Principal Software Engineer

About OpenFn: OpenFn is a mission-driven, public service automation platform operating globally as an open-source digital public good. Backed exclusively by prominent international philanthropic capital, our software engine enables sovereign governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to connect highly complex digital systems—spanning civic registries, healthcare microservices, and modern AI models—into resilient, unified data workflows. Operating across more than 40 countries and counting, the Open Function Group designs, open-sources, and deploys high-availability software platforms that bring infrastructure-grade digital public services directly to millions of citizens worldwide.

Position Overview

We are seeking a vision-driven, highly autonomous Principal Software Engineer to join our fully remote, agile engineering group. In this high-impact technical leadership seat, you will act as a primary stack architect, taking end-to-end code ownership over features that enable global partners to wire up distributed datasets, interface natively with generative AI agents, analyze edge cases, and perform real-time pipeline debugging. Serving as a technical compass for other engineers, you will author the operational pattern book for our modern user interface architecture—defining design system tokens, build pipelines, and layout frameworks. This role demands a seasoned full-stack developer who values craftsmanship and wants to apply JavaScript depth to build systems that governments can rely upon.

Key Responsibilities

• Full-Stack Product Architecture: Own, develop, and scale end-to-end platform features across the entire web application stack, connecting data ingestion flows with dynamic user dashboards.
• UI Pattern Book Stewardship: Set the comprehensive technical vision for our user interface architecture, defining component design patterns, build tooling configurations, and state management mechanisms.
• AI-Powered Interface Design: Program interactive developer interfaces, including real-time canvas editors, inline code-generation fields, streaming chat nodes, and multi-user collaboration modules.
• Infrastructure-Grade Quality Assurance: Enforce high craftsmanship standards through meticulous code reviews, system-level documentation, and architectural guidance to ensure platform resilience against failure.
• Microservice & Integration Engineering: Design and maintain robust cloud integrations leveraging APIs, WebSockets, CI/CD automation pipelines, and automated testing strategies.
• Cross-Functional Roadmap Syncing: Partner closely with internal Product and Design squads to collaboratively scope what gets built, driving experimental validation loops to test software prototypes rapidly.

Required Skills & Qualifications

• 7+ years of verified professional history running complex backend or frontend web applications, with authoritative, deep expertise in JavaScript ecosystems.
• Demonstrated history of shaping and maintaining the technical architecture of complex, multi-user enterprise software platforms or developer tools.
• Extensive experience building rich, interactive user interfaces featuring canvas layouts, streaming mechanisms, or real-time web configurations.
• Strong functional literacy across adjacent stack boundaries, including API routers, build tooling, WebSockets communication, and automated regression testing.
• Outstanding verbal and written communication mechanics, optimized to drive asynchronous alignment via GitHub, Slack, and Figma.
• Location Context: Full-time contract parameters structured for engineers operating within Africa or Europe time zones, with an explicit corporate preference for candidates based in Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, or Nigeria.

Preferred Strategic Indicators (Nice to Have)

• Prior experience building or evolving programmatic design systems, component libraries, and structural frontend design tokens used by external developers.
• Hands-on familiarity with component-driven or Model-View-Controller (MVC) frameworks such as Phoenix LiveView.
• Background contributing to open-source code repositories, international development systems, or civic tech initiatives.
• Bilingual or multi-language verbal proficiency, with the ability to interface with global cross-border communities.

What We Offer

• The exceptional engineering canvas to build open-source digital public infrastructure directly impacting millions of lives across developing economies.
• Highly competitive contract compensation packages calibrated transparently to match your engineering background and JavaScript expertise.
• Complete work-from-home remote flexibility complemented by regular in-person team meetups across Europe and Africa.
• Profound structural influence and leadership autonomy within a lean, mission-focused, and non-bureaucratic technology group.