Principle Applications Developer

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: $140,000 - $180,000 (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 

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