Principal Engineer, Application Software

Aires (www.aires.com) has been providing best-in-class relocation management services for over 40 years and is a recognized industry leader in delivering high quality relocation and assignment management services to leading corporations.

The Aires' Innovative Technologies team is creating technologies that mobilize the modern workforce. Our technology enables our customer service teams, our clients, and their employees, as well as our partners, to deliver exceptional, industry-leading services.

We Have…

• An award-winning technology platform, built in-house, that aligns with the future state of Global Mobility.
• A strong Aires brand consistently ranked among the mobility industry's highest annual customer satisfaction scores and a client retention rate of over 98%.
• A high internal promotion rate and long-tenured employees, highlighting our commitment to career growth and development.
• A comprehensive benefits package, including a 401K match.
• Hybrid work environment. Candidates must be local to Pittsburgh, PA. Relocation assistance will not be provided.

An excellent career opportunity is currently available for a Principal Engineer, Application Software local to the Aires office located in Pittsburgh, PA (Robinson Township).

This role offers an exciting opportunity within a high-growth environment, where you will leverage your expertise to guide the research, development, and design of engineering products. As the Principal Engineer, Application Software, you will partner closely with organizational leadership to shape development strategy and prioritize key technology initiatives. You will lead the creation of project plans, define tasks, recommend the best technical approach, and direct a focused team of engineers throughout the full product development lifecycle.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States. This position is not eligible for current or future visa sponsorship.

Position Responsibilities:

• Directly manage the API Integrations, Research, and DevOps teams, including hiring, and performance reviews.
• Oversee development strategy for key software products and lead engineers through the research, development, and design process, in collaboration with organizational leadership on prioritization and cross-team dependencies.
• Develop highly scalable and robust RESTful APIs and microservices using Java and Spring Boot, with particular focus on client- and vendor-facing integrations that meet external partners' reliability and contract requirements.
• Leverage AI-Assisted development tools, including Kiro IDE, to accelerate software development through AI-assisted code generation, debugging, and documentation, and champion their adoption.
• Opportunity to lead exploration of emerging AI initiatives, including GenAI based features, as part of the platform's future roadmap.
• Provide technical leadership by working closely with engineers and product owners to translate business requirements into technical solutions, completing technical design reviews for key projects, and mentoring mid-level and junior engineers across all owned teams.
• Design and optimize complex database schemas, write efficient SQL queries, and develop PL/SQL procedures to support application data needs.
• Ensure code quality & standards by conducting code reviews, establishing best practices, and ensuring code quality, security, and performance, and maintaining unit and integration test with code coverage.
• Ensure software products are fit for purpose, suitably specified, and approved by cross-functional product teams, collaborating with Quality Assurance to identify and resolve validation issues.
• Follow Agile practices by partnering with Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and other stakeholders to translate business requirements into actionable technical tasks and sprint deliverables.
• Facilitate cross-functional communication throughout the development lifecycle, removing roadblocks and ensuring deliverables are met, including serving as the senior point of contact for issues relating to delivery and departmental performance.
• Own the reliability and governance of client and vendor facing API integrations, including contract/versioning standards, SLAs, and coordination with external partners when issues arise.
• Set DevOps standards, including CI/CD pipeline design, environment strategy, and release orchestration, and own deployment reliability for the systems this team delivers.
• Guide the Research team's evaluation of emerging technologies, translating exploratory work into production-ready proposals with clear scope, risk, and ROI framing.
• Maintain security and observability by following secure coding practices, maintaining API security, and monitoring system health through logging, metrics, and observability tools. Contribute to containerized and cloud-native deployments with attention to performance and scalability.
• Take on ad hoc and special projects outside the standing roadmap as business priorities require.

Required Qualifications:

• 8+ years of professional experience in software engineering, with a proven track record of developing enterprise applications.
• 2+ years directly managing engineers, with real authority over hiring, and performance reviews.
• Strong hands-on expertise in Java and its core ecosystems.
• Extensive experience of building, securing, and scaling microservices using the Spring Boot.
• Experience building or governing external-facing API integrations with third-party client or vendor systems, including contract design, versioning, and SLA management.
• Hands on experience with AWS, developing and deploying cloud-native applications using services like Lambda, S3, DynamoDB, and EC2.
• Strong proficiency in relational databases, including writing complex SQL queries and developing PL/SQL.
• Manage source code with Git including branching, merging, and collaboration in multi-developer environments.
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum development environments and stepping into lead developer role.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to understand complex system logic.
• Hands-on experience with unit and integration testing using JUnit and ensuring code coverage.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate technical tradeoffs to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, including executive leadership.

Additional Qualifications (Preferred)

• Generative AI / LLM Exposure: Understanding of Generative AI concepts, including RAG, Prompt Engineering, and integrating LLMs into enterprise applications for capabilities such as sentiment analysis, text processing, and intelligent automation.
• Frontend Technologies: Solid understanding of modern frontend ecosystems, particularly Angular, along with modern CSS frameworks (Bootstrap or Material Design).
• Legacy System Experience: Valuable experience maintaining, troubleshooting, or modernizing legacy Java applications (Java Swing, JSF, and JSP).
• DevOps & Automation: Hands-on experience building or integrating with CI/CD pipelines for automated testing and deployment.
• Agile Tools & Collaboration: Experience with Jira for issue tracking, Confluence for documentation, and collaborative team practices.
• Security Awareness: Knowledge of secure coding practices, OWASP Top 10, Spring Security, and API security standards such as OAuth 2.0 and JWT.
• Observability & Monitoring: Familiarity with tools such as ELK Stack, CloudWatch, Prometheus, or Grafana to monitor application performance.
• Containerization & Cloud Deployment: Experience with Docker and optionally ECS for deploying microservices.
• Collaborative Drive: A strong team-oriented mindset and a "can-do" attitude, with the proactive drive to tackle complex technical challenges alongside the team.
• Mentorship & Support: A genuine desire to help others succeed, demonstrated through peer support, approachability, and a commitment to elevating the team's overall capabilities.

Additional Qualifications – Soft Skills & Values

• Strong time management and organizational skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple competing tasks effectively.
• Can-do attitude and proactive approach to problem-solving.
• Genuine desire to help others succeed and support team growth.
• Team-oriented mindset with a strong sense of care and urgency.
• Desire to embrace our core values: Client Focus, Results, Responsibility & Accountability, Collaboration, and Innovation.