Principal Engineer

The Principal Engineer serves as the senior technical leader across all Digital Product Engineering teams at Life.Church, providing strategic technical guidance for both product and platform engineering domains. This role involves driving organization-wide architectural decisions, establishing engineering standards, and ensuring technical alignment with the Life.Church mission to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. The Digital Product Team leverages technology to reach people worldwide through websites, apps, and all Life.Church locations.

Must Have

• Synthesize technical designs and architecture to advise teams, inform buy-versus-build decisions, and evolve overall technical platform architecture.
• Recognize, influence, and/or resolve critical issues affecting technical direction/strategy.
• Develop software for each platform in span of care.
• Review and test existing code-base or technical integrations for various projects.
• Provide support to other Digital Product engineers, primarily Senior Software Engineers.
• Collaborate with various teams and team members to determine the technical approach and organize development plans.
• Evaluate the complexity of tasks and provide realistic estimates on the level of effort and completion.
• Lead the organization to success with little guidance or direction from senior leadership.
• Work with other leads to set policies and processes that span engineering.
• Serve as a coach and mentor across all of engineering.
• Actively contribute to broad organization technical strategies, decisions, and processes.
• Research industry best practices and new technologies or tools.
• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
• Systematic and organized approach to completing assignments accurately, thoroughly, and timely.
• Ability to clearly explain complicated and detailed processes in a concise and simple way.
• Ability to self-motivate, take initiative, make independent decisions, and problem-solve.
• Ability to collaborate in a team environment and work independently.
• Ability to maintain composure during stressful situations.
• Own technical design for projects and understands, and articulates, the tradeoffs in creating high-quality software.
• High School Diploma or GED.
• 10+ years of related work experience.

Good to Have

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science.

Perks & Benefits

• Paid parental leave, including maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.
• Generous employer-paid leave for the use of vacation, sick time, and other qualifying reasons.
• Innovative and comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance.
• Life insurance policy provided for all staff members at 2x annual salary at no cost.
• Short-Term and Long-Term disability is covered at 100% for full-time qualified staff members.
• Comprehensive wellness and mental health benefits.
• Generous 401(k) retirement plan allowing up to 12.5% contribution in the first year.
• $160 annually in development dollars for professional growth.
• Casual dress and work environment.

The Principal Engineer is responsible for serving as the senior technical leader across all Digital Product Engineering teams, providing strategic technical guidance that spans both product and platform engineering domains. This role will drive organization-wide architectural decisions, establish engineering standards, and ensure technical alignment with the mission.

At Life.Church, we exist to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. It’s been our mission since 1996 and has guided us every day. Leading people isn’t just an expectation; it’s a necessity. It’s a cornerstone of our culture. That's why we’re always seeking leaders—leaders like you—to bring your skills to life. We are one church meeting in multiple locations, and we want to help you become the person God made you to be.

The Digital Product Team leverages technology to reach people worldwide, connecting them to our ministry and each other through our website, apps, and all locations. Our apps serve our attenders by connecting them with our church and helping facilitate their growth as a fully devoted follower of Christ. It doesn't get much better than that!

What You'll Do

• Synthesize technical designs and architecture to advise teams, inform buy-versus-build decisions, and evolve Life.Church’s overall technical platform architecture
• Recognize, influence, and/or resolve critical issues that may affect the organization's technical direction/strategy
• Develop software for each platform in span of care
• Review and test the existing code-base or technical integrations for various projects
• Provide support to other Digital Product engineers, primarily Senior Software Engineers, by reviewing, testing, and approving code/software development
• Collaborate with various teams and team members to determine the technical approach and to organize development plans
• Evaluate the complexity of tasks and provide realistic estimates on the level of effort and completion
• Lead the organization to success with little guidance or direction from senior leadership
• Work with other leads to set policies and processes that span engineering
• Serve as a coach and mentor across all of engineering
• Actively contribute to broad organization technical strategies, decisions, and processes
• Research industry best practices and new technologies or tools that could be implemented at Life.Church

Skills Needed to Succeed

• Excellent verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills to maintain relationships and partnerships
• Maintain a systematic and organized approach to completing assignments accurately, thoroughly, and timely
• Clearly explain complicated and detailed processes in a concise and simple way
• Ability to self-motivate, take initiative, make independent decisions, and problem-solve
• Ability to collaborate in a team environment and work independently
• Ability to maintain composure during stressful situations
• Own technical design for projects and understands, and articulates, the tradeoffs in creating high-quality software
• High School Diploma or GED
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, preferred
• 10+ years of related work experience

Benefits We Offer

・ Paid parental leave, including maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.

・ Generous employer-paid leave for the use of vacation, sick time, and other qualifying reasons.

・ Innovative and comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance that provides team members with useful resources and savings to navigate their holistic health.

・ Life insurance policy provided for all staff members at 2x annual salary at no cost. Additional life insurance coverage is available to purchase.

・ Short-Term and Long-Term disability is covered at 100% for full-time qualified staff members.

・ Comprehensive wellness and mental health benefits allow staff to proactively invest in their physical and emotional health.

・ Generous 401(k) retirement plan allowing a team member to have up to 12.5% (including employee contribution, employer match, and employer discretionary contribution) contributed into their account in their first year. It doesn’t stop there—the more years on staff, the greater the investment!

・ $160 annually in development dollars for team members to invest in their professional growth.

・ Casual dress and work environment.

・ And much more!

Our Beliefs, Culture, and Commitment to Diversity

At Life.Church, every staff member, and intern is a minister and is expected to engage in the church's ministry fully. We consider ministry readiness and an individual’s capacity to represent Life.Church’s beliefs as a minister during the selection process for all staff and intern positions. An essential function within every position held by a staff member or intern at Life.Church is to uphold and represent the beliefs of Life.Church. Learn more about what we believe at Life.Church

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While we unite around our mission, we know unity doesn’t mean uniformity. Our calling is too great, and our mission is too important not to be intentional about strengthening our team through diversity. We know that diverse perspectives in race, ethnicity, background, age, and gender are essential to reaching the world for Christ. To learn more about how we strengthen our team through diversity, visit our careers page

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All data collected in our application process, from resume collection to application questions, is used for recruitment purposes only.