Principal Staff Software Engineer

Job Description

Help us build the "System of Action" that supercharges global manufacturing teams.  QAD is entering a high-velocity GTC to architect the world’s first AI-native, agentic Supply Chain. We are moving beyond legacy "systems of record" to build an autonomous platform where humans and AI work as a tag team to redefine how factories operate.  Join us at this pivotal moment to build our next generation platform, lead the next generation of the GTC and turn global speed into strategy.  

Job Description
Ignite Your Future: Strategic Leadership
Are you a distinguished technical leader ready to own the cross-stack architectural vision for an intelligent, adaptive SaaS platform? Sitting directly above our Senior Staff Engineering roles, you will serve as the chief technical authority for our full stack systems. At QAD, we are redefining the supply chain through a single System of Action that connects people, processes, and data. As a Full Stack Technical Architect, you will bridge high-level strategy with hands-on execution—driving architecture across frontend, backend, microservices, and cloud infrastructure while setting technical standards across engineering teams.

The Mission: Defining the Platform's Future
You will be the executive driver in setting the technical north star for the platform, translating the company's business strategy into a multi-year engineering roadmap, and ensuring architectural alignment across all product pillars. You will lead and mentorPrincipal-level engineers, leverage executive-level expertise in highly specialized fields to innovate at scale, and govern the development standards for cloud-native architectures, microservices, and Agile product development across all teams. You will be instrumental in ensuring the platform delivers on its core pillars:

• Adaptive Applications: The intelligent backbone powering the manufacturing enterprise.
• Champion AI: Agentic AI for manufacturing that drives measurable productivity and growth.

Your Impact/ What you will be doing:

• End-to-End System Architecture: Define, govern, and execute the multi-year technical vision and architectural roadmap across the complete application lifecycle—from modern frontends to resilient backend microservices.
• Full Stack Standards & Governance: Establish and enforce enterprise-wide design patterns, API contracts, micro-frontend/microservices blueprints, and code governance standards.
• Hands-on Technical Leadership: Conduct deep design reviews, author architectural decision records (ADRs), resolve systemic performance bottlenecks, and write critical reference code.
• Next-Gen AI & Platform Integration: Architect robust full stack frameworks that support Adaptive Applications and Agentic AI workflows embedded directly into user-facing enterprise applications.
• Cross-Functional & Strategic Alignment: Collaborate with Product Leadership, Engineering Directors, DevOps/SRE, and Senior Staff Engineers to translate complex business objectives into scalable architectures.
• Technical Mentorship & Elevation: Mentor Senior Staff, Principal, and Lead Engineers, setting the technical bar and driving engineering excellence across multiple feature pods.

Core Technical Foundations / What we are looking for

• Frontend Architecture: Advanced mastery of modern web frameworks (React, Angular, or Vue.js), micro-frontends, design systems, state management, and web performance optimization.
• Backend & Microservices: Deep architectural expertise in distributed systems, REST/GraphQL APIs, event-driven designs, and runtimes like Java, Node.js, Python, or Go.
• Data & Cloud Infrastructure: Extensive experience with relational & NoSQL databases, message brokers (Kafka/RabbitMQ), and cloud-native architecture (AWS/GCP/Azure).
• Core Engineering & Governance: Foundational expertise in Data Structures, System Design, Security (OAuth/OIDC), CI/CD automation, and high-availability design

The Mindset:

• Strategic Visionary: Strong conceptual and strategic thinking to understand the most advanced issues and implications, applying this knowledge to define and execute the future direction of the platform. Exercises independent executive judgment in setting organization-wide methods and evaluation criteria.
• Organizational Leader: Demonstrates end-to-end responsibility for the architectural and organizational health of the entire function. Capable of driving complex, multi-year solutions and influencing critical company-wide technology choices.
• Adaptability & Innovation: Eagerness to rapidly assess and strategically adopt cutting-edge technologies that create a competitive advantage.
• Proactive Executive: Takes initiative to anticipate future organizational, technical, and business needs, risks, or improvements without explicit direction, establishing new executive standards where necessary.

Qualifications

Qualifications
Qualifications & Next Steps

• Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• Experience: 14+ years of hands-on software development experience, including 5+ years acting as a Technical Architect or System Architect overseeing multi-team systems.
• Location: On-site technical leadership role based in Pune (3–4 days in-office per week).

Additional Information

• Your health and well being are important to us at QAD. We provide programs that help you strike a healthy work-life balance.
• Opportunity to join a growing business, launching into its next phase of expansion and transformation.
• Collaborative culture of smart and hard-working people who support one another to get the job done.
• An atmosphere of growth and opportunity, where idea-sharing is always prioritized over level or hierarchy.
• Compensation packages based on experience and desired skill set

About QAD:

QAD | Redzone is redefining manufacturing and supply chains through its intelligent, adaptive platform that connects people, processes, and data into a single System of Action. With three core pillars — Redzone (frontline empowerment), Adaptive Applications (the intelligent backbone), and Champion AI (Agentic AI for manufacturing) — QAD | Redzone helps manufacturers operate with Champion Pace, achieving measurable productivity, resilience, and growth in just 90 days.

QAD is committed to ensuring that every employee feels they work in an environment that values their contributions, respects their unique perspectives and provides opportunities for growth regardless of background. QAD’s DEI program is driving higher levels of diversity, equity and inclusion so that employees can bring their whole self to work.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.