A

American Bureau of Shipping

Maritime classification, certification, and advisory services

Principal Software Engineer - Software

Full-Time
No salary listed
Expert
Bachelor's
Houston, TX, USA+1 moreMore locations: Knoxville, TN, USA
In Person
Software EngineeringFull-Stack Engineering

About the job

Requirements
  • A degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
  • Approximately 10 or more years of relevant software engineering experience, including substantial hands-on delivery of production web or SaaS applications.
  • Experience serving as a technical lead for a product team or major application area, including design decisions, code review, mentoring, and delivery accountability.
  • Demonstrated experience building modern user-facing applications, APIs, and integrations across front-end and back-end systems.
  • Experience deploying and supporting applications in a cloud environment.
  • Experience using AI-assisted development tools in real engineering workflows, including explaining how generated work was reviewed, tested, and maintained.
  • Strong TypeScript, HTML, and CSS skills.
  • Experience with .NET, or strong Go, Python, Node.js, or Java API experience.
  • Experience with PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB, or comparable relational or NoSQL stores.
  • Experience with Azure and Microsoft Entra ID, or equivalent production cloud and enterprise single sign-on experience.
  • Experience with automated testing, Git-based collaboration, CI/CD, application observability, secure coding, and containerized deployment.
  • Ability to use coding agents responsibly and evaluate their output.
  • Strong command of full-stack application design, API contracts, system integration, data access, and maintainable service-based architecture.
  • Ability to lead engineers through ambiguity, make pragmatic technical tradeoffs, and align implementation with validated product and UX decisions.
  • Judgment to use AI for engineering leverage without delegating accountability for design quality, security, testing, or correctness.
  • Understanding of application security, identity and access control, protection of customer data, and reliable operation of production SaaS services.
  • Ability to work effectively with product, UX, platform, SRE, data, and AI specialists while maintaining clear ownership of application engineering decisions.
  • Strong communication and mentoring skills, including explaining technical risks and options to non-engineering stakeholders.
Responsibilities
  • Lead technical design and hands-on development of FMS application features, including role-based user interfaces, APIs, business services, and integrations.
  • Work with product managers, UX designers, legacy-system subject matter experts, and customers to translate operational workflows and prototype feedback into buildable designs and acceptance criteria.
  • Guide engineers on application architecture, service boundaries, data access patterns, and reuse of shared platform capabilities; document consequential design decisions.
  • Break work into well-scoped tasks and direct AI-assisted engineering workflows, including code generation, refactoring, test creation, and documentation, while applying human review and verification to every production change.
  • Establish and model engineering practices for code review, automated unit and integration testing, secure development, CI/CD, and maintainable software delivery.
  • Integrate application features with approved AI/ML or LLM-based services where there is a validated user need, including appropriate authorization, monitoring, and human oversight.
  • Partner with platform engineering and SRE to make applications observable, performant, resilient, deployable, and supportable in production.
  • Contribute to integration and migration designs so new capabilities can coexist with legacy systems and customer data can transition safely as releases mature.
  • Mentor engineers and contractors, review designs and pull requests, resolve complex technical issues, and raise the quality of delivery across the team.
  • Participate in release readiness, production troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and continuous improvement of the AI-enabled software development lifecycle.
  • Comply with applicable security, quality, Health, Safety, and Environmental requirements and other internal policies.
Desired Qualifications
  • Azure experience is preferred.
  • React is preferred; substantial Svelte/SvelteKit, Vue, or Angular experience is also relevant.
  • Experience with mobile or intermittent-connectivity workflows, particularly for operational or field-based users, is a plus.
  • Experience with event-driven services, Kafka, Redis, or object storage is a plus.
  • Experience integrating LLM, RAG, or other AI-enabled services into applications is preferred.

About the company

A

American Bureau of Shipping

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ABS is a maritime classification society that provides classification, certification, and technical advisory services for ships and offshore assets to ensure safety and compliance. It sets safety and environmental standards, conducts surveys and inspections, and issues approvals and certificates for vessels, manufacturers, and service suppliers across the asset lifecycle. A global team from 200+ offices in 70 countries performs asset performance, energy and environmental reviews, and lifecycle management, while collaborating with governments and industry on guidance and decarbonization efforts. Its 160-year history, non-profit mandate within IACS, and emphasis on safety and environmental protection distinguish it from many competitors, guiding customers toward safe, efficient, and low-emission operations.

Company Size

5,001-10,000

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Spring, Texas

Founded

1862

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • ABS signed a September 3, 2026 MOU with JB Energy for Brazilian floating wind.
  • ABS issued Fleetzero's battery system assessment on August 11, 2026, boosting electrification credibility.
  • ABS-backed TMV Logistics launched a $200 million maritime fund on May 26, 2026.

What critics are saying

  • DNV, Lloyd's Register, and Bureau Veritas still outrank ABS on installed fleet relationships.
  • ABS's Korea-U.S. shipbuilding push depends on 2026 subsidy politics and yard execution.
  • One class failure on ammonia, hydrogen, or nuclear approval would shred trust overnight.

What makes American Bureau of Shipping unique

  • ABS is an IACS member with 200 offices across 70 countries.
  • ABS combines classification, cyber consulting, and risk services after acquiring RMC Global in April 2026.
  • ABS leads frontier approvals for nuclear, floating data centers, ammonia, and hydrogen designs in 2026.

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Benefits

  • Hybrid Work Options

Growth & Insights and Company News

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

1%

2 year growth

8%
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