Optimal Dynamics · 3 months ago
Principal Software Engineer, Backend
United States
Full-time
Remote
Lead/Staff
$200K/yr - $240K/yrOptimal Dynamics is a high-growth company focused on redefining logistics decisions through innovative freight and transportation planning solutions. The Principal Software Engineer, Backend will lead the architecture and strategy of the platform infrastructure, ensuring reliability, performance, and security while mentoring engineers and collaborating with product and engineering teams.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)LogisticsMachine LearningSaaSSoftwareSupply Chain ManagementTransportation
Responsibilities
Design, implement, and scale core infrastructure to ensure reliability, performance, and security
Build and improve tooling, CI/CD pipelines, and workflows, optimizing developer productivity and minimizing friction
Champion security-by-design principles, implementing controls that safeguard systems and data without slowing innovation
Serve as a technical leader across teams, coaching engineers, and driving alignment on platform strategy
Partner with product and engineering leaders, balancing speed, cost, and resilience in every decision
Qualification
Required
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, or equivalent technical experience
Principal-level expertise in Infrastructure & Platform Engineering
Proven track record of scaling cloud-native systems
Strong Python 3 expertise
Strong AWS expertise
Familiarity with event-driven architectures (Kafka or similar)
Hands-on experience with IaC tools (i.e. Terraform, CloudFormation), observability, monitoring, & incident response
Proven track record of improving DevEx by leveling up tooling, pipelines, & automation
Experience improving monorepo developer workflows (Bazel, Buck, Pants)
Knowledge of compliance frameworks (SOC 2, ISO 27001, etc.) and how to operationalize them
Experience leading security initiatives(i.e. hardening environments; building secure-by-default workflows)
A history of mentoring engineers and shaping technical direction across teams
Preferred
Experience with service mesh/container orchestration (Kubernetes, Istio, etc.)
Background in transportation systems (TMS, ELD) or other complex, mission-critical domains
Experience implementing cost monitoring, forecasting, and optimization strategies to ensure infrastructure efficiency and cloud spend accountability
Benefits
Competitive compensation, including Series C level equity
Health / Dental / Vision 100% covered for employee and 50% for dependents
Life Insurance, with optional supplemental insurance
Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
Health Spending Account (HSA)
401(k) with match
Unlimited PTO (vacation, personal days, sick days, jury duty, military leave, bereavement)
11 Holidays
Paid Parental Leave for all employees
Short-term and Long-term Disability Insurances, and AD&D Insurance
Fitness membership reimbursement
Commuter benefits
Company
Optimal Dynamics
Optimal Dynamics is a SaaS company that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to disrupt the logistics industry.
Founded in 2017
51-200 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Optimal Dynamics has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (1)
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageTotal Funding
$95.8MKey Investors
Koch Disruptive TechnologiesThe Westly GroupBessemer Venture Partners
2025-05-12Series C· $40M
2022-04-14Series B· $33M
2021-05-13Series A· $18.4M
Leadership Team
Daniel Powell
CEO and Founder
Warren Powell
Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer/Professor Emeritus
Recent News
Company data provided by crunchbase