Why UKG:
At UKG, the work you do matters. The code you ship, the decisions you make, and the care you show a customer all add up to real impact. Today, tens of millions of workers start and end their days with our workforce operating platform. Helping people get paid, grow in their careers, and shape the future of their industries. That's what we do.
We never stop learning. We never stop challenging the norm. We push for better, and we celebrate the wins along the way. Here, you'll get flexibility that's real, benefits you can count on, and a team that succeeds together. Because at UKG, your work matters-and so do you.
About the Team:
We are seeking a highly experienced Principal Software Engineer to join our dynamic team. This role will provide you with the opportunity to work on cutting-edge SaaS technologies and impactful projects that are used by enterprises and users worldwide. You will drive technical strategy, lead large-scale projects, and mentor engineers across the organization. As a Principal Software Engineer, you will be responsible for the design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of highly complex software systems.
About the Role:
Write clean, maintainable, and efficient code for various software applications and systems. Ensure hands-on keyboard involvement in critical projects.
Drive the technical strategy and vision for major projects and initiatives, ensuring alignment with business goals and industry best practices. Communicate complex concepts, anticipate potential objections, and influence others to adopt a point of view.
Lead cross-functional teams to design, develop, and deliver high-impact software projects on time and within budget. Coordinate activities and tasks of other team members and across teams, working independently and needing guidance only in the most complex situations.
Architect, design, and develop complex software systems and applications, ensuring high standards of performance, scalability, and reliability. Collaborate with architects on mid-level and high-level design.
Solve complex issues with innovative solutions, setting precedents as needed. Navigate information, alternatives, and relationships to achieve results. Communicate complex concepts, anticipate objections, and influence adoption of viewpoints.
Impact the achievement of area/group objectives. Develop team policies, procedures, and techniques. Drive prioritization of technical debt, articulating the expected impact and outcomes.
Ensure the health and quality of services and incidents, proactively identifying and addressing issues. Utilize service health indicators and telemetry for action. Conduct thorough root cause analysis and implement measures to prevent future recurrences.
Advocate for and implement best quality practices, hold a high bar for engineering excellence, and guide the team in maintaining service quality through the testing pyramid.
Oversee CI/CD pipelines, ensuring efficient build, test, and deployment phases. Take ownership from working with product management on requirements to designing, developing, testing, deploying, and maintaining software in production.
Build testable software, define tests, participate in the testing process, automate tests using tools (e.g., JUnit, Selenium) and design patterns leveraging the test automation pyramid as the guide.
Conduct comprehensive code reviews, providing constructive feedback and ensuring adherence to best practices.
Conduct design reviews impacting subsystems working with architects to ensure adherence to architectural guardrails.
Provide technical mentorship and guidance, fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement. Mentor junior engineers on taking ownership of the full lifecycle of services and features.
Develop and maintain comprehensive technical documentation for software applications and systems.
Stay current with emerging technologies and industry trends, advocating for their adoption where appropriate to drive innovation and productivity enhancement within the team (e.g., CoPilot).
Collaboration: Execute decisions at a hyper execution phase and collaborate with other teams with similar technologies.
Maintain a deep technical sphere of influence across teams, acting as a role model for engineering behaviors and continuously improving quality.
About You
Basic Qualifications:
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
10+ years of professional software development experience.
Deep expertise in .Net and Javascript as well as database communication, preferably a NoSQL database such as MongoDB.
Familiarity with front-end development using frameworks such as React or Angular. Experience with mobile app development and accessibility is a plus.
Extensive experience with software architecture and design patterns, including the ability to design and implement scalable, reliable systems in a DevOps model.
Demonstrated proficiency in building AI agents and in using AI software development tooling such as Cursor or Claude Code.
Proven track record of leading and delivering large-scale, complex software projects.
Proficiency with cloud technologies like Azure, AWS, GCP, and version control systems like GitHub.
Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail, with a commitment to delivering high-quality software solutions.
Proficiency in building telemetry or observability as part of the development process.
Strong leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and drive technical decisions across the organization.
Company Overview:
UKG is the Workforce Operating Platform that puts workforce understanding to work. With the world's largest collection of workforce insights, and people-first AI, our ability to reveal unseen ways to build trust, amplify productivity, and empower talent, is unmatched. It's this expertise that equips our customers with the intelligence to solve any challenge in any industry - because great organizations know their workforce is their competitive edge. Learn more at ukg.com.
Equal Opportunity Employer
UKG is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, disability, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, genetic information, and other legally protected categories.
View The EEO Know Your Rights poster (https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-10/EEOC\KnowYourRights\screen\reader\10_20.pdf)
UKG participates in E-Verify. View the E-Verify posters here (https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/EVerifyParticipationPoster.pdf) .
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.
Disability Accommodation in the Application and Interview Process
For individuals with disabilities that need additional assistance at any point in the application and interview process, please email UKGCareers@ukg.com
The pay range for this position is $145,600to $209,300, however, base pay offered may vary depending on skills, experience, job-related knowledge and location. This position is also eligible for a short-term incentive and a long-term incentive as part of total compensation. Information about UKG's comprehensive benefits can be reviewed on our careers site at https://www.ukg.com/about-us/careers/benefits
It is the policy of Ultimate Software to promote and assure equal employment opportunity for all current and prospective Peeps without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, veteran status, and any other legally protected status entitled to protection under federal, state, or local anti-discrimination laws. This policy governs all matters related to recruitment, advertising, and initial selection of employment. It shall also apply to all other aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, compensation, promotion, demotion, transfer, lay-offs, terminations, leave of absence, and training opportunities.
