Ministry Brands is looking for a Principal Software Engineerto join our growing team!

Who we are

Ministry Brands is a leading provider of SaaS operational management systems, payments platforms, digital engagement tools and background screening solutions for faith-based, non-profit and for-profit organizations. We serve more than 95,000 customers as a trusted partner in digital transformation and enablement – advancing missions, driving efficiencies, and building engaged communities for more than four decades. The diverse and real-world experiences of our team members serving their communities makes us stronger together and enhances our ability to advance digital transformation for the greater good.   

Ministry Brands is committed to acknowledging and valuing our employee differences and to creating an environment in which every individual’s unique strengths and abilities are developed and valued. Our employees share in the responsibility for creating this environment and demonstrate mutual respect and acceptance in the workplace. We welcome everyone and are dedicated to creating a culture where all our employees have equal opportunity to be heard and reach their full potential.  

Available Location:Milton, GA

Hybrid Working:Team members are expected to come into the Alpharetta office as needed, based on business requirements and team collaboration needs. There is no fixed minimum number of in-office days; instead, attendance will be determined by project demands, meetings, and manager guidance. Any changes to your primary work location should follow the appropriate process as outlined in our handbook.

What You'll Do:

As aPrincipal Software Engineer, you will serve as one of the organization's most senior technical leaders, responsible for defining the long-term technical vision and architecture of our background screening platform. You will drive engineering excellence across multiple teams, influence product strategy through technology, and ensure our software solutions are scalable, secure, resilient, and maintainable.

You will partner closely with Product Management, Engineering Leadership, Security, Architecture, and DevOps to solve complex business problems while mentoring engineers and establishing engineering best practices.

This role combines deep hands-on software engineering with technical leadership, architectural decision-making, and cross-functional influence.

Key Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership

Define and drive the technical vision, architecture, and engineering standards across multiple applications and services.
Lead the design of scalable, secure, cloud-native solutions using modern PHP/LAMP technologies and AWS.
Make architectural decisions that improve performance, reliability, maintainability, scalability, and security.
Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend adoption strategies that improve engineering effectiveness and business outcomes.
Serve as the highest level technical escalation point for complex engineering challenges.
Drive technical roadmaps that align engineering investments with business objectives.

Software Engineering

Design, develop, and maintain enterprise-grade applications using PHP, modern PHP frameworks, Linux, Apache/Nginx, MySQL, JavaScript, and related web technologies.
Lead modernization initiatives including application refactoring, cloud migration, monolith decomposition, framework upgrades, and technical debt reduction.
Develop highly available cloud applications utilizing AWS services including EC2, ECS, Lambda, RDS/Aurora, S3, ElastiCache, SQS, SNS, CloudFront, and related AWS technologies.
Optimize database performance through schema design, indexing strategies, query optimization, caching, and database architecture.
Develop highly testable, maintainable, and reusable software components.
Ensure software solutions meet performance, reliability, compliance, and security requirements.

Engineering Excellence

Champion engineering best practices including clean architecture, SOLID principles, Domain-Driven Design, API-first development, and secure coding standards.
Establish and improve development standards, coding guidelines, testing strategies, and deployment processes.
Lead architecture reviews, code reviews, design reviews, and technical planning sessions.
Drive improvements in automated testing, observability, monitoring, and application performance.
Guide CI/CD strategy utilizing modern CI/CD platforms and Git-based development workflows.
Continuously improve build and release pipelines to increase deployment reliability and speed.
Promote Infrastructure as Code and automated AWS infrastructure provisioning using technologies such as Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, or AWS CDK.

Cross-Functional Leadership

Partner with Product Management to translate business objectives into scalable technical solutions.
Collaborate with Engineering Managers to prioritize technical investments and platform improvements.
Influence technical decisions across multiple engineering teams.
Communicate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Balance short-term delivery with long-term architectural sustainability.

Mentorship & Talent Development

Mentor senior, mid-level, and junior engineers through coaching, code reviews, pair programming, and architecture guidance.
Foster a culture of engineering excellence, innovation, ownership, and continuous learning.
Help establish career development paths and technical competency standards.
Lead technical knowledge sharing through presentations, documentation, and architecture discussions.

Operational Excellence

Lead incident response and root cause analysis for critical production issues.
Improve platform observability, monitoring, alerting, and operational readiness.
Ensure applications meet reliability, scalability, security, and availability goals.
Promote automation across development, deployment, testing, and infrastructure.

Who You Are:

Passionate about software engineering and building technology that supports purpose-driven organizations.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
10+ years of professional software engineering experience.
5+ years designing enterprise-scale distributed systems and cloud-native applications.
Ability to use flowcharts, sequence diagrams, architecture diagrams, and other documentation tools.
Demonstrated experience serving as a technical lead, staff engineer, principal engineer, or software architect.
Expert-level proficiency with:
- PHP
- Modern PHP frameworks such as Laravel or Symfony
- Linux
- Apache and/or Nginx
- MySQL / Amazon Aurora MySQL
- HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- RESTful APIs and web services
Extensive experience designing cloud-native applications in AWS.
Deep expertise with AWS services including EC2, ECS, Lambda, RDS/Aurora, S3, ElastiCache, SQS, SNS, CloudFront, IAM, Secrets Manager, CloudWatch, and related AWS services.
Strong experience with containerized application development and deployment using Docker and AWS ECS/EKS or similar technologies.
Strong experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and DevOps best practices.
Advanced knowledge of Git workflows and version control strategies.
Experience designing RESTful APIs, service-oriented architectures, and distributed systems.
Strong understanding of application security, authentication, authorization, IAM, encryption, secrets management, and secure coding practices.
Experience designing highly available, fault-tolerant, horizontally scalable systems.
Expertise with automated testing including unit, integration, API, and end-to-end testing.
Strong understanding of software design patterns and architectural principles.
Experience with caching, asynchronous processing, queues, and event-driven architectures.
Exceptional communication, collaboration, and leadership skills.
Proven ability to influence technical direction across multiple teams.

Desired Skills:

Professional experience using development environments and tools such as VS Code, PHPStorm, and command-line Linux development tools.
Experience administering, troubleshooting, and optimizing Linux-based web application environments.
Experience with Laravel, Symfony, or similar modern PHP frameworks.
Experience with AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, and Infrastructure as Code technologies.
Experience with Docker and container orchestration technologies such as ECS, EKS, or Kubernetes.
Experience with Redis/ElastiCache, message queues, and asynchronous processing.
Experience with Terraform, CloudFormation, or AWS CDK.
Experience with observability and application performance monitoring using CloudWatch and related monitoring platforms.
Excellent verbal and written communication, organization, and follow-up skills.
Office 365 experience | Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook.
Strong relationship-building skills.
Ability to work both individually and as a team member.
Ability to work effectively and accurately within a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
Strong coaching and communication skills.
Experience in the Fintech industry is a plus.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
Experience in SaaS or technology industry, preferred.

Physical Considerations:

Ability to work efficiently and be productive in a remote work environment
Ability to handle extended periods of computer-based work, and collaborate with team via Microsoft Teams, Zoom and other meeting technologies

Travel Considerations:

Domestic and/or international travel required, estimated up to 5%

Benefit offerings designed to promote a life of balance!  
 

At Ministry Brands, we recognize that your career is just one important piece of your dynamic life. We offer a robust range of benefit offerings designed to cultivate a lifestyle of balance and personal success. 
 
Robust healthcare options– Employees have several healthcare options to choose from in order to find what works best for them. 

Flexible paid time off –There is no perfect, one size fits all balance between work and home. We provide flexible work schedules, PTO for vacation, and up to 80 hours of paid sick/safe leave. We also feature 11.5 days of fully paid holidays!  

Invest in your future –Ministry Brands matches 100% of your 401(k) contributions, dollar-for-dollar, up to 3%. Contribute 3%, and we add another 3%. It's well-earned money working toward your retirement from day one.

Paid parental leave– Adding a new child to the family is a big adjustment! We provide the time and income to allow parents to adjust to their new normal in the healthiest way possible.  

Mental health support–Ministry Brands is a stigma free company with the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Associates are supported through an Employee Assistance Program which provides access to in-person or virtual counseling at no cost.  

Professional development reimbursement–Ministry Brands aims to support your professional development and empower you to drive your career by providing financial assistance to our associates seeking to further their education and career.

Employee Recognition & Rewards -At Ministry Brands, we use Nectar to celebrate achievements and strengthen our culture of recognition. This social platform empowers employees to send meaningful kudos, award points redeemable for rewards, and highlight contributions that exemplify our values. Through Nectar, we foster engagement and appreciation while providing tangible ways to recognize great work.

Ministry Brands is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

About the company

Ministry Brands provides cloud-based software and services tailored for faith-based organizations across North America. It offers an integrated suite of tools to handle church operations, including financial administration, member management, online giving and donation processing, and website creation and hosting. The products are delivered as software-as-a-service (SaaS) with ongoing support and consulting, enabling churches, ministries, and other religious groups to manage their administrative tasks from a single platform. Ministry Brands differentiates itself by consolidating multiple software brands under one umbrella to offer a broad portfolio of specialized tools designed for faith-based clients. Its goal is to help churches and ministries run their operations more efficiently so they can focus more on their core ministry activities.

Company Size

201-500

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Alpharetta, Georgia

Founded

2012

Get referred to Ministry Brands

See people who can refer or advise you

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

June 2026 Milton headquarters anchors hiring around Atlanta's growing faith-tech talent pool.
AvidXchange embedded payments deepens switching costs across Shelby Financials and Accounting customers.
August 2026 executive hires strengthen finance, legal, and security during AI rollout.

What critics are saying

A single payment outage or breach would hit donations, payroll, and trust immediately.
Brett Bowman started in August 2026; CFO transition risks execution during platform expansion.
Pushy AI sermon tools alienate pastors if competitors like Planning Center move faster.

What makes Ministry Brands unique

Amplify unifies giving, accounting, websites, streaming, and member data in one login.
Ministry Brands serves 90,000 churches and nonprofits, processing $6.45 billion annually.
Equip adds ministry-specific AI with theological guardrails and no public-model training.

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Benefits

Robust healthcare options
Flexible Paid Time Off
Paid parental leave
Mental health support
Professional development reimbursement
Employee Recognition & Rewards

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

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Corporate Compliance Insights

Sep 4th, 2026

GRC news roundup: LexisNexis, intapp, Legora, 6lock, winston Taylor & more.

GRC news roundup: LexisNexis, intapp, Legora, 6lock, winston Taylor & more. GRC technology is one of the fastest-growing segments in enterprise software, and compliance professions are rapidly evolving. Here's the latest from across the industry. New products & platforms. Business and legal intelligence provider LexisNexis launched new agentic capabilities in Lexis+ with Protégé, enabling legal professionals to move from first idea to review-ready work product in one AI experience. 6lock, a payment platform, released same-day distributions, a new workflow that enables private equity firms to create, fund and complete an LP distribution in a single day. Legal and compliance executive search firm BarkerGilmore launched Leader Exchange, a confidential, professionally facilitated peer-advisory experience designed to help in-house legal leaders navigate the leadership demands. Numeracle, identity management software maker, announced general availability of corporate KYCaaS (Know Your Customer as a Service), a business identity verification and Know Your Business (KYB) platform to determine whether a business is real. Partnerships & integrations. Intapp, the governed AI platform, and Legora, the collaborative AI platform for lawyers, announced a partnership to deliver governed, AI-native workflows for law firms. Personnel. Winston Taylor announced that John D. Mitchell, a former assistant US attorney in the Northern District of Illinois and senior attorney in the SEC's Enforcement Division, has joined the firm's Chicago office as a partner in its investigations & white-collar defense practice. The law firm also announced John Thornburgh, former assistant chief of the DOJ Antitrust Division's Chicago office, as a partner in the antitrust & competition practice. Harneys announced the appointment of Annabelle Jules as global director of business acceptance and compliance; she's based in the firm's London office. Ministry Brands, a church management software and fintech provider, announced the appointments of Chris Schmidt as SVP and head of product management and product design and Adam Ehret as SVP of information technology and security.

Global Legal Post

Aug 19th, 2026

US church management software provider Ministry Brands hires GC from Reach.

US church management software provider Ministry Brands hires GC from Reach. Chris Wassenaar replaces Renee McDonough, who joined One Identity in May 19 August 2026 Chris Wassenaar US church management software provider Ministry Brands has hired Chris Wassenaar as general counsel, replacing Renee McDonough who left in May. Wassenaar joins from digital record keeping business Reach, where he was chief legal and compliance officer. At Ministry Brands, he will lead the company's legal affairs function. Atlanta-based Ministry Brands supports more than 90,000 churches and non-profit organisations with member and donor management software, including digital giving, accounting, websites, apps and other tech services. Its platform facilitates more than $6.45bn in charitable giving annually. The company said it had also hired Brett Bowman as chief financial officer. Advertisement Chris Bacon, CEO of Ministry Brands, said: "Brett and Chris are accomplished professionals whose experience and track records would have afforded them no shortage of opportunities, so I am delighted to welcome them both to Ministry Brands. "What makes our work different is the opportunity to apply world-class expertise in service of something bigger. Brett and Chris both understand and connect deeply with that purpose, and we're thrilled to add their leadership to a team equally committed to business excellence and meaningful impact." Wassenaar joins after just under a year and a half at Reach, having previously been GC and chief compliance officer at Plooto for roughly the same amount of time. He also had spells at Versapay as GC and chief risk and compliance officer, and 2Checkout, also as GC and chief risk and compliance officer. Prior to that he was GC at PowerPlan, Liaison Technology and Brightree, and had in-house roles at SunTrust Bank and MCI Telecommunications. He started his career in private practice at Davidson Fuller & Sloan. LAW OVER BORDERS COMPARATIVE GUIDES Merger Control Law Guide As cross-border merger control becomes increasingly complex, navigating multiple competition regimes is critical to transaction planning... | 1mo. McDonough, meanwhile, left in May to join identity security business One Identity. She spent just under three years at Ministry Brands, having previously been GC at fintech start-up GRUBBRR and GC at agriculture data business AGDATA. Earlier in her career she held in-house counsel roles at Boston Scientific, Publicis Sapient, A.W. Chesterton Company and Pan Am Railways. In other recent tech-related moves, last month US quantum computing business Quantinuum appointed Robin Schulman as chief legal officer from software company GitLab.

Church Stacks

Aug 19th, 2026

Ministry Brands strengthens leadership with new CFO and General Counsel.

Ministry Brands strengthens leadership with new CFO and General Counsel. Church software provider Ministry Brands names Brett Bowman as CFO and Chris Wassenaar as general counsel, signaling growth and stability. ChurchStacks August 19, 2026 Ministry Brands, a major provider of church management software used by thousands of US churches, announced the hiring of Brett Bowman as Chief Financial Officer and Chris Wassenaar as General Counsel. Wassenaar was previously with Reach, a healthcare technology company. These leadership appointments represent significant moves for the company's executive team. Why It Matters If your church uses Ministry Brands software for giving, attendance, or member management, leadership stability matters. New CFO and legal leadership typically signal a company's commitment to compliance, security, and sustainable growth - all critical for vendors handling your church's financial and member data. Strong executive leadership also influences product roadmap and customer support quality. The Takeaway If you're evaluating or currently using Ministry Brands, take this as a positive sign of institutional strength and investment in their platform's future.

Associated Press

Jul 13th, 2026

Ministry Brands launches AI platform Equip to support pastors through complete sermon lifecycle

Ministry Brands has launched Equip, an AI platform designed to support pastors through the complete sermon lifecycle. The platform features over 120 purpose-built tools for sermon preparation, content development, and distribution across digital channels. Available as a module within Ministry Brands' Amplify platform, Equip addresses the challenge pastors face in managing content creation across multiple platforms. Sermon preparation typically requires 10 to 15 hours weekly, leaving limited time for ministry work. The platform includes ministry-specific workflows, theological guardrails, and data protections ensuring church content isn't used to train public AI models. It enables churches to transform sermons into various content formats and languages whilst maintaining pastoral control over message and theological integrity. Ministry Brands currently serves more than 55,000 churches and manages over $6.45 billion in charitable giving annually.

Church Stacks

Jul 13th, 2026

New AI platform helps pastors develop sermons from start to finish.

New AI platform helps pastors develop sermons from start to finish. Ministry Brands launches AI tool designed to support pastors through the entire sermon creation and delivery process. ChurchStacks July 13, 2026 Ministry Brands has launched a new AI platform built specifically for the complete sermon lifecycle, helping pastors from initial preparation through final delivery. The tool is designed to streamline sermon development, a task that often consumes significant time for busy church leaders. Why It Matters Sermon prep is one of the most time-intensive parts of pastoral ministry. Many small-to-mid-size church pastors are wearing multiple hats - they're often handling administration, counseling, and community outreach alongside preaching. An AI tool that can assist with research, outline development, and even delivery suggestions could free up hours each week for other critical ministry work. This is especially valuable for bivocational pastors or those in smaller congregations with limited staff support. The Takeaway If your sermon preparation process is eating into time you'd rather spend on pastoral care or leadership, explore how AI sermon tools might fit into your workflow.

Ministry Brands

Principal Software Engineer - Background Screening Platform

About the job

About the company

Get referred to Ministry Brands

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

What critics are saying

What makes Ministry Brands unique

Benefits

Growth & Insights and Company News

6 month growth

1 year growth

2 year growth