Hybrid Principal Technical Architect

at Grainger

• Job title: Principal Technical Architect
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Lead
• Salary: $160,300 - $267,100 per year
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: Microservices
• Location requirements: Hybrid, Chicago, United States

About the role

• Principal Software Architect leading design of modular business capabilities at Grainger. Collaborating with teams to deliver measurable business outcomes and ensure architectural interoperability.

Responsibilities

• Architect and evolve core capabilities that power Product Information Management and Product Discovery.
• Collaborate with engineers, product managers, and designers to define, prototype, and iterate on services that deliver measurable business outcomes.
• Design services that are flexible, discoverable, and interoperable across the enterprise.
• Provide architectural guidance on data modeling, API design, service boundaries, and internal platform strategy.
• Influence engineering practices across the organization — driving clarity in trade-offs, enabling reuse, and mentoring senior engineers.
• Ensure architectural interoperability with other Domains such as supply chain, customer experience, and merchandising — recognizing that your systems exist as part of an ecosystem, not a silo.

Requirements

• Be able to function effectively in a product-centric engineering culture (as opposed to project-driven delivery)
• Proven ability to design and scale modular software capabilities that serve multiple teams or channels
• Strong understanding of modern enterprise architecture patterns, especially domain-driven design, microservices, event-based systems, and capability modeling
• Strong collaborator, able to bridge product, data, and engineering.
• Communicate effectively with everybody from the most senior leader to the most junior engineer.
• 12+ years in software, with 3+ in a staff-plus or architectural leadership role

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans with coverage starting on day one of employment and 6 free sessions each year with a licensed therapist to support your emotional wellbeing.
• 18 paid time off (PTO) days annually for full-time employees (accrual prorated based on employment start date) and 6 company holidays per year.
• 6% company contribution to a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan each pay period, no employee contribution required.
• Employee discounts, tuition reimbursement, student loan refinancing and free access to financial counseling, education, and tools.
• Maternity support programs, nursing benefits, and up to 14 weeks paid leave for birth parents and up to 4 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents.