Demo

Principal Software Engineer

University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI Full Time
POSTED ON 4/21/2025
AVAILABLE BEFORE 5/20/2025
How to Apply

A cover letter is required for consideration for this position. In order for the Career Portal system to accept a cover letter, please include a cover letter as the first page of your resume document. The cover letter should specifically address why you are interested in this position and describe specific skills and experiences you have and directly relate them to the responsibilities of, and qualification for, this position.

Job Summary

Working at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR) means being a part of a team committed to discovery and understanding. It means working for the world's largest academic social science survey and research organization, and doing work that really matters to social science in the public interest. The Survey Research Center (SRC) is a collaborative community that conducts cutting-edge research that focus on critical societal issues such as aging, health disparities, and social networks. This position is in the Technical Services Group (TSG) within the Survey Research Operations (SRO). SRO is the operations branch of the Survey Research Center (SRC) at the ISR.

In TSG, we are passionate about leveraging technology to build innovative solutions that support the entire data collection process. We are looking for a mission focused and highly technical software engineer to join our team. You are a highly skilled and experienced Principal Software Engineer that enjoys solving challenging problems as a team. This is a hybrid position, and you will be based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Why Work at Michigan?

Benefits at the University of Michigan: In addition to a career filled with purpose and opportunity, the University of Michigan offers a comprehensive benefits package to help you stay well, protect yourself and eligible family members, and plan for a secure future. https://careers.umich.edu/benefits/

Benefits Include

Generous time off

A retirement plan that provides two-for-one matching contributions with immediate vesting upon meeting eligibility requirements

Many choices for comprehensive health insurance

Life insurance

Long-term disability coverage

Flexible spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses

Responsibilities*

Architecture, Development and Technical Leadership

  • Design and implement technical architecture for our software products
  • Refactor code with performance and future needs in mind
  • Troubleshoot and resolve urgent customer technical issues
  • Ensure software solutions are secure, testable, scalable, maintainable and extensible
  • Design software with the understanding of impacts to the database performance
  • Conduct code reviews and lead adoption of coding standards
  • Research and recommend emerging technologies specifically AI


Collaboration and Mentoring

  • Advocate for coding standards to ensure high-quality code and maintainable software
  • Provide technical guidance across SRO
  • Foster a collaborative and inclusive team culture


Required Qualifications*

  • Bachelor's Degree in a quantitative field such as Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience
  • Working experience as a Principal Software Lead
  • 10 years of experience in software development in C# or Java
  • 10 years of experience designing, implementing and testing a diverse set of software applications, platforms and technologies
  • Experience in SQL Server relational database design and development or other database technologies such as SQLite, Oracle
  • Expertise in areas of design patterns, application architecture, platform architectures, and distributed systems
  • Experience with secure coding practices
  • Strong proficiency with DevOps practices
  • Excellent technical communication skills with an emphasis on fostering collaboration, accountability and high performance
  • Experience working in Agile frameworks


Desired Qualifications*

  • Experience with Cloud computing and designing high throughput microservices
  • Experience with CQRS design pattern and event sourcing
  • Experience with application performance and monitoring with Splunk


Work Schedule

Monday-Friday, days.

Work Locations

This position requires being on-site at the University of Michigan offices in Ann Arbor. If the project tasks assigned, job performance, and SRC policy allow, the option for a hybrid schedule including limited off-site work may be available after an initial period of orientation.

Modes of Work

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

Background Screening

The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third-party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Application Deadline

Institute for Social Research job openings are posted for a minimum of fourteen (14) calendar days. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.

U-M EEO Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.

Salary : $130,000 - $145,000

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