Principal Software Engineer

Cambium Learning Group

. Investigate complex technical problems across applications, codebases, data flows, integrations, dependencies, and operational behavior .

Posted 11/2/2026full-timeRemote • United StatesLeadWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates extensive experience in software engineering with a focus on application architecture, modernization, and technical leadership. Capable of influencing technical direction and developing engineering talent while delivering high-impact production code.

Highest-signal resume keywords

10+ Years Software Engineering ExperiencePHP DevelopmentMySQL Database ManagementJava ProgrammingApplication Architecture Skills

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Software DevelopmentTechnical LeadershipProblem InvestigationSystem IntegrationModernization ApproachesAPI DevelopmentData ModelingTechnical JudgmentCode ReviewProduction Code Contribution

Soft Skills

Influencing Without AuthorityCoaching EngineersClear CommunicationProblem-SolvingTradeoff-Making Ability

Tools & Technologies

AI-Assisted Development ToolsVideo Conferencing ToolsNote-Taking Tools

Industry Keywords

Education TechnologyTechnical DebtIncremental ModernizationArchitectural EvolutionSensitive Data ManagementPrivacy and SecurityIntegrated Customer Experiences

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

JavaMS SQL ServerMySQLPHPSQL

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Investigate complex technical problems across applications, codebases, data flows, integrations, dependencies, and operational behavior
Turn ambiguous engineering problems into clear problem statements, options, tradeoffs, and recommended approaches
Make technical decisions balancing complexity, risk, customer value, cost, maintainability, team capacity, and future product needs
Contribute meaningful production code and take direct responsibility for high-impact technical work
Own or contribute to projects, features, migrations, prototypes, architectural changes, and difficult engineering investigations
Work at both architecture and implementation levels
Partner with architects and product engineering leaders to evolve a mature Literacy product
Identify architectural constraints and technical debt affecting engineering effectiveness or future capabilities
Recommend and execute appropriate modernization approaches, including incremental replacement, modularization, API enablement, migration, strangler patterns, or parallel adoption
Help teams decompose significant technical changes into achievable increments
Provide principal-level technical leadership on architectural decisions, novel problems, risky initiatives, and cross-product work
Collaborate with Product and Design to translate product needs into sound technical approaches
Influence technical direction across the Literacy product area and align teams on architecture, integrations, standards, and long-term evolution
Develop senior engineers and technical leads through coaching, design discussions, pairing, implementation, and code review
Improve technical practices, design discussions, standards, documentation, and engineering forums
Use AI-assisted development tools thoughtfully and identify or prototype valuable AI-enabled engineering and product capabilities
Surface risks, explain and defend recommendations, support escalation, and help teams make stronger technical decisions

Requirements

What you’ll need

10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including senior technical leadership on complex software systems
Recent hands-on experience designing, developing, and supporting production systems using PHP, MySQL, Java, and MS SQL Server at a Principal or Staff Engineer level
Exceptional ability to investigate complex technical problems
Strong application architecture skills covering codebases, APIs, data models, integrations, dependencies, failure modes, testing, and operational behavior
Strong technical judgment and pragmatic tradeoff-making ability
Experience evolving mature software systems and navigating long-lived codebases and technical constraints
Experience with modernization or significant system evolution
Recent hands-on software engineering experience and willingness to contribute meaningful production code
Ability to turn ambiguous technical situations into clear problems, options, recommendations, and executable paths
Ability to take strong technical positions, explain reasoning, and influence without formal authority
Experience developing the technical judgment and capabilities of other experienced engineers
Practical fluency with modern AI-assisted software development and understanding of contemporary AI capabilities, limitations, and development patterns
Ability to quickly build and communicate a coherent mental model of a complicated application
Preferred experience in complex application platforms, incremental modernization, migrations, modularization, architectural evolution, system integration, sensitive data, identity, authentication, privacy, security, shared capabilities, integrated customer experiences, education technology, or production AI-enabled capabilities
Reliable cable or fiber-optic broadband internet connection with minimum speeds of 10 Mbps download and 5 Mbps upload if working remotely
Ability to participate in video-based interviews and ongoing virtual meetings with camera on
Note-taking tools, reference materials, and AI-powered tools are prohibited during interviews or selection activities unless prior written approval is obtained

Benefits

Comp & perks

Remote First work environment with flexibility and trust to balance work with life
Home or remote office setup reimbursement
Reliable internet requirement support for remote work
Equal opportunity employment
Reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities