Principal Software Engineer

Why join OCLC? 

OCLC is consistently recognized as a best place to work by several independent programs. We recognize and reward people and results with a comprehensive Total Rewards package. This means competitive compensation that reflects your unique contributions—performance, experience, and skills—along with exceptional benefits, including best-in-class health coverage, retirement plans with generous company contributions, and a commitment to your overall well-being.

• We know the best ideas don’t always happen at a desk. Take a walking meeting around our 100-acre campus or enjoy lunch on the patio. We’re committed to your success—both personally and professionally. Hybrid work environment: For many roles, three days a week on-site, with occasional additional days based on business needs. 

• Free use of our on-site fitness center, gym sports, group exercise classes, and game room 

• Onsite catering and cafeteria subsidized by OCLC 

• Health and wellness events 

• Work environments with individual and team spaces and the latest technology tools 

• Paid parental leave and adoption assistance 

• Tuition reimbursement and Public Service Loan Forgiveness eligibility 

• Company-subsidized pricing on local tickets and memberships 

Join us in transforming how people everywhere access information and be part of a mission-driven team that makes a global impact. 

The job details are as follows:

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will be a technical leader responsible for setting the technical direction for Linked Data, graph-based knowledge representation, and related modernization efforts across the organization. You will partner closely with Architects and Product to define long-term technical strategy, drive adoption of graph/Linked Data standards, and mentor senior engineers — while remaining hands-on enough to guide real system design and implementation decisions. This role is expected to stay hands-on with actual coding as needed — contributing directly to project completion, building proof-of-concepts, and demonstrating technical direction through working code, not just through design documents. You are expected to drive and influence change across the enterprise, not just within a single team.

Responsibilities 

• Define and communicate the technical vision for Linked Data and graph-based systems across the organization. 

• Develop modernization strategies and system design roadmaps that move metadata infrastructure toward graph-based, standards-based representation. 

• Partner closely with Architects and Product to establish long-term technical direction — this partnership is critical to the role, not incidental to it. 

• Influence engineering teams and drive adoption of architectural standards, including graph data modeling and Linked Data best practices. 

• Write production code and build proof-of-concepts hands-on, particularly to unblock project delivery, validate new approaches, or demonstrate feasibility before broader team investment. 

• Mentor and guide technical teams and senior engineers; this role is weighted toward leadership and influence rather than direct people management. 

• Research and evaluate emerging technologies, with particular attention to AI-driven approaches to metadata, entity resolution, and knowledge graph construction. 

• Act as a strong, visible collaborator — someone other engineers, Architects, and Product partners want to work with, not just defer to. 

Required Technical Background 

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related discipline, or equivalent work experience.

• 12+ years of software development experience, with demonstrated experience operating at an Architect level or equivalent scope.

• Strong expertise in Java technologies.

• Hands-on experience with graph databases and graph data modeling/implementation.

• Working knowledge of RDF, N-Triples, and SPARQL — able to design, query, and reason about graph-based data structures, not just discuss them conceptually.

• Strong, practical experience leveraging AI technologies and AI-driven solutions in real engineering work (not just familiarity — genuine fluency).
• Deep understanding of: 

- System design and architecture, particularly for graph-based and

Linked Data Systems

- Modernization initiatives and enterprise technical roadmaps

- Organizational technical strategy

• Proven ability to influence teams and drive technical decisions across multiple groups without direct management authority.

• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills; comfort operating in ambiguous, not-yet-fully-defined technical territory (e.g., early-stage Linked Data strategy work). 

• Experience with distributed systems, microservices architecture, and cloud platforms. 

• Willingness and ability to be hands-on — writing code, building POCs, and directly contributing to delivery, not purely an advisory/architectural role. 

• Strong understanding of software architecture and design patterns. 

Working Conditions: Normal office environment.

ADA/EEA: The above statements cover what are generally believed to be the principal and essential functions of this job. Specific circumstances may allow or require some people assigned to the job to perform a somewhat different combination of duties.