Principal Software Engineer (Originations)

Avant is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to help shape the future of our financial technology platform. In this role, youll tackle complex system challenges at scale, influence technical strategy across teams, and build solutions that directly impact millions of customers. Youll work across backend, frontend, and infrastructure layers, driving innovation in a fast-moving, high-impact environment.

As a senior individual contributor, youll set the technical direction, drive cross-team initiatives, and mentor others without direct reports. Youll have broad autonomy, the authority to influence decisions, and the responsibility to ensure execution at a high standard.

What youll do at Avant

• Architect and evolve systems that handle high scale and high availability.

• Set engineering standards for reliability, security, and performance.

• Drive alignment across multiple teams by making tradeoffs visible and rallying others to the best path forward.

• Drive the design and delivery of large-scale, mission-critical systems that cut across teams and domains.

• Serve as a technical leader across backend services and frontend applications, defining patterns others follow.

• Lead key system design efforts, ensuring long-term scalability, maintainability, and performance.

• Collaborate with product managers and business stakeholders to balance short-term product goals with long-term engineering health. You know when to push back and when to lean in.

• Shape technical strategy in environments where solutions are not pre-defined.

• Influence engineers, managers, and executives through technical expertise, clear communication, and well-reasoned proposals.

• Ensure technical excellence while pragmatically meeting business needs, making tradeoffs visible and intentional.

• Support and mentor engineers across the org through pairing, pull request reviews, and design reviews.

Why youre a fit at Avant

• 8-12 years of professional software engineering experience with proven success in complex, full-stack environments.

• Deep expertise in at least one backend language (e.g., Ruby, Python, or equivalent), along with experience with modern frontend frameworks (React preferred).

• Strong database design and scaling experience (Postgres, MySQL, or equivalent).

• Strong DevOps fluency (Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, or similar) in cloud-native environments.

• Comfort navigating ambiguous technical problems and proposing clear, actionable solutions.

• Proven experience driving architectural decisions and delivering systems at scale.

• Exceptional communication skills with technical and non-technical audiences.

• Experience working within Agile Scrum teams.

• A mindset that values engineering craftsmanship, team collaboration, and long-term impact over short-term hacks. We believe in the value of your work and its long-term impact on our company.
  

Nice to Haves:

• Experience in fintech, payments, or regulated industries.

• Hands-on with distributed systems, event-driven architectures, or Kafka.

• Prior experience mentoring engineers at scale or shaping engineering culture.

This role is based on our downtown Chicago Office, located in the Merchandise Mart. We highly value collaboration and our hybrid schedule (M, T, Th in-office) enables flexibility to balance work and individual priorities.

Compensation Range:

The base salary range for this job is USD $140,000 USD - $195,000 USD /Year

Employees new to Avant typically come in below the midpoint of the pay range. The compensation range is based on the level outlined in the job posting, and compensation decisions are dependent on each applicant's experience, skills and abilities.

[If an outstanding applicant's experience and skill level is above or below the qualifications outlined in the job posting, we reserve the right to make an offer at a different level than the one listed in this job posting, which may have a different compensation range.]

This role is eligible for additional incentives, including an annual bonus. These rewards are allocated based on level, impact and performance in the role.

Our benefits include:

• Choice of great Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance Plan options

• 401(k) match

• Flexible Time Off

• Flexible Work Environment - (i.e. Mon/Tues/Thurs in-person)

• Generous Paid Parental Leave, Adoption Assistance and Post-parental leave ramp-up program

• Lunch Allowance (Fooda) and In-office Snacks

• Summer Fridays

• Fun In-Office and Virtual Social Events

• And who doesnt love the swag

Check out our Avant Blog!

We believe that a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences helps us create the most innovative solutions for our customers. We invite you to apply to our positions even if you do not meet 100% of the qualifications listed in the description. If youre passionate about our mission and aligned to our values, we hope youll come contribute to our awesome culture.

Why Avant is the place for you:

At Avant, we believe our values make a difference:

Authenticity. We show up to work as our whole selves and make sure others can too.

Collaboration. We can only succeed when we do so as a team.

Problem-Solving. The harder the problem, the more satisfying the solution.

Customer. We are all owners of the customer experience.

Initiative. Plan. Adapt. Get Sh!t Done.

We believe that great ideas come from anyone and anywhere, that everyone is an owner who drives change, and that we have more fun when we work together. We're problem solvers who love collaborating with intelligent and highly-motivated people to reshape the face of digital banking. Avant offers terrific perks and benefits, fun social events with employees who actually like hanging out together, and a flexible growth environment where trying your hand at new projects and being the active owner of your career path is encouraged and supported.