted development tools (e.g. Cursor, ChatGPT) to accelerate delivery and reduce toil

About us:

We’re not bound by traditional ways of doing things. Yep, we enable global expansion without the risk for more than 1,500 clients, but what really sets us apart is our vibe. We’re a community of 900+ Guardians, spread-out over 50+ countries, united by our dedication to a remote first and flexible workforce.

Why become a Guardian:

‍ Autonomy and Flexibility (work in any way): Remote first, with the flexibility to include life needs like school runs and gym breaks in your schedule, all while maintaining a high standard of work.

Generous leave: Enjoy a competitive leave package including paid bonding leaves for new additions to your family

Make a difference: Get 2 paid charitable days off to contribute to causes you believe in

Corporate bonus/SIP: All Guardians are eligible for our annual bonus scheme or sales incentive plan.

✈️ International environment: Grow your network internationally and collaborate across the world. Interact, discover cultures, and tap into local expertise.

Human centered culture: We emphasize the people factor in everything we do. Our nurturing culture ensures your ideas reach our leaders and your contributions get the recognition they deserve.

Learning: We support your continuous growth by providing access to 2 learning platforms, where you can learn at your own pace.

Next Steps:

Ready to join a workforce that shapes itself around your life, and embrace remote work like a pro? We wish you the best with your application.

Welcome to the future of work!

At Safeguard Global, we are committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and Guardians.