Principal Engineer

Company Description Canopy helps organizations understand real-world activity in real time by transforming visual data from existing camera infrastructure into actionable intelligence. The platform converts live video into practical insights for retail, construction, transportation, infrastructure, and public spaces, enabling better decisions and more efficient operations. By revealing how people, assets, and environments move and change, Canopy gives customers a clearer picture of what is happening across their physical footprint. The company is focused on empowering businesses, cities, and governments that want to see, understand, and respond to the world as it happens. Canopy is actively building this vision and expanding its team to support the next generation of real-time physical-world analytics.

Role Description As a Principal Engineer at Canopy, this full-time role, you will be responsible for leading the design and development of core platform services that process and analyze real-time visual data. The role includes architecting scalable systems, guiding technical direction, and making high-impact decisions on technology stacks, infrastructure, and engineering best practices. Day-to-day work involves hands-on coding, code reviews, performance optimization, and collaboration with data, product, and delivery teams to turn business needs into robust technical solutions. The Principal Engineer mentors and supports other engineers, establishes engineering standards, and contributes to long-term technical roadmaps that keep the platform secure, reliable, and efficient. This position also involves close collaboration with stakeholders to ensure solutions integrate smoothly with customers camera infrastructure and meet real-world operational demands.

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering skills, including experience with system architecture, API design, and high-performance, distributed applications.
• Proficiency in one or more modern programming languages (such as Python, Go, Java, or C++) and familiarity with microservices and cloud-native development.
• Background in real-time data processing, streaming systems, or computer vision pipelines, ideally working with large-scale visual or sensor data.
• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure), containerization (Docker), and orchestration frameworks (Kubernetes) for production systems.
• Demonstrated ability to lead engineering initiatives, mentor teammates, and establish technical standards and best practices.
• Comfort working closely with product, data, and operations teams to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
• Strong problem-solving, communication, and documentation skills, with the ability to work on-site in Phuket and engage with a diverse, cross-functional team.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience; prior experience in a principal or staff-level engineering role is highly beneficial.