Principal Engineer

About ShiftKey

ShiftKey is a platform that is disrupting the way healthcare facilities find licensed and certified professionals to fill available shifts. Leveraging marketplace dynamics and deep industry knowledge, the company is playing a vital role in mitigating America's healthcare staffing shortages, enabling direct connections between facilities and healthcare professionals. By offering the opportunity to work as much or as little as they choose and putting the power back into the hands of healthcare workers, ShiftKey is bringing more licensed professionals back into the workforce, a solution that is solving a major crisis in healthcare. For more information, visit www.ShiftKey.com.

The role

We're looking for a Principal Engineer to lead the evolution of our platform as we transition from a monolithic codebase to a modern, service-oriented architecture. Your decisions will define how we scale over the next 5 years, influencing everything from system design to engineering culture.

• Own the architecture and delivery of core backend systems using modern, service-oriented design patterns.
• Lead the migration from a monolith to a microservices-based platform, guiding both technical execution and cultural adoption.
• Establish engineering standards for Node.js, MongoDB, Kafka, AWS, Docker, and Kubernetes, ensuring they scale with the business.
• Collaborate with engineering squads, leadership, and the business to shape the technical roadmap and evaluate trade-offs for long-term success.
• Mentor engineers across squads, growing their architecture and design skills while embedding quality and scalability into our culture.
• Influence cross-functional initiatives, from DevOps integration to platform reliability to developer experience improvements.
• Stay connected to code while shaping systems holistically - you're not expected to do all the coding, but you're comfortable diving into critical paths when needed.

• 10+ years of backend software engineering experience, including at least 2+ years in staff, principal, or architect-level roles.
• Demonstrated experience designing and evolving distributed systems and leading large-scale technical migrations (e.g., monolith to microservices).
• Strong proficiency in Node.js and production experience with MongoDB, Kafka, and cloud platforms (AWS preferred).
• Experience operating within Docker/Kubernetes-based environments at scale.
• Ability to influence cross-team direction, mentor senior engineers, and drive consensus on complex trade-offs.
• Comfortable communicating architecture to diverse audiences - from hands-on devs to senior executives.
• Passion for scalable design, performance tuning, and thoughtful abstraction - you think like a systems builder.

• A high-growth, friendly, and engaging work environment with opportunities for career development.
• Additional vacation days for better work-life balance.
• Modern office in Warsaw's Powiśle district with Vistula River views, recreational facilities, and great nearby restaurants.
• Thoughtfully designed private medical package to take care of what matters most.
• Sports card to fuel your active lifestyle.
• Life and accident insurance for peace of mind.