At Protegrity, we lead innovation by using AI and quantum-resistant cryptography to transform data protection across cloud-native, hybrid, on-premises, and open source environments. We leverage advanced cryptographic methods such as tokenization, format-preserving encryption, and quantum-resilient techniques to protect sensitive data. As a global leader in data security, our mission is to ensure that data isn’t just valuable but also usable, trusted, and safe.

Protegrity offers the opportunity to work at the intersection of innovation and collaboration, with the ability to make a meaningful impact on the industry while working alongside some of the brightest minds. Together, we are redefining how the world safeguards data, enabling organizations to thrive in a GenAI era where data is the ultimate currency. If you're ready to shape the future of data security, Protegrity is the place for you.

As a Principal Software Engineer on our Data Discovery team, you will design, build, and evolve the backend services, distributed systems, and GenAI-powered capabilities at the core of our platform. This is a hands-on, senior individual-contributor role for an engineer who owns large systems end to end, from architecture and implementation through to scale, performance, and operation in production.

The systems you build need to be fast, scalable, and reliable under heavy load. We’re looking for engineers with strong instincts for distributed systems and performance, who care about clean design and take genuine ownership of how their software behaves once it ships.

You will work across the full lifecycle of the systems you own, with a strong focus on building software that is correct, reliable, and maintainable at scale.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and own the backend services and distributed systems behind our data discovery platform.

• Lead the architecture of complex, high-scale systems, balancing performance, reliability, and maintainability.

• Keep systems fast and reliable as data volumes and traffic grow.

• Develop and operate cost-efficient services on major cloud platforms.

• Write clean, production-grade code that sets a strong example for the team.

• Build software that is testable by design, with strong automated coverage as part of normal delivery.

• Drive the reliability and observability of the services you run.

• Investigate and resolve difficult issues across services and environments, getting to the root cause.

• Apply GenAI and AI-assisted techniques both to build new product features and to speed up your own engineering workflow.

• Partner with engineers and other teams on design and architecture decisions, raising the technical bar across the organization.

• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers and help strengthen the team’s technical depth.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience building and operating production backend and distributed systems.

• Strong programming skills (Python preferred) with a track record of shipping high-quality software as a core developer.

• Deep experience designing and scaling distributed systems and APIs, with sound judgment on architecture and engineering trade-offs.

• Demonstrated skill in designing for performance and scalability in high-throughput, data-intensive systems.

• Experience contributing to strong quality practices, including effective testing, test automation, and collaboration with QA or release processes to help ensure reliable software delivery.

• A habit of building testing and automation into your work from the start.

• Solid understanding of CI/CD pipelines and the practices behind continuous, confident delivery.

• Hands-on experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and Helm.

• Experience running services in a major cloud environment (AWS, GCP, or Azure).

• Comfortable debugging and troubleshooting complex multi-service systems in production.

• Strong grasp of engineering best practices, system design, and reliability at scale.

• Ability to work cross-functionally and influence technical direction across teams.

Nice to have

• Background in data protection, privacy, or security domains.

• Experience building or integrating GenAI or LLM-powered functionality in production.

• Familiarity with observability, monitoring, and load testing of large-scale systems.

• Exposure to AI-assisted or agentic workflows for engineering productivity.

Should you accept this position, you will be required to consent to and successfully complete a background investigation. This may include, subject to local laws, verification of extended education and additional criminal and civil checks.

We offer a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits with generous vacation and holiday time off. All employees are also provided access to ongoing learning & development.

Ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace is our priority. We are committed to an environment of acceptance where you are free to bring your full self to work. All qualified applicants and current employees will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability or veteran status.

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