Principal Software Engineer, Backend

The world still has coverage blind spots. You could help eliminate them at Skylo.

Skylo has pioneered a standards-based approach to satellite connectivity. We connect smartphones and IoT devices directly to satellites. No special hardware no entirely new networks. Just billions of existing devices suddenly reachable anywhere on Earth. Were not building toward this future. Were already in it.

Our direct-to-device service is live on millions of activated devices across five continents covering more than 72 million square kilometers in partnership with leading satellite operators mobile network operators Tier-1 chipset makers and OEMs worldwide. And were just getting started.

At the heart of it all is Skylos commercial NTN vRAN: a 3GPP standards-based cloud-native platform that seamlessly bridges terrestrial and satellite networks. Its the infrastructure that makes true anywhere anytime connectivity possible.

When you join Skylo youll work at the intersection of three markets reshaping how the world stays connected: mass-market consumer devices automotive and industrial IoT. Enabling people outdoors and critical workflows in the worlds most remote places.

This is a rare chance to work on technology that matters at a company thats already proving it works

This role is located in Bangalore India where we are onsite 3 days a week in office.

Summary Of How You Will Impact Skylo

As a Principal Software Engineer Backend for the Platform & Cloud Services team you will be a technical cornerstone helping fulfil Skylos mission of making satellite connectivity available to all. This is a senior hands-on Individual Contributor role for an architect-level engineer who is driven by technical excellence and has a passion for mentoring others. You will be a technical authority responsible for driving the architecture design and implementation of our most critical product features and services. This is a technical leadership role requiring both hands-on expertise and management skills

Your influence will extend across multiple functional groups ensuring that our backend platform is scalable resilient and built to the highest standards. You will lead by example setting the bar for engineering quality and guiding teams through complex technical challenges elevating the skills of the entire team.

How You Will Contribute

• Architect and Design: Lead the design and architecture of complex large-scale and distributed backend systems. You will take ownership of critical architecture decisions design patterns and infrastructure choices.

• Drive Technical Strategy: Define and steer the technical strategy for major components and product features working closely with engineering leadership product managers and other key stakeholders.

• Lead Implementation: Own and lead the implementation of large-scale features from initial design and prototyping through to testing and deployment. You will be hands-on solving the most challenging technical problems.

• Champion Engineering Excellence: Drive a culture of high quality and continuous improvement through rigorous code and design reviews. You will champion best practices like clean code scalable design and DevOps maturity.

• Mentor and Advise: Act as a technical advisor and mentor to senior mid-level and junior engineers promoting best practices and elevating the technical skills of the team.

• Ensure Quality and Security: Drive & Define component test scenarios drive API test automation and ensure high code coverage. You will implement and enforce security best practices throughout the software development lifecycle.

• Optimize and Scale: Identify performance bottlenecks and lead initiatives to optimize system performance scalability and reliability.

• Innovate and Evaluate: Evaluate and recommend emerging tools technologies and frameworks to keep our platform modern efficient and innovative.

What We Look For

• Experience: 16 years of progressive experience in software engineering with a strong focus on backend development and the architecture of distributed systems.

• Technical Leadership: A proven track record of technical leadership including owning the design of major features mentoring engineers people management and successfully driving engineering-wide initiatives.

• Backend Expertise: Extensive experience with microservices architecture API design (REST gRPC) and API documentation (Swagger/OpenAPI). Strong expertise in scalable data stores (SQL and NoSQL) caching systems (Redis Memcached) and message queues (Kafka RabbitMQ or Pub/Sub). Deep proficiency in one or more programming languages (e.g. Java Go Python)

• Cloud-Native Fluency: Solid understanding of cloud environments (AWS GCP or Azure). Hands-on experience with containerization (Docker) orchestration (Kubernetes) and building robust CI/CD pipelines (e.g. Jenkins GitLab CI).

• Quality and Observability: Strong knowledge of engineering best practices including automated testing frameworks (e.g. JUnit TestNG). Experience with observability tools for monitoring logging and tracing (e.g. Prometheus Grafana ELK/EFK stack OpenTelemetry).

• Telecommunications domain experience is highly advantageous complemented by a good understanding of 3GPP specifications related to EPC and 5G Core

• Collaboration and Communication: Excellent communication skills with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences. Proven ability to work cross-functionally and influence decisions through technical expertise.

• AI Augmented Development: Every role at Skylo uses AI tools daily to amplify output. We expect active habits using AI tools and a track record of folding new ones into your workflow quickly

• Education: Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science Engineering or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).

What We Offer

With employees working across three continents Skylo is proud to be an equal opportunity employer dedicated to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. Our worldwide and inclusive culture encourages a flexible approach to work and we also offer an attractive range of benefits such as:

• Competitive compensation packages including a stock option-based equity program.

• Comprehensive benefits including medical dental vision and a retirement plan.

• Monthly allowances for wellness and education reimbursement.

• A generous time-off policy holidays and the opportunity to temporarily work abroad.

• A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of developing and running the worlds first commercial live direct-to-device satellite network and service.

• Access to a world-class team and talent across tech domains: software hardware chipsets telecom satellite and network virtualization.

• An open transparent and inclusive culture that blends Silicon Valley Nordic and South Asia characteristics.

EEO Statement

Skylo is an equal-opportunity employer and we celebrate diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race religion color ancestry national origin caste sex sexual orientation parent or caregiver status political affiliation gender gender identity or expression age disability medical condition pregnancy genetic makeup marital status or military service consistent with applicable federal state and local laws. We are also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. Please let us know if you need assistance or accommodation due to a disability.

Required Experience:

Staff IC