Principal Engineer / Director of Engineering

Principal Engineer / Director of Engineering

$250,000 - $275,000+ base + equity | San Francisco Bay Area | Predominantly in-person

SODA has partnered with a neurotechnology company developing software and medical technology used in brain health treatment. The first generation of the technology works and is already being used with patients. Your challenge is to decide what comes next.

This is a senior technical role for someone who wants architectural ownership, not a calendar dominated by people management. You’ll inherit a complex system spanning brain imaging, cloud infrastructure, distributed processing, algorithms and medical devices, then define its next generation.

The Opportunity

The initial application focuses on depression. The longer term technical challenge is building a modular architecture capable of supporting many future applications across neurological and psychiatric conditions.

You’ll work directly with the founders, remain close to the engineering and lead an initial team of around five engineers. The architecture isn’t predetermined. You’ll understand what exists, decide what needs to change and lead the work to build it.

What You'll Do

• Build a technical understanding of the system from brain scan to stimulation
• Define the architecture for the next generation of the technology
• Architect an MVP designed to support multiple future clinical applications
• Turn architectural decisions into a clear engineering roadmap
• Lead execution while remaining close to difficult technical problems
• Guide an initial engineering team of around five people
• Partner with founders on major technical and product decisions

What You'll Bring

Essential:

• Deep software engineering and architectural problem-solving ability
• Experience designing complex cloud, distributed or data-intensive systems
• Technical leadership experience while remaining close to engineering
• Ability to understand interconnected systems and make sound architectural trade-offs

Desirable:

• Experience with AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, Linux and Python
• Exposure to regulated software, healthcare or medical devices
• Experience with imaging, MRI/DICOM, scientific computing or C#

We encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every requirement. The right mindset matters as much as the right CV.

What's In It For You

• $275,000+ base salary plus equity
• Ownership of an architecture that hasn't yet been defined
• Direct technical partnership with the founding team
• Complex engineering spanning software, compute, imaging and physical devices
• Technology already being used to support patient treatment

Interested?

If you’re a Principal Engineer ready for broader technical ownership, or a Director who still wants to engineer, this role sits deliberately between those paths.

You’ll inherit something that works. The opportunity is to understand it, challenge it and architect what it becomes next.