8th Light, Inc.
Principal Software Engineer (Remote) New
8th Light, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60290
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: Rapidly building trust with clients, demonstrating technical expertise and understanding of their domain and objectives Guiding technical direction, solving complex problems, and demonstrating best practices while remaining deeply engaged within the codebase Working pragmatically to balance technology choices while delivering high-quality work within deadlines Advising clients on architecture, scalability and platform evolution, connecting technical decisions to product and business outcomes Collaborating on systems that involve the full ML lifecycle from data ingestion and preprocessing, to model deployment, integration, and performance monitoring Driving innovation by proactively surfacing new technical approaches and product solutions Leading or initiating formal feedback conversations with teams and clients via retrospectives Clearly articulating and documenting outcomes and driving forward action items Contributing to the health of your team and 8th Light’s culture by modeling our Values Designing and managing high-level technical roadmaps for large engagements Building your network and maintaining relationships with clients and other industry leaders within your domain Coaching client engineering teams, transferring knowledge and leveling up practices Influencing client CTOs and executive decisions. Planning and execute technical work that involves stakeholders outside of project boundaries such as across a client\'s technical organization Participating in account planning; opportunity identification. Facilitating retrospectives, strategy sessions, and technical deep-dives to improve team and project outcomes Identifying, mitigating, and resolving blockers to team progress Contributing to 8th Light by serving as a mentor, leading or designing workshops internally or for clients, representing 8th Light in the tech community, or supporting our hiring processes Demonstrating leadership in scalable system design, modular architecture, and platform- or product-oriented development. Bringing depth in testing strategies, observability, fault tolerance, and secure engineering practices. Applying architectural patterns to evaluate tradeoffs and drive clear, documented design rationale. 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: DevSecOps & DevOps MLOps Infrastructure as Code 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: A robust L&D program featuring unlimited access to thousands of books, courses, and expert-led training on the O\'Reilly learning platform. Annual financial stipend and time allotment for learning & development Coworking support for our global team Flexible PTO Wellness days 12 weeks of new parent leave available for eligible employees 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: RANGE: $151,535-$189,418 USD Structure 2 (Chicago Metro, Miami Metro, Philadelphia Metro, Raleigh Metro ) RANGE: $159,240-$199,050 USD RANGE: $169,513-$211,892 USD RANGE: $176,705- $220,881 USD Reach out to recruiting@8thlight.com for more relevant information pertaining to your local market. 8th Light is Remote-First
We are a distributed team across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In most cases, our consulting engagements do not require travel. Whether you choose to work remotely or join us in person at one of our offices in Chicago or London, we’re committed to supporting a strong team culture. 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! Eligibility requirements and other confidential hiring information are intentionally excluded here to keep the description focused and readable. See EEO statements below for required disclosures. Voluntary Self-Identification
For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion is voluntary and will not be considered in the hiring process. Any information provided will be kept confidential. 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. Voluntary disclosures for veterans and disability status are requested to measure outreach and ensure compliance. This section has been kept to reflect legal requirements without exposing sensitive data in the job posting itself. Public burden statement: This posting avoids collecting sensitive data beyond what is legally required. This description is provided for applicants to understand the role and qualifications.
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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: Rapidly building trust with clients, demonstrating technical expertise and understanding of their domain and objectives Guiding technical direction, solving complex problems, and demonstrating best practices while remaining deeply engaged within the codebase Working pragmatically to balance technology choices while delivering high-quality work within deadlines Advising clients on architecture, scalability and platform evolution, connecting technical decisions to product and business outcomes Collaborating on systems that involve the full ML lifecycle from data ingestion and preprocessing, to model deployment, integration, and performance monitoring Driving innovation by proactively surfacing new technical approaches and product solutions Leading or initiating formal feedback conversations with teams and clients via retrospectives Clearly articulating and documenting outcomes and driving forward action items Contributing to the health of your team and 8th Light’s culture by modeling our Values Designing and managing high-level technical roadmaps for large engagements Building your network and maintaining relationships with clients and other industry leaders within your domain Coaching client engineering teams, transferring knowledge and leveling up practices Influencing client CTOs and executive decisions. Planning and execute technical work that involves stakeholders outside of project boundaries such as across a client\'s technical organization Participating in account planning; opportunity identification. Facilitating retrospectives, strategy sessions, and technical deep-dives to improve team and project outcomes Identifying, mitigating, and resolving blockers to team progress Contributing to 8th Light by serving as a mentor, leading or designing workshops internally or for clients, representing 8th Light in the tech community, or supporting our hiring processes Demonstrating leadership in scalable system design, modular architecture, and platform- or product-oriented development. Bringing depth in testing strategies, observability, fault tolerance, and secure engineering practices. Applying architectural patterns to evaluate tradeoffs and drive clear, documented design rationale. 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: DevSecOps & DevOps MLOps Infrastructure as Code 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: A robust L&D program featuring unlimited access to thousands of books, courses, and expert-led training on the O\'Reilly learning platform. Annual financial stipend and time allotment for learning & development Coworking support for our global team Flexible PTO Wellness days 12 weeks of new parent leave available for eligible employees 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: RANGE: $151,535-$189,418 USD Structure 2 (Chicago Metro, Miami Metro, Philadelphia Metro, Raleigh Metro ) RANGE: $159,240-$199,050 USD RANGE: $169,513-$211,892 USD RANGE: $176,705- $220,881 USD Reach out to recruiting@8thlight.com for more relevant information pertaining to your local market. 8th Light is Remote-First
We are a distributed team across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In most cases, our consulting engagements do not require travel. Whether you choose to work remotely or join us in person at one of our offices in Chicago or London, we’re committed to supporting a strong team culture. 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! Eligibility requirements and other confidential hiring information are intentionally excluded here to keep the description focused and readable. See EEO statements below for required disclosures. Voluntary Self-Identification
For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion is voluntary and will not be considered in the hiring process. Any information provided will be kept confidential. 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. Voluntary disclosures for veterans and disability status are requested to measure outreach and ensure compliance. This section has been kept to reflect legal requirements without exposing sensitive data in the job posting itself. Public burden statement: This posting avoids collecting sensitive data beyond what is legally required. This description is provided for applicants to understand the role and qualifications.
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