Principal Software Engineer

Principal Software Engineer OpenGov is the leader in AI and ERP solutions for local and state governments in the U.S. More than 2,000 cities, counties, state agencies, school districts, and special districts rely on the OpenGov Public Service Platform to operate efficiently, adapt to change, and strengthen the public trust. Category-leading products include enterprise asset management, procurement and contract management, accounting and budgeting, billing and revenue management, permitting and licensing, and transparency and open data. These solutions come together in the OpenGov ERP, allowing public sector organizations to focus on priorities and deliver maximum ROI with every dollar and decision in sync. Learn about OpenGov’s mission to power more effective and accountable government and the vision of high-performance government for every community at OpenGov.com http://OpenGov.com. JOB SUMMARY: You’ll be the senior-most technical leader on our data platform — the foundation every OpenGov product depends on. Your primary mandate is to define how AI reshapes our platform: from the APIs and services that enable AI-powered product experiences, to the engineering workflows that let your team ship 3–10x faster with AI-assisted development. You’ll own the architecture of systems at scale and set the technical bar for an engineering team that’s operating in an AI-native way. WHAT YOU’LL SHIP: - Architect and build the APIs and services that power OpenGov’s data and reporting platform at scale, with first-class support for AI agent consumption alongside human interfaces - Define and drive the technical strategy for AI integration across the product — from agent-driven workflows and AI-powered data analysis to retrieval-augmented generation over government datasets - Establish AI-augmented engineering practices across your teams: evaluate and adopt AI development tools, define review standards for AI-generated code, and measure the productivity impact - Lead end-to-end delivery of features from design collaboration through production monitoring, using AI-assisted workflows to compress cycle times - Identify performance bottlenecks and architectural choices that unlock the next stage of platform scale - Mentor senior engineers and shape an engineering culture where AI fluency is a core competency, not an optional skill YOU MAY BE A GOOD FIT IF YOU - Have 10+ years building production software, with a clear track record of owning critical systems end-to-end - Have deep experience with distributed systems, API design, and cloud infrastructure (we use AWS, Kubernetes, Docker) - Are fluent across the stack — comfortable in React/TypeScript, Node.js, and relational + non-relational databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis) - Have led technical direction across multiple teams without needing formal authority — you lead through quality of thinking and trust - Have hands-on experience building AI-powered product features: agents, AI-driven UX, workflow automation, or retrieval systems (direct ML/model training experience not required) - Actively use AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or similar) and have a point of view on how they change software engineering practices - Take a product-focused approach: you understand customer problems and translate them into technical solutions, not just tickets - Thrive in a fast-paced, high-growth environment where shipping daily and staying close to customer outcomes is the norm STRONG CANDIDATES MAY ALSO HAVE - Experience designing APIs that serve both human users and AI agents, including context-aware retrieval and structured tool interfaces - Experience with event-driven architectures and stream processing (Kafka preferred) - Background in domain-driven design or serverless scaling strategies - History of working directly with customers to improve product experiences - Previous work in govtech, fintech, or regulated SaaS environments OUR STACK React · T ... (truncated, view full listing at source)