Principal IT Solutions Engineer

Location: Oakland, CA

Onsite Flexibility: Hybrid — 2 days per month in the office

• Position Type: Contract
• Contract Duration: 12 months
• Pay Rate: $100.00–$110.00 / Hour (USD)
• Work Authorization: Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.

Help us change the electric utility industry from the inside! Join a small, high-performing team within a leading utility company that is working on a portfolio of exciting and innovative projects to transform the electric grid into a smarter grid that works with and for customers. The GRiD team is charting the future of the utility and the energy industry as part of the Utility Partnerships & Innovation division.

Project Charlie is seeking a Lead Software Engineer – Mobile & Platforms to provide senior technical leadership for the design, development, and evolution of a new customer-facing mobile application platform. This role begins as a hands-on senior individual contributor and technical authority and will progressively build and lead a small internal engineering team as the platform matures.

The Lead Software Engineer owns mobile and backend architecture, guides implementation decisions, coordinates integration across enterprise systems, and leads delivery through technical direction, mentorship, and increasing team leadership responsibility.

• Provide hands-on technical leadership for the Project Charlie mobile application platform from initial design through launch monitoring, and ongoing evolution.
• Design, implement, and maintain mobile applications, backend services, and supporting APIs.
• Own and influence end-to-end solution architecture across mobile, cloud services, enterprise integrations, and platform dependencies.
• Lead technical integration with internal systems, ensuring reliability, scalability, and long-term maintainability.
• Design and integrate IoT, grid edge, and device-generated data into backend services and customer-facing mobile experiences.
• Partner closely with internal IT, security, and platform teams to ensure compliance with technology standards, privacy, security, and regulatory requirements.
• Serve as the technical authority for architecture decisions, design trade-offs, and implementation approaches.
• Guide and mentor engineers — internal and vendor — through design reviews, code reviews, and day-to-day technical leadership.
• Provide technical oversight and governance for external engineering vendors and contracted partners, ensuring quality and architectural consistency.
• Contribute to delivery planning, dependency management, and mitigation of technical risk in partnership with Product and Program leadership.
• Help define the engineering team structure and hiring approach, participating in hiring, onboarding, and development of a small internal team over time.

• 10 years of software engineering experience with demonstrated technical leadership
• Strong background in mobile application development (iOS, Android, and/or cross-platform frameworks)
• Strong background in backend services, APIs, and cloud platforms
• Strong background in system and solution architecture
• Experience designing or integrating systems that consume IoT, sensor, or device-generated data
• Strong hands-on coding capability across modern software stacks
• Proven ability to lead teams and influence without owning all implementation details
• Experience working with external vendors or consulting firms

• Experience building and scaling customer-facing digital products
• Experience with event-driven, or near-real-time data architectures
• Experience supporting products through launch and post-launch iteration

• Trusted technical leader with strong architectural judgment and a pragmatic approach to building scalable platforms
• Effective people and partner manager who builds strong teams, collaborates well across IT and Product, and holds external vendors accountable
• Accountable, adaptable operator who drives delivery through ambiguity, anticipates risks, and communicates clearly in a regulated environment

• Local candidates only
• Hybrid schedule: 2 days per month in the office; Oakland, CA
• Client laptop will be provided; any other tools will be provided by the vendor
• Travel reimbursement for business-related travel may be available with prior manager approval

• Medical, Vision, and Dental Insurance Plans
• 401k Retirement Fund

This client is a leading utility and energy company serving millions of customers across the United States, delivering reliable natural gas and electric service at scale. Headquartered in Oakland, CA, the organization is actively undergoing a major digital transformation, with growing initiatives in AI, data modernization, and smart grid innovation. The company employs professionals across engineering, IT, data science, product ownership, and supply chain disciplines — all working together to shape the future of the energy industry.

GTT is a minority-owned staffing firm and a subsidiary of Chenega Corporation, a Native American-owned company in Alaska. We highly value diverse and inclusive workplaces and support Fortune 500 organizations across banking, financial services, technology, life sciences, biotech, utilities, and retail sectors throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Job Number: 26-08061