CaptivateIQ is transitioning from a single-product company to a multi-product, interconnected modeling platform — where every enterprise business model running on CIQ compounds the value of every other. Each model adds proprietary data and business logic that enrich the entire system. The platform that makes this possible serves two audiences simultaneously: enterprise customers who need fast, reliable, and trustworthy modeling experiences — and CIQ product teams who need to compose new products on shared primitives without rebuilding foundations. We're looking for a Principal Engineer who can own the platform's technical direction and ensure it delivers for both.
You'll own the technical direction across six architectural layers — Modeling, Orchestration, Identity, State Management, AI, and Frontend & Design Systems — with direct responsibility for the Platform (~25 engineers today, scaling to 35+) and technical influence across the wider engineering organization. Your architectural choices directly shape what products CaptivateIQ can ship, how fast enterprise customers go live, and how easily product teams build on the platform.
You'll be both architect and builder — setting multi-year technical strategy at the company level, making technology choices with broad organizational impact, and building alignment across engineering with clear rationale and technical vision. You'll also lead delivery of the Platform's most impactful projects, staying hands-on where it matters most. You'll be one of three Principal Engineers at CaptivateIQ — and the one responsible for the platform that powers every product.
Responsibilities
Own the multi-year technical strategy and architectural direction for the Platform, spanning the Modeling Layer, Orchestration Layer, Trust and Compliance Layer (Identity + State Management), AI Layer, and FEDS (Frontend & Design Systems).
Make technology choices with org-wide impact where the right answer is ambiguous or contested — and build alignment across engineering with clear rationale and technical vision.
Drive architectural coherence across 7+ Platform teams, ensuring that independently-built systems compose into a unified platform with consistent contracts, APIs, and quality standards — and a developer experience that makes adoption easy for product teams. Serve as a technical leader with influence across the wider engineering organization.
Lead the delivery of the Platform's most impactful projects as a hands-on technical leader, with equal attention to end-customer experience and internal developer ergonomics.
Partner with senior EPD leadership to connect platform investments to business outcomes — tying architectural choices to customer time-to-value, product velocity, and enterprise readiness.
Invest deeply in coaching Staff and Senior engineers toward greater strategic scope and organizational impact.
Requirements
Deep expertise in platform engineering and distributed systems at scale — you've built foundational infrastructure consumed by multiple product teams and driven its evolution over years.
You've set and driven technical strategy at the org or company level — connecting technical choices to customer outcomes and business value across multiple teams and multi-year time horizons.
You lead by influence across organizational boundaries — driving alignment between teams with competing priorities without direct authority.
Strong written and verbal communication — you use architecture docs, strategy memos, decision records, and RFCs as everyday tools.
You write code, lead delivery, and stay credibly technical — hands-on excellence is non-negotiable.
Experience with enterprise-scale computation or modeling platforms (spreadsheet engines, formula evaluation, financial modeling, OLAP systems).
Experience with state management abstractions at platform level (branching, versioning, diff/review/approve, audit).
Deep expertise in data orchestration: ETL pipelines, workflow engines, event-driven architectures, CDC systems.
Experience building and evolving complex platform architectures: API/SDK design, cross-cutting infrastructure, or developer platforms.
Experience designing platform capabilities with developer experience as a first-class concern — APIs, SDKs, and integration patterns where adoption is earned through usability, not mandated.
Experience building AI/agent platforms, integrating AI into enterprise products, or designing API-first/MCP-compatible surfaces for agent-accessible tooling.
Experience at a B2B SaaS company during periods of significant growth or platform transformation.
Familiarity with sales performance management, incentive compensation, EPM, or adjacent enterprise domains.
Experience navigating the security, compliance, and architectural requirements necessary to build products for highly regulated industries (especially SOX and HIPAA).
Strongly Preferred:
Nice to Have:
Skills Required
- Deep expertise in platform engineering and distributed systems at scale
- Set and driven technical strategy at the org or company level, connecting technical choices to business outcomes
- Lead by influence across organizational boundaries without direct authority
- Strong written and verbal communication; use architecture docs, memos, decision records, and RFCs
- Hands-on coding ability and proven delivery leadership; remain credibly technical
- Experience with enterprise-scale computation or modeling platforms (spreadsheet engines, formula evaluation, financial modeling, OLAP)
- Experience with state management abstractions at platform level (branching, versioning, diff/review/approve, audit)
- Deep expertise in data orchestration: ETL pipelines, workflow engines, event-driven architectures, CDC systems
- Experience building and evolving complex platform architectures: API/SDK design, cross-cutting infrastructure, developer platforms
- Experience designing platform capabilities with developer experience as a first-class concern (APIs, SDKs, integration patterns)
- Experience building AI/agent platforms or integrating AI into enterprise products
- Experience at a B2B SaaS company during significant growth or platform transformation
- Familiarity with sales performance management, incentive compensation, EPM, or adjacent enterprise domains
- Experience navigating security, compliance, and architectural requirements for regulated industries (SOX, HIPAA)
What We Do
CaptivateIQ is on a journey to modernize the world of incentive compensation. Our hope is that people will feel more connected at work if there is greater transparency in how they are rewarded for their efforts. We believe that getting paid should be fun and that work should be a breeze for compensation plan administrators. That’s why we’ve created a robust, flexible commission management platform that enables sales, finance, and operations teams to sync their data, design any plan, and build workflows that work best for their organization.
Why Work With Us
CaptivateIQ Values: - Empowerment - Collaboration - Transparency - Delight
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