Job title: Principal Software Engineer

Reports to: Director of Engineering

Department: Development

Location: Waterloo, Canada

About Priority: 

Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. is a leading financial technology company on a mission to deliver a personalized, easy-to-adopt financial toolset that accelerates cash flow and optimizes working capital for businesses. Our vision is to eliminate the barriers to unlocking revenue - empowering businesses to grow faster and operate smarter.

We achieve this through the Priority Commerce Engine, an innovative platform that combines payables, acquiring, and banking and treasury solutions. This unified approach allows businesses to streamline financial operations, reduce unnecessary costs, and uncover new revenue opportunities.

At Priority, we're driven by results. We expect our people to be known for results - bringing expertise, momentum, and relentless focus to every challenge, helping our clients and each other thrive.

About the Role:

Principal Software Engineers represent one of the highest levels of technical leadership within the individual contributor career ladder. They operate at an organizational scale, shaping technical direction and ensuring that systems support product strategy, customer experience, and business growth.

Within the Innovation Lab, this role is focused on identifying, building, and scaling high-impact solutions that improve how we develop, operate, and optimize our platform. This includes rapidly moving from idea to production, leveraging modern development tooling (including AI-assisted approaches), and ensuring innovations translate into durable, production-grade systems.

This role requires strong architectural judgment, the ability to operate effectively in ambiguity, and a bias toward execution and measurable outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

Architecture & Technical Leadership

• Design scalable, reliable, and secure systems across multiple domains.

• Guide architectural decisions and establish engineering patterns and standards.

• Identify systemic risks and drive improvements in reliability, performance, and scalability.

Innovation & Execution

• Rapidly prototype and iterate on new ideas, moving from concept to production.

• Translate ambiguous problems into clear technical direction and executable solutions.

• Balance speed with production rigor (testing, observability, cost, and reliability).

AI-Enabled Engineering

• Leverage AI-assisted tools (LLMs, agents, automation) to accelerate development.

• Apply AI capabilities pragmatically to real business problems.

• Ensure AI-enabled systems are production-ready, observable, and cost-efficient.

Product & Organizational Impact

• Partner with Product, Data, and Risk teams to deliver measurable business outcomes.

• Identify and prioritize high-impact opportunities.

• Mentor engineers and raise technical standards across teams.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, with a strong track record of building and operating production systems.

• Demonstrated ability to take ideas from concept to production in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.

• Strong background in system architecture, APIs, data pipelines, and cloud-native infrastructure.

• Experience leveraging modern development tooling, including AI-assisted tools, to accelerate engineering workflows.

• Proven ability to balance rapid experimentation with production reliability and maintainability.

• Experience leading complex technical initiatives and influencing architecture across teams.

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to work effectively across engineering and business stakeholders.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in fintech, payments, or other regulated, high-scale environments.

• Familiarity with AI/ML-powered systems, LLM-based workflows, or intelligent automation.

• Experience identifying and scaling high-impact innovations beyond initial prototypes.

• Background optimizing system performance, cost efficiency, and latency.

Ideal Profile

A highly capable builder who thrives in ambiguity, moves quickly from idea to execution, and applies strong engineering fundamentals to emerging technologies. You are motivated by solving meaningful problems, exploring new approaches, and turning innovation into tangible business outcomes.

Work Environment & Culture:

We believe that performance and experience go hand in hand - an exceptional employee experience is earned through contribution. We are a results-driven team, grounded in our core values: ownership, authenticity, service, trust, innovation, and camaraderie. 

Our culture is built for those who want to make an impact. We challenge each other to grow, celebrate progress, and support one another through shared goals and real connection. Whether you're building technology, serving clients, or supporting internal teams, you’ll be part of a company that empowers you to perform at your best and be known for results.

Compensation and Benefits:

Compensation range: $190k-$230k CAD

We invest in the whole employee - personally and professionally. Our benefits package is designed to support your well-being, growth, and success - both inside and outside of work.

Financial Wellness

• Bonus programs

• 401(k) match

• Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP)

• HSA and FSA options

• Financial wellness resources and employee discount programs

Health & Well-being

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage

• Mental health support for employees and dependents through Lyra Health

• Family planning and women’s health benefits through Carrot

• Gym membership reimbursement and virtual wellness programs (including yoga)

Time Off

• 3 weeks PTO to start, with unlimited PTO after year one

Growth & Development

• Education expense reimbursement

• Leadership development programs

• Certified Payments Professional (CPP) certification support

We believe great performance starts with feeling supported - and we’ve built our benefits with that in mind.

Traditional Physical Requirements:

• Requires prolonged sitting, standing, bending, stooping and stretching.

• Requires the ability to lift 10 pounds.

• Requires eye-hand coordination, manual dexterity and a normal range of hearing and vision (with or without correction).

Join our team at Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. and be part of a dynamic and innovative company that is transforming the financial technology landscape. Together, we can shape the future of payments and banking solutions while providing unmatched value to our clients.