Principal Application Engineer (HYBRID)

Piper Companies is seeking a Principal Application Engineer to support the design and delivery of a modern digital life insurance platform through hybrid work in Frederick, MD. This is a senior, hands‑on technical role responsible for driving engineering excellence, shaping scalable system design, and influencing technical direction across multiple products and teams.

Responsibilities of the Principal Application Engineer:

• Design and build scalable, highly available backend systems and distributed microservices using C#/.NET and cloud technologies, ensuring reliability and performance in production.
• Lead complex engineering initiatives by setting technical standards, participating in architecture and code reviews, and removing delivery obstacles.
• Partner with business and technical stakeholders to deliver secure, customer‑focused solutions aligned with enterprise and compliance requirements.
  
  

Qualifications of the Principal Application Engineer:

• 10 years of backend software development experience, with deep hands‑on expertise in object‑oriented programming (C# strongly preferred).
• 3 years designing distributed systems and maintaining live, production‑grade services.
• Strong experience with DevOps, CI/CD, and cloud environments; Azure experience highly preferred.
• Solid understanding of SDLC, Agile methodologies, and secure software development practices.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent professional experience required; Master’s degree preferred.
• Must be eligible to work in the United States.
  
  

Compensation for the Principal Application Engineer:

• Salary Range: $141,300 - $194,300 (depending on experience) 20% annual bonus potential
• Comprehensive benefits; Hybrid Work, Annual Incentive Plan, Sign-on bonus and long-term incentives possible, health, life, and dental insurance, 401K with company match up to 6% as well as a pension package, generous time off, and wellbeing initiatives throughout the year
  
  

This job opens for applications on May 4, 2026. Applications for this job will be accepted for at least 30 days from the posting date.

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