Principal Software Engineer - Platform

WHO WE ARE Most companies are racing to deploy AI, but very few have the foundation to make it work reliably. Atlan is building that missing layer: the context layer for enterprise AI. We connect the business context behind data so humans and agents can operate with far more accuracy and confidence. With backing from world-class investors including GIC, Insight Partners, Meritech, Peak XV, and Salesforce Ventures, we've earned the trust of most AI-forward enterprises like General Motors, Nasdaq, Workday and Elastic. Come build the infrastructure that AI runs on. About the Role Atlan is building the context layer for AI agents and applications - transforming how data platforms power the next generation of AI. We're looking for a Principal Engineer to help architect and scale the foundational data plane that makes it easy to build apps, agents, and solutions for the AI era. You'll work on systems handling billions of assets, serving 100K+ users, with 99.99% availability targets. This is a high-agency role where you'll define technical direction, drive multi-quarter initiatives, and pioneer AI-native development practices. What you will do 🤔 - Design and build platform services - APIs, infrastructure components, runtime systems, and ingestion frameworks at enterprise scale - Architect the context store that transforms lakehouse infrastructure into AI-ready systems with multimodal capabilities (structured, unstructured, vector, graph) - Solve complex multi-tenant isolation and scaling problems for enterprise SaaS - Design data contracts governing ingestion, validation, processing, routing, storage, and serving across heterogeneous systems - Own critical shared infrastructure including lakehouse (Iceberg/Polaris), vector stores, graph databases, and OLTP systems - Drive technical standards through RFCs, architecture reviews, and documentation - Mentor senior engineers and influence architecture decisions across teams - Write production code using AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, Cursor) - Debug distributed systems issues across Kubernetes, workflow orchestration, and microservices What makes you a match? 😍 Must Have - 10+ years in platform engineering, infrastructure, or backend systems at a SaaS company - Experience building enterprise-scale distributed systems at scale - Deep expertise in multi-tenant architectures and tenant isolation strategies - Strong Kubernetes, containerization, and cloud infrastructure skills (AWS/GCP/Azure) - Hands-on experience with distributed systems patterns - service mesh, event-driven architecture, orchestration - Track record of driving multi-quarter technical initiatives from concept through production at scale Strong to Have - Experience designing contract-driven or schema-first data platforms - Familiarity with Temporal or similar workflow orchestration systems - Data quality frameworks, observability systems, and cost attribution at scale - Experience supporting enterprise workloads with strict compliance requirements - CI/CD pipeline design and GitOps practices Who You Are - You embrace AI-native development and want to pioneer new engineering workflows - You have high agency and take ownership of ambiguous problems - You're a strong async communicator who can influence without authority - You're comfortable with fast-changing priorities in a scale-up environment - You act as a force multiplier—elevating the technical bar for those around you WHY ATLAN? Joining Atlan means being part of a global movement to help data teams do their life’s best work. Here’s what you can expect: - Competitive Compensation: We benchmark at the top of the market and keep compensation simple: strong base salary, performance‑based variable pay, and impact‑driven equity (for most roles), so your total rewards grow in step with the value you create over time. - AI Native Culture: Atlan is where AI-native builders come to build the systems the future of work will run on. AI isn’t an add-on, it’s woven int…