About OneApp
At OneApp Guarantee, our mission is to make sure everyone has access to housing so they can build financial stability, establish strong community roots, and create better futures for themselves and their families. We build market-driven solutions that reduce risk for property owners while opening doors for renters who need a second chance.
As we grow, we're expanding our platform and launching new products that reshape how the rental housing industry thinks about access, inclusion, and protection. We're proud to partner with many of the country's largest property management companies and are scaling quickly, with an ambitious goal to help 1 million people secure housing by 2032.
Role Overview
We're seeking a Principal Engineer based in the Portland, Oregon area specializing in Architecture & Delivery to serve as our senior technical authority and bridge between product vision and engineering execution. This is a hands-on IC role with significant decision-making authority over technical standards, delivery enablement, and platform evolution.
You'll own technical architecture decisions, establish development standards that accelerate delivery, and ensure our engineering partnerships produce scalable, maintainable solutions. Rather than traditional project management, you'll focus on removing technical bottlenecks, simplifying decision-making, and creating the foundation that allows teams to deliver predictably.
This role reports directly to the COO (temporarily until a CTO is in place), giving you direct access to executive strategic discussions and ensuring technical considerations are represented at the highest levels of company planning.
Key Authority & Decision Rights:
- Shape technical architecture and platform evolution strategies
- Set and enforce development standards that accelerate team velocity
- Approve or block releases based on quality and readiness criteria
- Influence engineering partner performance and technical approaches
- Open requisitions for 1-3 critical in-house technical hires within 12 months
This role offers a clear path toward building our core platform team as we scale, with potential transition to Head of Engineering as we expand our internal technical capabilities.
Our Technology Stack & Scale
Current Scale:
- 71k+ total users
- 3k+ new monthly users
Technology Stack:
- Cloud: AWS EC2
- Backend: Spring MVC, MySQL
- Frontend: Angular, React
- CI/CD: GitLab CI
- Infrastructure: Terraform for IaC
- Observability: Nagios/CloudWatch
- Testing: Internal + Contract testing + e2e smoke tests
- Development: Modern AI-assisted development tools and cutting-edge infrastructure
Development Environment:
- Two-week Scrum sprints with distributed engineering teams
- Git workflows with comprehensive PR review process
- Cloud-based staging and production deployment pipelines
- Established US-based development partnership with 10+ years of successful
Key Areas of Focus
Technical Architecture & Platform Leadership
- Design Scalable Solutions: Transform product requirements into maintainable, performant technical architectures
- Establish Standards: Create development patterns, API designs, and documentation standards that accelerate team productivity
- Drive Platform Evolution: Shape long-term infrastructure strategy and lead architectural decisions for new product launches
- Hands-On Contribution: Write code, conduct architectural reviews, and prototype solutions for complex technical challenges
Technical Enablement & Delivery Excellence
- Remove Bottlenecks: Identify and eliminate technical obstacles that slow down development velocity
- Quality Assurance: Establish definition of done, test coverage standards, and automated quality gates
- Delivery Optimization: Partner with Product to right-size technical scope and ensure realistic sprint commitments
- Release Leadership: Maintain production readiness standards and guide deployment decisions
Engineering Partnership & Knowledge Management
- Technical Partnership: Serve as primary technical liaison with our established US-based development partner
- Standards Enforcement: Ensure coding quality, documentation, and knowledge transfer practices prevent technical debt
- Performance Optimization: Monitor delivery metrics and implement improvements to development processes
- Collaboration Excellence: Work seamlessly across time zones with partners available during US business hours
What Success Looks Like (6-9 months)
- Technical Foundation: Complete architecture assessment and establish roadmap for core platform capabilities
- Delivery Predictability: Enable teams to achieve 85%+ delivery accuracy through better technical planning and standards
- Quality Excellence: Maintain <2% production incident rate with comprehensive monitoring and automated testing
- Platform Scalability: Implement architectural improvements that support 5x user growth without major refactoring
Who You Are
Technical Excellence:
- 8+ years in software engineering with recent hands-on coding experience
- Deep expertise in SaaS platforms, API design, and scalable system architecture
- Experience with modern development stacks (Java/Spring, TypeScript, Angular, Python, React preferred)
- Strong background in cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, DevOps, and AI-assisted development practices
Leadership & Execution:
- Proven experience establishing technical standards that improve team velocity
- Track record of architectural leadership without direct people management
- Experience working with distributed development teams and ensuring quality outcomes
- Expert in agile methodologies with focus on delivery enablement rather than traditional project management
Communication & Collaboration:
- Exceptional ability to translate technical decisions into business impact
- Experience partnering with Product teams on technical feasibility and trade-offs
- Comfortable operating in growth-stage environments where speed and technical excellence must coexist
- Passionate about using technology to expand housing access and create social impact
Career Growth & Impact
This role offers a unique opportunity to shape our technical foundation during a critical growth phase. As we scale toward our 1M housing goal, you'll have the opportunity to:
- Lead Technical Strategy: Own the architectural roadmap for new product launches and platform expansion
- Build Engineering Culture: Establish the technical practices and standards that will guide our growing team
- Transition to Leadership: Potential path to Head of Engineering role as we expand our internal technical team
- Drive Innovation: Pioneer new approaches to rental qualification technology and housing access solutions
Why This Role Matters
At OneApp, we don't just build features—we deliver access to opportunity. As our Principal Engineer, you'll ensure we scale with technical discipline while maintaining the speed and focus required to achieve our mission. This is a rare opportunity to lead technical strategy at a fast-growing company while directly contributing to solving one of society's most pressing challenges.
The direct reporting relationship to our COO ensures your technical insights directly influence company strategy, and your architectural decisions will impact millions of people seeking stable housing.
Benefits & Perks
- Compensation: Competitive base salary with annual performance bonus and meaningful equity participation
- Health Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
- Time Off: Unlimited PTO with encouraged minimum of 20 days annually
- Retirement: 401(k) plan with company matching
- Wellness: $375 monthly personal wellness expense account
- Professional Development: Annual learning & development budget
- Work Environment: Home office setup stipend plus ongoing support
- Team Culture: Annual company retreats (recent destinations include Cancun and Dominican Republic)
- Tools & Technology: Access to premium development tools, AI coding assistants, and cutting-edge infrastructure
Our Mission & Culture
We are tenacious, hungry, compassionate, and humbly confident in expanding access to housing for millions of Americans. OneApp is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for every team member. If you thrive in a high-accountability, team-first culture and are excited to build category-defining event experiences, we’d love to meet you.
OneApp, Inc. is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We prohibit discrimination based on race, religion, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, reproductive health decisions or related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other characteristics protected by applicable local, state or federal laws.
OneApp Inc. is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in our job application process. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please contact us at hr@oneappguarantee.com
OneApp Inc. participates in E-Verify.
