The Principal Engineer will architect and build scalable payments applications, mentor engineers, and collaborate on technology solutions while ensuring code quality and best practices.
VGS is the world's leader in payment tokenization. Large banks, aspiring fintechs, and growing merchants embed our universal token vault into their technology stack to manage the complexities of payment data tokenization across processors and networks, open banking, card issuance, omnichannel loyalty, PCI compliance, payment orchestration, and more. We empower our clients and partners by tokenizing sensitive payment data, limiting compliance scope, and consolidating payments to unlock revenue and business opportunities.
VGS provides processor-agnostic tokenization solutions via secure universal token vaults, iframes, mobile SDKs, tokenization proxies, APIs, and data orchestration tooling to support payment acceptance, card issuance, PII and bank account tokenization, and other payments value-added services. Some of the use cases we enable include multi-processor Network Tokenization, Account Updater, payment orchestration, secure settlement file processing, 3DS, and Risk provider connectivity.
We are looking for a well-versed, passionate Principal Engineer, who wants to play a key role in architecting and building highly available, reliable and scalable payments applications. This position will directly report to the Sr. Director of Engineering.
We’re seeking individuals with an equal flair for creative problem solving, enthusiasm for new technologies, and desire to contribute to our product. You will likely be successful in this role if you identify with the following traits: attention to detail, problem solver, customer oriented, versatile, resilient and confident. If all of this sounds interesting to you, we’d love to hear from you.
What you will be doing at VGS…
- Collaborate and communicate with Payments Engineering teams to design, develop, and champion best-practices, patterns and standards for all payments applications.
- Work closely with our CTO and other architects to create holistic technology solutions for our customers. This requires an equal part collaboration with the product management and engineering management.
- Be part of the Tech Leads group, driving measurable outcomes and iterative delivery strategy, removing roadblocks, empowering others, and mentoring high-potential engineers.
- Produce clear, detailed and actionable design documents, architecture blueprints, architectural decisions with context, decision and tradeoffs.
- Be involved in hands-on development of proof-of-concepts, prototypes, and real production-ready code.
- Mentor engineers on architecture best practices and standards.
- Engage in all phases of the software lifecycle- design, implement, test, deploy, and support services in production.
- Maintain a culture of code quality through rigorous testing, automation, and code reviews.
- Be proactive and innovative- we rely on your feedback to build a world-class product.
- Be a part of a team that believes in the core values of transparency, collaboration, grit, and humility; in going above and beyond what is required in order to do the right thing for our customers and the company; and in having fun while doing all this!
What we are looking for from you (Requirements)...
- 12+ years experience in software architecture, design and development in a Cloud SaaS environment.
- Extensive experience in building highly available, reliable and scalable SaaS applications/platforms.
- Strong experience in building backend API specs, mocks, and service implementations.
- Solid understanding of cloud-native architecture, microservices, CI/CD (GitHub Actions, Argo), GitOps, Authentication and Authorization, APIs and API Gateway, Docker, Kubernetes (EKS), Kafka (MSK), Java, Spring Framework, Python, and AWS services.
- Strong experience in Observability solutions using Grafana and Open Telemetry.
- Hands-on experience in DevOps, SRE, Configuration Management, and Release Management.
- Experience with payments technologies and ecosystem (card networks, PSP integration) is highly preferred
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
What you get from us...
• Flexible work hours and flexible PTO
• Competitive health benefits
• VGS stock options
• 401k plan, with employer matching 4% and immediate vesting (available only for US employees)
• Life & disability insurance
• Pre-tax flexible spending accounts, dependent and healthcare FSA (available only for US employees)
• Global parental leave program
• Employee Assistance Program
• Home Internet reimbursement
• New hire home office set-up allowance
• Professional learning reimbursement
At VGS, we have a remote-first philosophy because we believe flexibility leads to great work and a healthy work-life balance. That said, if you live within 30 miles of one of our office locations, you’ll be on a hybrid schedule with some in-person time—because we know there’s real value in coming together.
We’re not about being in the office every day—but we are about connection, collaboration, and the energy that comes from a great brainstorm, a team lunch, or celebrating a big win in person.
We consider applicants without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, marital status, physical or mental disability, or other protected classes under all local, state, and federal laws and ordinances (AA/EOE/W/M/Vet/Disabled).
Qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for the position in accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.
Visa Sponsorship. The Company does not provide visa sponsorship for this role. Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States at the time of hire and throughout their employment. Individuals with temporary visas such as E, F-1 (including those with OPT or CPT), H-1, H-2, L-1, B, J, or TN, or who need sponsorship for work authorization now or in the future, are not eligible.
Please note we are currently only hiring in the following states...
California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and Washington
Top Skills
APIs
Argo
AWS
Ci/Cd
Cloud Saas
Docker
Github Actions
Grafana
Java
Kafka
Kubernetes
Microservices
Open Telemetry
Python
Spring Framework
Similar Jobs
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • Consumer Web • Productivity • Software • App development • Data Privacy
Lead technical vision and execution for enterprise AI, data, and automation initiatives. Architect and deliver scalable AI systems, data pipelines, and intelligent services; mentor engineers; drive cross-functional alignment, risk mitigation, and operational excellence; prototype solutions and influence org-wide strategy to maximize business impact.
Top Skills:
Ai,Machine Learning,Automation,Data Analytics,Data Visualization,Distributed Training,Natural Language Processing (Nlp),Search,Personalization,Data Pipelines,Data Engineering,Python,Java,Go,Scala,Ci,Automated Testing,Infrastructure,Internal Tooling
Aerospace
Lead design, development, integration, and deployment of advanced radio and antenna systems for a high-throughput satellite network. Provide technical leadership across system lifecycle, manage multiple projects, ensure regulatory compliance, drive R&D and innovation, and communicate progress to executive leadership.
Top Skills:
Esa),Project Management ToolsRf Systems,Antenna Design,Radio Systems,Satellite Communications,Communication Protocols,Space Communication Standards (Nasa
Blockchain • eCommerce • Fintech • Payments • Software • Financial Services • Cryptocurrency
As a Staff/Principal Machine Learning Engineer, you'll build and maintain ML models for credit products, design decision frameworks, and run experiments to ensure model performance. You'll work across the full modeling lifecycle and collaborate with various teams to align credit risk assessments with business goals.
Top Skills:
AWSClaude CodeCopilotCursorGCPGitLightgbmMlflowNumpyPandasPythonPyTorchScikit-LearnSnowflakeSQLXgboost
What you need to know about the Los Angeles Tech Scene
Los Angeles is a global leader in entertainment, so it’s no surprise that many of the biggest players in streaming, digital media and game development call the city home. But the city boasts plenty of non-entertainment innovation as well, with tech companies spanning verticals like AI, fintech, e-commerce and biotech. With major universities like Caltech, UCLA, USC and the nearby UC Irvine, the city has a steady supply of top-flight tech and engineering talent — not counting the graduates flocking to Los Angeles from across the world to enjoy its beaches, culture and year-round temperate climate.
Key Facts About Los Angeles Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 375,800; 5.5% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Snap, Netflix, SpaceX, Disney, Google
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, adtech, media, software, game development
- Funding Landscape: $11.6 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Strong Ventures, Fifth Wall, Upfront Ventures, Mucker Capital, Kittyhawk Ventures
- Research Centers and Universities: California Institute of Technology, UCLA, University of Southern California, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, Center for Quantum Science and Engineering
