Principal Systems Engineer

Description
The Principal Systems Engineer will serve in a key hands‑on and technical leadership role supporting the design, development, and maintenance of mission‑critical electronic toll collection (ETC) and roadway transaction processing systems. This position is well‑suited for a senior engineer who excels in high‑volume, real‑time, transaction‑driven environments, enjoys mentoring teams, and remains deeply engaged in system architecture and code. In this role, you will contribute to systems that process millions of tolling transactions, integrate with roadside and back‑office platforms, and operate 24/7 across major transportation agencies. This position is vital to sustaining existing tolling platforms while helping shape the next generation of scalable, high‑performance solutions.

Summary
The Principal Systems Engineer is responsible for the architecture, development, enhancement, and operational support of software systems that ingest, process, and persist large volumes of tolling and payment transactions into relational databases. The role works closely with DBAs, system administrators, software engineers, QA teams, and product stakeholders, supporting both roadside hardware platforms and modern cloud ready solutions. It requires deep technical expertise, strong architectural judgment, and the ability to lead in performance critical, high availability environments.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Include the following. Other duties may be assigned.
• Design, implement, and enhance high performance tolling and transaction processing software.
• Provide technical leadership and mentoring to an engineering team through hands on development.
• Propose innovative technical solutions and clearly communicate technical recommendations.
• Collaborate with developers, DBAs, QA engineers, and operations personnel on design, enhancements, and troubleshooting.
• Diagnose complex system issues, identify root causes, and implement durable solutions.
• Monitor system performance and reliability; proactively identify risks and bottlenecks.
• Maintain detailed technical documentation and provide clear written and verbal updates.
• Support production environments, including providing after hours or weekend support when needed.

Education
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Software Engineering, or a related field from an accredited four-year institution (or equivalent experience).

Experience
• The role typically requires 14–17 years of related experience.
• The experience requirements listed below contribute toward the total years of required experience.
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Required Qualifications
• 10+ years of professional experience with systems architecture and design across hardware and software domains.
• 5+ years of C development in real time, embedded, or performance critical systems.
• 5+ years of C#/.NET development with enterprise or distributed transaction systems.
• 5+ years of database development experience, including T SQL/SQL (Microsoft SQL Server preferred).
• Proven experience leading or mentoring engineers in an Agile/Scrum environment.
• Demonstrated success deploying, supporting, and maintaining large scale, high availability systems.
• Hands on experience processing high volume transactional data into relational databases.
• Strong background with Linux and Windows environments.
• Experience with socket based communication, low latency systems, and binary message formats.
• Ability to adapt to rapidly shifting priorities while maintaining high code quality and reliability.

Preferred Experience
• Experience in electronic toll collection (ETC), intelligent transportation systems (ITS), payments, or high volume transaction platforms.
• Familiarity with roadside equipment (RSE), lane controllers, or hardware software integrated systems.
• Knowledge of proprietary protocols, ITS standards, or custom binary communication schemas.
• Exposure to 24/7 operational environments, on call rotations, and production incident response.

Physical Demands / Work Environment
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit for extended periods of time and frequently use a computer, keyboard, and mouse. Occasional travel and fieldwork may be required. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
* The Company complies with federal and state disability laws and provides reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities.