KKR · 2 days ago
Principal Backend Engineer
Boston, MA
Full-time
Onsite
Lead/Staff
$200K/yr - $235K/yr
10+ years expKKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management and capital markets solutions. They are seeking a Principal Backend Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and implementation of distributed, data-driven systems within their Operations technology platform, focusing on scalability and operational automation.
AdviceAsset ManagementFinancial ServicesReal EstateVenture Capital
Responsibilities
Define and lead the technical roadmap for operations and data platforms, ensuring scalability, reliability, and extensibility
Architect distributed and event-driven systems to support books of record, investment operations, and reference data services
Lead modernization initiatives leveraging cloud-native technologies, observability, and infrastructure-as-code (AWS/Terraform)
Partner with data engineering and AI teams to productionize AI use cases and services that drive operational automation and insight
Lead design and development of critical backend components written in Python and related frameworks
Establish engineering standards, drive best practices, and ensure delivery of high-quality, maintainable systems
Collaborate closely with product, data, and operations stakeholders to translate business needs into scalable solutions
Drive continuous improvement initiatives around performance, reliability, and developer experience
Partner with product and operations leadership to align technical vision with organizational priorities
Provide architectural guidance across systems integrating financial data, AI services, and internal platforms
Simplify complex technical landscapes and communicate strategy effectively to technical and non-technical audiences
Mentor engineers across multiple teams, fostering deep technical growth and leadership development
Promote a culture of learning, collaboration, and innovation across the engineering organization
Play an active role in recruitment and talent development to attract top engineering talent to KKR
Qualification
Required
10+ years of software engineering experience, with demonstrated technical leadership
Expert-level proficiency in Python, with experience building scalable backend or data systems
Strong hands-on experience with AWS (EKS/ECS, Lambda, S3, DynamoDB, CloudFormation/Terraform)
Deep understanding of distributed systems design (microservices, messaging, caching, concurrency, resilience)
Experience building production AI products (e.g., AI-assisted automation, inference services, or data-driven decision tools)
Experience with data modeling and modern data platforms (Snowflake or data lake architectures)
Strong knowledge of relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and data integrity design
Excellent communication and leadership skills; proven ability to drive alignment across diverse stakeholders
Preferred
Familiarity with AI tooling (e.g., LiteLLM, LangChain, vector databases, LLM APIs)
Background in financial systems or operations technology (accounting, treasury, reference data) is a strong plus
Benefits
Employees may be eligible for a discretionary bonus, based on factors such as individual and team performance.
Company
KKR
KKR is a leading global investment firm that offers alternative asset management as well as capital markets and insurance solutions.
1001-5000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
KKR has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (25)
2024 (13)
2023 (11)
2022 (22)
2021 (8)
2020 (11)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$4.28B2025-08-04Post Ipo Debt· $900M
2025-05-20Post Ipo Debt· $550M
2025-03-04Post Ipo Equity· $2.25B
Leadership Team
Hirofumi Hirano (平野 博文)
Member & Chief Executive Officer of KKR Japan
Scott Nuttall
Co-Chief Executive Officer
Recent News
2026-01-13
Morningstar.com
2026-01-10
alleywatch.com
2025-12-16
Company data provided by crunchbase