Be an Early Applicant
nTop is a design software that helps engineers iterate faster, generate insights, and deliver high-performance designs.
The Role
Principal Software Engineer responsible for solving complex platform and infrastructure challenges, defining multi-year architecture, and leading foundational initiatives across the software platform. The role focuses on APIs, abstractions, system architecture, scalability, software quality, and engineering velocity. The engineer will identify architectural bottlenecks, drive initiatives from design through deployment, serve as a technical escalation point, build consensus across teams, and mentor engineers.
Summary Generated by Built In
About nTop
The Role
The Problems You'll Tackle
What You'll Accomplish
What You Bring
You're Probably NOT a Fit If:
Why nTop
nTop builds computational design software for engineers designing next-generation aircraft, defense systems, and performance vehicles. Our platform uses fundamentally different approaches to geometry representation and computation, enabling designs traditional CAD systems cannot express. Our team includes world-class specialists in computational geometry, meshing, rendering, and simulation—brilliant innovators who need a generalist who can see across domains and untangle complexity at the system level.
You'll be the "solver" for our most complex technical challenges. This isn't a narrowly-scoped domain expert role or a focus on quarterly deliverables—you'll architect solutions over 1-3 years that compound in value, define our platform direction, and unlock entirely new capabilities.
What makes this unusual: You'll have genuine autonomy to identify the highest-leverage problems across the entire platform. Your "domain" is making the system coherent—from customer interfaces to infrastructure to how we build software. You'll enable deep specialists to build increasingly sophisticated features without the system collapsing under complexity.
Not "fix this bug" problems—but questions like: How should our platform expose computational power through abstractions and interfaces? Where is complexity creating friction, and how do we eliminate it without sacrificing capability? What infrastructure investments will 10x our iteration speed? These are "define how we think about this for the next several years" problems.
Year 1: Identify and solve 2-3 critical architectural bottlenecks limiting the team today. Drive at least one foundational platform initiative from design through deployment. Establish yourself as the technical escalation point.
Years 2-3: Define architectural direction for major platform capabilities that will serve us for 3+ years. Lead multi-quarter initiatives that fundamentally change how we build or how customers use our platform. Your impact is measured by what others can now accomplish.
This is compound-interest work, early decisions multiply in value over time.
Required:
- 8+ years software engineering with increasing scope and demonstrated impact across multiple teams
- Deep platform/infrastructure expertise: APIs, abstractions, system architecture, performance at scale
- Track record of improving software quality and engineering velocity, not just building features
- Leadership without authority- you build consensus through technical credibility and clarity
- Experience mentoring engineers and elevating team capabilities
Valued:
- High-performance computing, scientific computing, or CAD/CAM systems
- Programming language design or domain-specific languages
- Working with technically sophisticated customers
You're Probably NOT a Fit If:
- You prefer deep specialization over broad platform thinking
- You want clearly defined scope rather than self-directed problem-finding
- You need significant structure and direction to be productive
If these describe you, you might be exceptional, just not right for this role.
Work on genuinely hard computational problems in geometry and high-performance computing with real impact in aerospace and advanced manufacturing. Shape the technical foundation of a platform defining a new category. Collaborate with deep specialists while having autonomy to solve problems your way.
CompensationThe base pay range for this role is $165,000 – $215,000 per year.
Please note that nTop may use AI products to assist in the recruiting process. All resumes are reviewed by, and all employment decisions are made by, nTop's Hiring Team.
If you require a reasonable accommodation during the interview process, please don't hesitate to email us directly.
Skills Required
- 8+ years of software engineering experience with increasing scope and demonstrated impact across multiple teams
- Deep platform and infrastructure expertise, including APIs, abstractions, system architecture, and performance at scale
- Track record of improving software quality and engineering velocity
- Leadership without authority and ability to build consensus through technical credibility and clarity
- Experience mentoring engineers and elevating team capabilities
- Experience in high-performance computing, scientific computing, or CAD/CAM systems
- Experience with programming language design or domain-specific languages
- Experience working with technically sophisticated customers
nTop Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about nTop and has not been reviewed or approved by nTop.
-
Healthcare Strength — Medical, dental, and vision coverage alongside FSA and disability insurance are prominently described, signaling a solid core health package. Company and third‑party materials consistently include healthcare as part of the standard offering.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Generous PTO, paid holidays, and paid sick time are highlighted, with company language emphasizing a “fantastic vacation plan.” Parental and family leave further expands the overall time‑off support.
-
Equity Value & Accessibility — Company equity is a standard component and some listings also mention an ESPP, creating ownership potential beyond base pay. These elements complement core salary and benefits to enhance total compensation.
nTop Insights
Am I A Good Fit?
Get Personalized Job Insights.
Our AI-powered fit analysis compares your resume with a job listing so you know if your skills & experience align.
Success! Refresh the page to see how your skills align with this role.
The Company
What We Do
nTop (formerly nTopology) was founded in 2015 with the belief that engineers’ ability to innovate shouldn’t be limited by their design software. We’re bringing additive manufacturing to mainstream production by enabling engineers to create complex geometries, optimize instantaneously, and automate workflows to create groundbreaking products in record time.
Why Work With Us
At nTop , we are team-oriented and believe everyone matters. With easy access to leadership and cross-team collaborations, we encourage a space where everyone is valued and empowered. Our culture ensures every employee has the opportunity to learn and grow.
.png){kind=logo}
