TL;DR

Principal Engineer SaaS, Ruby, GoLang, MySQL, AWS, AI | Seattle/Remote

PDM Automotive is the fastest-growing tech startup in the aftermarket parts industry. We make the discovery of automotive parts easier for billions of purchases. Our customers are manufacturers and major resellers connecting on PDM’s AI-driven catalog platform. We deal with continuously evolving, complex, and large data sets and integrate them with various external systems. Tech stack: Ruby, GoLang, MySQL, ReactJS, AWS, OpenAI.

We are looking for a Principal Engineer who works closely with the technical co-founder, driving tech decisions, mentoring the growing engineering team of six and wants to be hands-on in platform architecture and software development.

Salary up to $225K + significant equity + benefits

About PDM Automotive

PDM Automotive, based in Seattle, revolutionizes how automotive parts brands reach billions of shoppers worldwide. Since 2018, PDM has become the industry's leading and fastest-growing Product Information Management (PIM) SaaS provider, partnering with the largest brands to drive digital transformation. In an industry over a century old, PDM is at the forefront of change, becoming the single platform for the entire industry to collaborate. Our vision is to simplify over 1B annual transactions across local retail and eCommerce. We are venture-backed by leading VC investors.

Role Description

This is a full-time role in Seattle/Remote for a Principal Engineer at PDM Automotive. You will be the most senior engineer working alongside the technical co-founder. You will be the go-to person for our most challenging and complex technical problems and be a mentor to our team of amazing early-career engineers. This role is primarily remote but preferred in the Greater Seattle Area for collaborative in-person work. You will report to our technical co-founder and work closely with the CEO. PDM Automotive's catalog platform is the leading Product Information Management (PIM) system in the automotive industry, trusted by top manufacturers and resellers alike. With a strong base of satisfied, paying customers, you'll play a key role in advancing our next-generation AI-powered catalog platform, designed to revolutionize how the industry manages and utilizes data. Your time will be spent 15% advising the leadership team on technical strategy and roadmap planning, 15% managing and mentoring the engineering team, 70% hands-on in platform architecture and software development.

What the role isn’t

This isn’t a typical corporate role with rigid structures and predictable challenges. At PDM, you’ll tackle exciting, complex problems in a fast-paced startup environment. While innovation sometimes requires course corrections, we value learning and adaptability as key drivers of success. Perfection isn’t our goal—progress and impact are. If you’re ready to lead through ambiguity, roll up your sleeves, and thrive on building as we grow, this role is for you.

About you

You’re excited by the opportunity to get in early at a fast-growing, venture-backed startup where you can use your skills to make a real impact on the company’s growth. You’re an amazing platform architect and software engineer and always the person other engineers come to for help because you have the ability to quickly spot issues and help fix them. You take full responsibility for your work, you work hard, solve problems, and you want to be rewarded based on the value you deliver. You thrive in dynamic, fast-paced environments where priorities shift, and you're eager to take ownership of complex challenges. You balance action and strategy, knowing when to deliver quick wins and when to push for long-term improvements. Your pragmatism doesn’t sacrifice quality, and you're skilled at getting sh*t done. You have the confidence to push back on anything you don’t agree with and also to be transparent when you don’t know something. You can deal with constant challenges with enthusiasm knowing that solving those challenges is what brings value. No task is beneath you and you’re willing to do what it takes to better the business.

“You need 2 types of people to keep early-stage startups from stagnating:

- someone who’ll shamelessly sell the product before it’s fully ready to be sold (this is our CEO/founder)

- someone who’s embarrassed by this and will push to improve the product faster” (this is you!)"

What's in it for you

PDM is venture-backed. We offer a stimulating, high-growth environment. You'll join a visionary team driving digital transformation in a $1T automotive aftermarket industry. Base compensation is competitive, with significant upside potential through equity (stock options). As a key technical leader, you’ll have a direct and measurable impact on our growth, shaping not only our product but the future of how automotive parts are bought and sold worldwide. You will be working directly with the technical co-founder and have vast influence on technical decisions.

Skills we need you to have already

• Having built, led, and mentored well-performing, healthy engineering teams
• Demonstrated ability to make sound platform architectural decisions
• Experience with large databases and scaling, ideally in MySQL (schemas, indexes, queries)

Skills that are a bonus

• AWS (ECS, Lambda)
• CD/CI pipeline
• Go automated testing (ideally with Ginkgo/Gomega)
• Building of AI agents
• Experience in automotive or e-commerce industries is a plus
• It would be great if you’re a gearhead or car enthusiast
• Working with Ruby

Working with Golang