Principal Architect

New York, New York, United States

Octus

Octus is a leading global provider of credit intelligence, data, and analytics. Since 2013, tens of thousands of professionals across hedge fund, investment banking, management consulting, and law firm verticals have come to rely on Octus to make better, faster, and more confident decisions in pace with the fast-moving credit markets.
For more information, visit: https://octus.com/

Working at Octus

Octus hires growth-minded innovators and trailblazers across the globe to drive our business and culture. Our core values – Action Oriented, Customer First Mindset, Effective Team Players, and Driven to Excel – define an organizational ethos that’s as high-performing as it is human. Among other perks, Octus employees enjoy competitive health benefits, matched 401k and pension plans, PTO, generous parental leave, gym subsidies, educational reimbursements for career development, recognition programs, pet-friendly offices (US only), and much more. 

Role

At Octus, we're committed to empowering developers with innovative frameworks, tools, and services that enhance the efficiency and quality of application development. Our Application Framework team is at the heart of this mission, building scalable, reliable solutions that enable seamless application development across the organization.

We're seeking a Principal Architect to define and drive the technical vision for our platform. This role is ideal for a seasoned architect who combines deep technical expertise with strategic thinking, and who is passionate about building systems that are stable, resilient, and built to scale. You will be the technical cornerstone for our engineering organization—shaping architecture decisions, championing engineering excellence, and mentoring teams to deliver world-class solutions.

Architecture & Technical Strategy

  • Define and own the technical architecture for the product platforms
  • Lead the design and documentation of comprehensive technical designs and architectural blueprints before development begins
  • Architect and evolve enterprise-grade APIs that are secure, performant, and scalable
  • Design systems with stability, reliability, and resiliency as first-class concerns—including fault tolerance, graceful degradation, and disaster recovery
  • Drive architectural decisions for distributed systems, event-driven architectures, and cloud-native solutions (AWS preferred)
  • Evaluate and integrate emerging technologies, including AI-powered development tools and assistants, to enhance engineering productivity and code quality
  • Ensure architectural patterns support horizontal and vertical scalability to meet growing business demands

Standards, Practices & Governance

  • Champion and establish best practices, coding standards, and engineering processes across the organization
  • Define and enforce architectural principles, design patterns, and technical guidelines
  • Create and maintain comprehensive technical documentation including architectural decision records (ADRs), API specifications, and system design documents
  • Lead architecture review boards and provide governance for technical decisions across teams
  • Drive adoption of modern development practices including CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and automated testing strategies

Technical Leadership & Mentorship

  • Serve as the senior technical authority, guiding and mentoring engineers across multiple teams on architectural and technical matters
  • Conduct design reviews and provide hands-on guidance to ensure technical solutions meet architectural standards
  • Foster a culture of engineering excellence, continuous learning, and technical curiosity
  • Collaborate with engineering leadership to build team capabilities and develop technical talent
  • Communicate complex technical concepts effectively to stakeholders at all levels, from engineers to executives
  • Partner with product and business teams to translate requirements into robust technical solutions

 

Hands-On Contributions

  • Contribute to critical system components, demonstrating technical leadership through code when appropriate
  • Prototype and validate architectural approaches for complex technical challenges
  • Troubleshoot and resolve complex production issues in distributed environments
  • Maintain deep technical knowledge through continued hands-on involvement with the codebase and systems

Required Qualifications

  • 10+ years of software engineering experience with 3+ years in an Architect or similar technical leadership role
  • Strong proficiency in C#, Python, or PHP (experience with multiple languages preferred)
  • Extensive experience with PostgreSQL, including performance optimization, schema design, and scaling strategies
  • Proven track record of designing and building enterprise-grade APIs at scale
  • Deep expertise in distributed systems, event-driven architecture (Kafka, RabbitMQ, or similar), and microservices patterns
  • Experience designing and operating cloud-based systems (AWS preferred)
  • Strong understanding of system reliability engineering principles—including high availability, fault tolerance, and disaster recovery
  • Demonstrated experience establishing and evangelizing engineering best practices, standards, and processes
  • Experience with caching strategies and technologies (Redis or equivalent)
  • Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence technical direction and mentor engineers

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with multiple languages across C#, Python, and PHP
  • Familiarity with both PostgreSQL and MySQL
  • Experience leveraging AI coding assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cursor) to enhance development workflows
  • Track record of building tools, frameworks, or platforms for internal developer productivity
  • Experience with infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation) and modern CI/CD practices
  • Background in financial services or data-intensive applications

 

At Octus, we consider a range of factors in connection with compensation decisions, including experience, skills, location, and our business needs and limitations. As a result, compensation may vary within and across similar roles and positions. Please note that the salary range information below is a good faith estimate for this position and actual compensation for any individual may fall outside this range if warranted by the circumstances applicable to that individual. If we identify a role that would be suitable for a broader range of skills and experience such that we would consider hiring at multiple levels then the range listed below may reflect that breadth.

The salary range estimate for this position is $230,000 - $250,000.

The actual compensation will be at Octus' sole discretion and will be determined by the aforementioned and other relevant factors. 

 

Equal Employment Opportunity

Octus is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, or any other legally protected status. We strive to create an inclusive and diverse work environment where all individuals are valued, respected, and treated fairly. We believe that diversity enriches our workplace and enhances our ability to innovate and succeed.

Create a Job Alert

Interested in building your career at Octus? Get future opportunities sent straight to your email.

Apply for this job

*

indicates a required field

Resume/CV*

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Cover Letter

Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf

Select...
Select...

The name provided above should be your full legal name.

Please use this section to indicate any preferred names you would like to be recognized by, if different from your legal name.

Select...

If answered 'No' to the above, please enter "N/A"

Select...

If answered 'No' to the above, please enter "N/A"

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

As set forth in Octus’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

Select...
Select...
Race & Ethnicity Definitions

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measure the effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categories is as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.

Select...

Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability

Form CC-305
Page 1 of 1
OMB Control Number 1250-0005
Expires 04/30/2026

Why are you being asked to complete this form?

We are a federal contractor or subcontractor. The law requires us to provide equal employment opportunity to qualified people with disabilities. We have a goal of having at least 7% of our workers as people with disabilities. The law says we must measure our progress towards this goal. To do this, we must ask applicants and employees if they have a disability or have ever had one. People can become disabled, so we need to ask this question at least every five years.

Completing this form is voluntary, and we hope that you will choose to do so. Your answer is confidential. No one who makes hiring decisions will see it. Your decision to complete the form and your answer will not harm you in any way. If you want to learn more about the law or this form, visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) website at www.dol.gov/ofccp.

How do you know if you have a disability?

A disability is a condition that substantially limits one or more of your “major life activities.” If you have or have ever had such a condition, you are a person with a disability. Disabilities include, but are not limited to:

  • Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
  • Autoimmune disorder, for example, lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
  • Blind or low vision
  • Cancer (past or present)
  • Cardiovascular or heart disease
  • Celiac disease
  • Cerebral palsy
  • Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
  • Diabetes
  • Disfigurement, for example, disfigurement caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
  • Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
  • Gastrointestinal disorders, for example, Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
  • Intellectual or developmental disability
  • Mental health conditions, for example, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
  • Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
  • Mobility impairment, benefiting from the use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
  • Nervous system condition, for example, migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • Neurodivergence, for example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
  • Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
  • Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, for example, tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
  • Short stature (dwarfism)
  • Traumatic brain injury
Select...

PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays a valid OMB control number. This survey should take about 5 minutes to complete.