Principal Software Engineer (Remote)

At 8th Light, we bring life to the best ideas.

Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Chicago, we are a technology solutions provider that partners with organizations to solve meaningful challenges and drive sustainable growth. From early-stage startups to global enterprises, we work across industries to optimize our clients’ digital products through product strategy innovation, experiential design, AI solutions, and deep engineering expertise.

Our commitment to quality means we deliver solutions we’re truly proud of, while our curiosity sparks innovation and breakthrough thinking. 8th Lights thrive in an environment that champions continuous education, fueling our growth through mentorship and hands‑on work. We foster an open, collaborative culture grounded in honesty that builds trust, and believe true success is measured by the outcomes we create for our clients.

If this kind of work and our kind of people energizes you, you’ve found the right place.

Who You Are

You’ve shown long-term repeated success on a variety of projects, typically over the course of 10+ years. You are a trusted expert and leader, often called upon to guide ambiguous initiatives and architect scalable solutions. You bring a blend of deep consulting acumen, technical expertise, and product thinking that drives measurable and impactful outcomes. In your previous experience, you have :

• Demonstrated long‑term success on high‑stakes consulting engagements across multiple language paradigms, stacks, ecosystems, technical environments, and client industries
• Built high‑quality, maintainable software collaboratively, incrementally, and through an approach tailored towards the unique needs of the clients you’ve served
• Evaluated and strategically applied AI‑assistive development tools to accelerate delivery and improve quality
• A track record of understanding, assessing, and embracing new tooling and trends within the software industry
• Experience building or integrating AI / ML‑powered features into products or systems (e.g., recommendation engines, NLP models, computer vision, predictive analytics)
• Used context-appropriate automated testing to inform software design choices and catch bugs
• Successfully led modernization efforts to align legacy systems with short and long‑term business needs
• Remedied architecture‑level concerns such as scalability, security, reliability, and performance
• Facilitated alignment and collaboration across technical and non‑technical stakeholders to move initiatives forward in the face of ambiguity and complexity while balancing technical considerations with product and user needs
• Provided mentorship and team support at scale, while sharing knowledge and improving team practices
• Actively sought out and effectively given feedback
• Collaboratively led stakeholders to balance technical considerations with product and user needs

What You’ll Do At 8th Light

As a go‑to technologist and strategist within 8th Light, you’ll work with a variety of clients, typically one to two in a year, while continuing to deepen your and our collective domain expertise over the course of your career with us. You’ll be responsible for :

Strongly Preferred Skills

We work across many areas, and encourage anyone with the experience listed above to apply. We would particularly like to encourage applicants with experience in the following areas :

Building a truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace is an ongoing journey, and we’re excited to keep learning and growing together. We have a proud tradition of hiring talented colleagues with real‑world career experiences.

How You’ll be Supported

At 8th Light, we believe our people are our greatest asset. Their growth, well‑being, and success shape our future.

Our wellness package is designed with the Whole YOU in mind and includes :

At 8th Light, we are committed to a compensation philosophy that is transparent, fair, and helps us attract and retain top talent in alignment with our company’s strategic growth goals and clients’ needs.

We benchmark our salaries using Geographic Structures to establish competitive pay ranges within the regions where 8th Lights live. Our pay ranges for our Principal Engineer position within our four US structures are as follows :

Reach out to recruiting@8thlight.com for more relevant information pertaining to your local market.

8th Light Hubs and Geographies

As a remote‑first company, 8th Light's culture is rooted in strong connections that extend across our teams, regions, and beyond client work. We are a distributed team across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, with hubs in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle.

If you are hired into a hub, you will be a part of a team with regular rituals around co‑working and community building. For team members outside of those cities, we offer access to coworking spaces to foster continued collaboration and connection across our global team.

We hope to see you apply!

As set forth in 8th Light’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

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