Principal Engineer

Established in 2021,Independence Pet Holdingsis a corporate holding company that manages a diverse and broad portfolio of modern pet health brands and services, including insurance, pet education, lost recovery services, and more throughout North America.

We believe pet insurance is more than a financial product and build solutions to simplify the pet parenting journey and help improve the well-being of pets. As a leading authority in the pet category, we operate with a full stack of resources, capital, and services to support pet parents. Our multi-brand and omni-channel approach include our own insurance carrier, insurance brands and partner brands. 

Job Summary

We are seeking a Principal Engineer to serve as the senior-most individual contributor and technical leader for our customer-facing web and mobile platforms. Reporting to the Senior Director, Customer Web and Mobile Experience, this role sets the technical direction for the React and React Native applications that power the pet parent experience across IPH brands. The Principal Engineer partners with architecture, product, UX, and security to translate enterprise digital strategy into resilient, scalable, and customer-centric solutions, while mentoring engineers and raising the technical bar across the organization.

Job Location: Chicago

Reports To: Senior Director, Customer Web and Mobile Experience

Main Responsibilities

• Serve as the principal technical authority for customer web and mobile platforms, owning end-to-end architecture across React and React Native (including React Native Web) applications.

• Translate the enterprise digital strategy into concrete technical roadmaps, design specifications, and reference implementations.

• Set foundational engineering standards for the team's core toolchain — Git/GitHub workflows, Node.js runtime and package management, VS Code, GitHub Codespaces containerized development, GitHub Copilot Enterprise for AI-assisted development, Expo CLI, Azure CLI, Postman for API testing, React DevTools, and BrowserStack for cross-device/browser coverage.

• Define the design-system and styling architecture for the customer experience, including a utility-first styling approach (e.g., Tailwind/NativeWind), shared component patterns (e.g., shadcn/ui-style component libraries adapted for React Native), and consistent typography across web and mobile.

• Lead complex architectural decisions spanning front-end frameworks, application structure, state management, API contracts, and the mobile app lifecycle.

• Drive adoption of modern frameworks and tooling that improve developer velocity, performance, accessibility, and security.

• Establish and enforce coding standards, design patterns, code review practices, and CI/CD pipelines for web and mobile delivery.

• Define and uphold standards for authentication, identity, secure storage, observability, feature experimentation, and customer engagement integrations.

• Implement SEO best practices (SSR/SSG, semantic markup, structured data, Core Web Vitals) and CDN/edge strategies for high-traffic consumer applications.

• Partner with security, compliance, and platform teams to ensure customer-facing experiences meet regulatory and industry requirements.

• Lead technical due diligence on emerging technologies, third-party SDKs, and System Integrator deliverables; recommend build, buy, or partner decisions.

• Provide hands-on technical leadership for the most complex initiatives, including performance optimization, observability, and resiliency engineering.

• Mentor Senior and Staff Engineers, lead architecture review boards, and grow a deep bench of front-end and mobile talent.

• Define and track engineering KPIs (page performance, crash-free sessions, accessibility conformance, deployment frequency) and report progress to senior leadership.

• Represent the customer engineering organization in cross-functional executive forums and external technology partnerships.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field (equivalent experience considered).

• 15+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 5+ years in a Staff or Principal-level role focused on customer-facing web and mobile platforms.

• Expert proficiency in JavaScript and TypeScript, with deep production experience in React and React Native (including React Native Web).

• Deep, hands-on expertise with the foundational developer toolchain: Git/GitHub, Node.js, Next.js, VS Code, React DevTools, Postman, Expo CLI, Azure CLI, and BrowserStack.

• Hands-on experience building Backend-for-Frontend (BFF) services and Web APIs in .NET (C#) to support customer-facing web and mobile experiences.

• Experience leading engineering teams in adopting GitHub Codespaces for containerized development environments and GitHub Copilot Enterprise for AI-assisted development.

• Strong expertise in modern styling and UI architecture — utility-first CSS frameworks (Tailwind/NativeWind), component-pattern libraries (shadcn/ui-style component systems for React Native), and font/typography management across web and mobile.

• Demonstrated ownership of large-scale, production-grade web and mobile applications serving millions of users or business-critical workflows.

• Strong command of modern state management patterns, RESTful and/or GraphQL API design, and the full mobile app lifecycle (build, release, store submission, over-the-air updates).

• Hands-on experience with modern CI/CD tools, automated testing frameworks, and observability tooling.

• Experience with authentication and identity standards (OIDC/OAuth2, SSO, MFA) and secure handling of customer data.

• Proven ability to mentor senior engineers and influence engineering direction across multiple teams without direct reporting authority.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with experience presenting technical strategy to executive stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with the Expo ecosystem (Expo SDK / Expo CLI) and unified mobile + web codebases.

• Experience integrating with headless and traditional CMS systems (e.g., Contentful, Sitecore, Adobe Experience Manager, or similar) to power marketing and content-driven experiences.

• Experience designing and operating design systems or component libraries adopted across multiple product teams.

• Experience in regulated industries such as insurance, financial services, or healthcare.

• Experience with multi-brand or white-label web and mobile platforms.

• Knowledge of containerization and container-based deployment platforms.

• Familiarity with accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1+) and security frameworks (OWASP, SOC 2, PCI).

• Working knowledge of cloud platforms and the Microsoft ecosystem (Azure, Dynamics 365); familiarity with EIS Suite a plus.

Additional Job Description

Experience: 10+ years of relevant engineering experience, including senior individual contributor leadership.

Education: Bachelor's Degree or equivalent work experience (one year of relevant experience is equivalent to one year of college).

Travel: May travel and/or attend off-site events during and outside of standard working hours.

Driving: Employees that are required to drive for their position must have a Valid State of Residence Driver's License and Automobile Liability Insurance.

Level Specific Responsibilities / Accountabilities

• Recognized as the deepest technical expert in the function; sets technical direction across multiple teams led by managers and other senior engineers.

• Owns the technical execution of strategy for a sub-function, with short-to-mid-term impact on results (2-4 years).

• Influences peers, leaders, and executive stakeholders to adopt new practices, frameworks, and architectural approaches.

• Acts as a key technical advisor to the Senior Director and broader engineering leadership team.

• May communicate with executive leadership on matters of significant technical importance to the organization.

All of our jobs come with great benefits including healthcare, parental leave and opportunities for career advancements. Some offerings are dependent upon the location of where you work and can include the following:

• Comprehensive full medical, dental and vision Insurance

• Basic Life Insurance at no cost to the employee

• Company paid short-term and long-term disability

• 12 weeks of 100% paid Parental Leave

• Health Savings Account (HSA)

• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)

• Retirement savings plan

• Personal Paid Time Off

• Paid holidays and company-wide Wellness Day off

• Paid time off to volunteer at nonprofit organizations

• Pet friendly office environment

• Commuter Benefits

• Group Pet Insurance

• On the job training and skills development

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

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