The Principal Engineer leads data architecture and systems at WISEcode, focusing on designing scalable data systems and mentoring teams. They ensure high quality in data modeling and computational pipelines while influencing engineering culture and product direction.
At WISEcode, we're a well-funded, dynamic startup. WISEcode makes personalized nutrition a reality based on the facts – what truly is in our food — and marries this data with your preferences. Powered by AI and the world’s best food and nutrition database, WISEcode embraces the fact that we are all different, have different dietary needs, objectives, and preferences, and should not be at the mercy of market spin or “expert” opinion. Every one of us should have the information we need to make the best decisions for ourselves.
The Opportunity
WISEcode doesn’t hire for incremental impact - we hire for force multipliers. Our Principal Engineers are restless builders who transform complexity into clarity, elevate every team they touch, and create architecture that accelerates the entire company. These are strategic technologists who see systems where others see fragments, who bring long-term thinking into every decision, and who translate bold ideas into elegant, scalable solutions that endure beyond their original use cases.
About the Role
The Principal Engineer (PE) is WISEcode’s highest-impact individual-contributor role - a technical leader who combines deep hands-on engineering with clear architectural ownership and accountability across major parts of the platform. PEs write excellent code, but also define system boundaries, long-term technical direction, and engineering standards that influence the entire organization over time.
While this Principal Engineer role operates at a platform and systems level, this position is anchored in WISEcode’s data, computation, and semantic modeling layers and requires deep, opinionated expertise in designing data systems that scale, evolve, and remain trustworthy as product requirements change.
A WISEcode PE is both strategist and builder. You will:
• Translate product ideas, domain concepts, and company vision into durable data models, computation layers, and system contracts that preserve meaning as the platform grows.
• Design and evolve foundational data systems end-to-end and hand them off once patterns are established, documented, and safely extensible by other teams.
• Guide teams through decisions on data modeling, schema evolution, performance tradeoffs, correctness, observability, AI integration, and scale.
• Influence without authority - shaping engineering culture, mentoring senior engineers, and raising the organizational bar through architectural clarity and principled decision-making.
PEs at WISEcode operate as a flexible, high-impact bench. You may embed temporarily into a product or data team to help them accelerate a complex initiative, resolve architectural ambiguity, or establish a new platform capability. You’ll then step out, leaving behind clear system boundaries, shared abstractions, and technical primitives that reduce future uncertainty.
Because of their breadth, PEs typically work closely with the CTO and maintain visibility across products, data systems, and infrastructure. Your success is measured not by a single system’s throughput, but by the correctness, performance, and evolvability of the entire WISEcode platform - including how well it continues to scale after your direct involvement ends.
How Principal Engineers Operate at WISEcode
Systems thinkers with depth. PEs bring T-shaped skills: deep expertise in data modeling, Postgres and lakehouse design, distributed systems, and computation frameworks, combined with broad understanding across product strategy, UX implications, cloud infrastructure, and developer experience.
Architects who execute. You can design a semantic data model, tune complex Postgres queries, define efficient computation paths, and implement production-ready systems - and understand how these components must evolve over time without introducing silent data corruption or semantic drift.
Product-savvy technologists. PEs help shape product direction, not just implement requirements. You anticipate how data definitions impact user experience, analytics, AI behavior, and long-term product flexibility, and often help frame product discussions through technical clarity.
Pragmatic long-term thinkers. You balance delivery speed with architectural integrity. You know where shortcuts are acceptable and where they create irreversible downstream costs.
Multipliers. You leave teams stronger: clearer data contracts, better abstractions, higher confidence in system behavior, and faster future delivery that does not depend on your continued presence.
AI Skills and Leadership
WISEcode is an AI-native company. Every engineer is expected to use AI well, but PEs set the tone. You will:
• Translate product ideas, domain concepts, and company vision into durable data models, computation layers, and system contracts that preserve meaning as the platform grows.
• Design and evolve foundational data systems end-to-end and hand them off once patterns are established, documented, and safely extensible by other teams.
• Guide teams through decisions on data modeling, schema evolution, performance tradeoffs, correctness, observability, AI integration, and scale.
• Influence without authority - shaping engineering culture, mentoring senior engineers, and raising the organizational bar through architectural clarity and principled decision-making.
PEs at WISEcode operate as a flexible, high-impact bench. You may embed temporarily into a product or data team to help them accelerate a complex initiative, resolve architectural ambiguity, or establish a new platform capability. You’ll then step out, leaving behind clear system boundaries, shared abstractions, and technical primitives that reduce future uncertainty.
Because of their breadth, PEs typically work closely with the CTO and maintain visibility across products, data systems, and infrastructure. Your success is measured not by a single system’s throughput, but by the correctness, performance, and evolvability of the entire WISEcode platform - including how well it continues to scale after your direct involvement ends.
How Principal Engineers Operate at WISEcode
Systems thinkers with depth. PEs bring T-shaped skills: deep expertise in data modeling, Postgres and lakehouse design, distributed systems, and computation frameworks, combined with broad understanding across product strategy, UX implications, cloud infrastructure, and developer experience.
Architects who execute. You can design a semantic data model, tune complex Postgres queries, define efficient computation paths, and implement production-ready systems - and understand how these components must evolve over time without introducing silent data corruption or semantic drift.
Product-savvy technologists. PEs help shape product direction, not just implement requirements. You anticipate how data definitions impact user experience, analytics, AI behavior, and long-term product flexibility, and often help frame product discussions through technical clarity.
Pragmatic long-term thinkers. You balance delivery speed with architectural integrity. You know where shortcuts are acceptable and where they create irreversible downstream costs.
Multipliers. You leave teams stronger: clearer data contracts, better abstractions, higher confidence in system behavior, and faster future delivery that does not depend on your continued presence.
AI Skills and Leadership
WISEcode is an AI-native company. Every engineer is expected to use AI well, but PEs set the tone. You will:
• Design data foundations that enable reliable AI and ML systems, including clean inputs, traceability, and explainability.
• Understand how data quality, schema choices, and aggregation logic affect model behavior and downstream inference.
• Partner with AI and product teams to ensure intelligent features are grounded in trustworthy, well-modeled data.
• Advocate for deterministic, testable computation where appropriate, and probabilistic approaches where they add genuine value.
AI is not a bolt-on at WISEcode - it is a horizontal capability. PEs ensure the data platform is capable of supporting intelligent systems without sacrificing correctness, transparency, or trust.
Key Responsibilities
• Own architecture for core data systems, including Postgres, lakehouse layers, computation pipelines, and semantic models.
• Lead solution design for high-complexity, data-intensive initiatives and deliver production-ready implementations when needed.
• Define data contracts, abstractions, and platform standards that enable multiple teams to build safely and independently.
• Diagnose and resolve issues across data ingestion, storage, computation, and consumption layers.
• Guide schema evolution, performance optimization, data correctness, reliability, and security considerations.
• Mentor senior engineers and elevate engineering culture through clarity, documentation, and principled design.
• Partner closely with product, CTO, AI/ML, and engineering teams to shape roadmap feasibility and long-term platform direction.
• Apply AI and analytics concepts in ways that are explainable, auditable, and grounded in well-defined data semantics.
Required Qualifications
• BSCS or equivalent engineering degree
• 12+ years of strong professional development experience
• Demonstrated ownership of large-scale data platforms or systems whose architecture, performance, and evolution you were personally responsible for over time
• Deep expertise with Postgres, data modeling, schema design, query optimization, and data-intensive systems
• Experience designing and evolving distributed systems and computation pipelines beyond their original requirements
•Track record of technical leadership, mentoring, and cross-team influence as an individual contributor
• Ability to operate independently, set direction, and drive execution in ambiguous or under-specified contexts
• Broad systems thinking with depth in data, computation, and platform architecture
• Experience supporting AI or ML systems through data design, quality, and infrastructure (direct model training experience not required)
• Startup mind - adaptability, urgency, pragmatism, and comfort shifting between experimentation and production delivery
Why Join WISEcode
• Build the data and computation foundations for one of the most ambitious food-tech and AI platforms in the world
• Work directly with the founder and CTO in a fast-moving, mission-driven environment.
• Shape the architecture, culture, and long-term integrity of a category-defining company.
• Competitive compensation, benefits, and opportunities for rapid growth and leadership.
Medical
Dental
Vision
401(k)
and other ancillary benefits offerings, along with Paid Time Off for vacation, illness, and other types of leave.
WISEcode is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, please send a request to WISEcode Human Resources at jobs@wisecode.ai.
Top Skills
AI
Computation Frameworks
Data Modeling
Distributed Systems
Machine Learning
Postgres
Schema Design
Similar Jobs
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • Consumer Web • Productivity • Software • App development • Data Privacy
This role manages and evolves recruiting and internship programs at Dropbox, focusing on operational efficiency, AI integration, and candidate experience.
Top Skills:
Ai ToolsAutomation
Artificial Intelligence • eCommerce • Information Technology • Internet of Things • Automation
Responsible for selling security services and products, enhancing market share, managing sales cycles, and cultivating client relationships in the Education sector.
Top Skills:
Salesforce
Artificial Intelligence • eCommerce • Information Technology • Internet of Things • Automation
The Managing Consultant will lead project teams in Microsoft Fabric design, develop solutions, and maintain client relationships while ensuring quality and synergy across engagements.
Top Skills:
Ai CopilotMicrosoft FabricMl ServicesOnelake
What you need to know about the Boston Tech Scene
Boston is a powerhouse for technology innovation thanks to world-class research universities like MIT and Harvard and a robust pipeline of venture capital investment. Host to the first telephone call and one of the first general-purpose computers ever put into use, Boston is now a hub for biotechnology, robotics and artificial intelligence — though it’s also home to several B2B software giants. So it’s no surprise that the city consistently ranks among the greatest startup ecosystems in the world.
Key Facts About Boston Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 269,000; 9.4% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Thermo Fisher Scientific, Toast, Klaviyo, HubSpot, DraftKings
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, robotics, software, aerospace
- Funding Landscape: $15.7 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Summit Partners, Volition Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, MassVentures, Highland Capital Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: MIT, Harvard University, Boston College, Tufts University, Boston University, Northeastern University, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, National Bureau of Economic Research, Broad Institute, Lowell Center for Space Science & Technology, National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories
