Principal Software Engineer

Cornerstone OnDemand

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Cornerstone OnDemandComputer Software

Principal Software Engineer

India , Hyderabad

We are seeking a highly experienced Principal Backend Engineer with strong hands-on expertise in Java and Python to design, build, and scale enterprise-grade talent management platforms.
In this role, you will act as a technical leader-owning backend architecture, driving engineering excellence, and collaborating closely with product, data, and platform teams to deliver reliable, scalable, and high-performance systems.

In this role you will...

  • Design, develop, and optimize high-performance backend services using Java and Python
  • Lead the design and implementation of microservices-based architectures
  • Build and maintain RESTful APIs, data pipelines, and event-driven systems
  • Ensure system scalability, reliability, security, and performance
  • Collaborate with product, frontend, data, and platform teams to translate business needs into technical solutions
  • Drive backend best practices around code quality, testing, observability, and security
  • Mentor and review code for senior and mid-level engineers
  • Participate in architectural reviews and influence long-term platform strategy
  • Support production systems through monitoring, troubleshooting, and performance tuning

You have what it takes if you have...

Python Stack (Must Have)

  • Python 3.11+ - async/await, type hints, dataclasses
  • FastAPI & Pydantic - API development, request/response validation, OpenAPI specifications
  • SQLAlchemy - ORM usage, async queries, Alembic migrations
  • Async Programming - asyncio, async DB access, non-blocking I/O
  • Testing - pytest, async testing patterns, mocks, fixtures

Java Stack (Must Have)

  • Java 17 / 21 - modern Java features, records, pattern matching, virtual threads
  • Spring Boot 3.x - REST APIs, validation, Actuator, configuration management
  • Spring Data JPA - repositories, custom queries, entity relationships
  • Spring Security - JWT, OAuth2, authentication and authorization
  • Testing - JUnit 5, Mockito, integration testing, Testcontainers

Backend & Architecture

  • REST APIs - API-first design, OpenAPI/Swagger documentation
  • Microservices - service decomposition, inter-service communication
  • Data Pipelines & Events - asynchronous processing, messaging patterns
  • Database Design - relational databases, schema design, performance tuning

DevOps & Cloud

  • Docker - containerization, multi-stage builds
  • Build Tools
  • Maven (Java)
  • Pants / pip / poetry (Python ecosystem)
  • AWS - EKS, ECR, RDS
  • Cloud-Native Patterns - scalable deployments, resilience, fault tolerance

CI/CD, Monitoring & Collaboration

  • CI/CD - GitHub Actions, automated testing and deployments
  • Monitoring & Observability - logging, metrics, tracing, error tracking
  • Version Control - Git, pull requests, code reviews
  • Collaboration - working effectively in cross-functional agile teams

Extra dose of awesome if you have...

  • Experience with event-driven systems (Kafka, SNS/SQS, etc.)
  • Exposure to GraphQL or gRPC
  • Experience building SaaS platforms with multi-tenant architectures
  • Knowledge of security best practices and compliance requirements
  • Familiarity with AI/ML data pipelines or analytics platforms

#LI-Onsite

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