Principal Software Engineer for Python

The Advisory Board Company is a best practices firm that uses research, technology, and consulting to improve the performance of 5,500+ health care organizations and educational institutions. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices worldwide, we forge and find the best new ideas and proven practices from our network of thousands of leaders, then we customize and hardwire them into every level of member organizations, creating enduring value.

The Principal Software Engineer is a critical member of the Education Advisory Board's technology team and is deeply involved in the full product life cycle of multiple applications and the supporting data architecture. S/he will be part of a team of engineers working on the implementation of next generation technology for the education industry. This is a senior level and team leadership role. Key ingredients are an agile and adaptable mindset, self-motivated entrepreneurial spirit, capacity to give and receive constructive criticism, and a willingness to equally teach and learn.

* Work with the business team to clarify business requirements and provide effective technical designs aligning with industry best practices * Drive the design and implementation of scalable, high performing and robust applications delivered using a Software as a Service (SaaS) model * Ensure a high level of quality through design and implementation of unit, system integration, and load testing * Recommend and implement new technologies and architectures to ensure applications remain current and robust * Work with the Operations team to ensure smooth rollout of new releases * Provide technical mentorship and guidance to more junior engineers

**Must Haves:** * Bachelor’s degree or relevant experience * 8+ years of professional software development experience * 4+ years of Python programming experience * 4+ years of Django/flask or similar frameworks * 1+ years of Javascript experience, Angular, React or Ember * Experience working in an Agile environment * REST API development experience * Experience using secure application development patterns * Web development experience (HTML/CSS) * Experience working with a team in a continuous integration environment using tools such as git, bash shell, docker **Even Better:** * Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering * 10+ years of software development experience * 6+ years of Python development experience * 4+ years of Django experience * 4+ years developing REST API * 1+ years of Django Rest Framework experience * 2+ years of Javascript experience, including Angular 1, React, ES6 and associated tooling such as Gulp and Webpack * Demonstrated Ability to learn new technologies * Demonstrated knowledge of multiple languages/alternative frameworks * Demonstrated analytical and problem solving skills * Ability to provide technical expertise to more junior team members and consult with other application engineers to tune and performance test an existing code base