Principal Software Engineer - Data Infrastructure

HubSpot is an AI-powered customer platform that connects marketing, sales, and service. They are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to shape the technical future of Data Infrastructure, focusing on the architecture and evolution of foundational data systems.

Responsibilities:

• Shape the technical direction for the data platforms that underpin HubSpot’s products, with a focus on the data stores themselves and the systems around them
• Drive architectural decisions across storage, access patterns, scaling models, tenancy, performance, and developer ergonomics
• Help define what the next generation of HubSpot’s database platform should look like, not just how to operate the current one
• Write production code regularly and lead complex initiatives from idea to rollout
• Build internal frameworks, APIs, and platform capabilities that make HubSpot’s data stores easier to adopt, extend, and evolve
• Turn ambiguous infrastructure problems into simple, scalable systems and clear technical direction
• Work across big data, SQL/Vitess, batch, stream processing, and search to establish consistent platform patterns where they matter and domain-specific depth where they do not
• Define reusable abstractions for data storage, ingestion, processing, and access that reduce fragmentation across the engineering organization
• Push for simplicity, clarity, and extensibility in systems that can easily become overly bespoke or operationally heavy
• Partner with engineering and product leaders to align infrastructure direction with what HubSpot needs to build next
• Work horizontally across teams to guide technical tradeoffs, unblock difficult decisions, and raise the architectural bar for platform work
• Act as a multiplier through design reviews, technical mentoring, and principled decision-making on the most important systems in the space

Requirements:

• Deep experience building and evolving large-scale distributed systems, especially storage systems, data infrastructure, or foundational backend platforms
• Strong architectural instincts with a bias toward simplicity, consistency, clear boundaries, and long-term platform leverage
• A track record of owning and delivering complex, cross-team technical initiatives with product-line or company-level impact
• Comfort working across multiple layers of the stack, from storage engines and data flows to APIs, internal frameworks, and developer experience
• A hands-on mindset. You lead by building, debugging, reviewing, and shipping, not by staying removed from the systems you influence
• The ability to move into unfamiliar technical territory quickly, form strong opinions grounded in first principles, and help teams make better long-term decisions