Principal Engineer – Systems Architecture & Scalability

Principal Engineer – Systems Architecture & Scalability

At Xsolla, we build the backbone of global video game commerce — powering payments, publishing, player identity, and distribution for thousands of game developers worldwide. With millions of daily transactions, petabytes of data, and dozens of interconnected systems, we are continuously evolving our architecture to be faster, more modular, and globally scalable.

We're seeking a Principal Engineer who thrives on untangling complexity — someone who can transform tightly coupled legacy systems into well-structured, service-oriented architectures, and guide engineering teams toward scalable, maintainable solutions that empower distributed development across the globe.

What You'll Do

• Lead large-scale architectural refactoring initiatives — breaking down complex monoliths into modular, decoupled services with clear ownership boundaries and well-defined APIs.
• Define and evolve system architecture principles that support scalability, high availability, and ease of deployment across multi-region environments.
• Design strategies for multi-tenancy, data isolation, and schema evolution to support Xsolla's growing portfolio of products and clients.
• Provide technical leadership across multiple teams — advising on system decomposition, domain-driven design, and dependency management.
• Establish and guide database architecture strategy, including data partitioning, replication, caching, and observability practices for large-scale distributed systems.
• Collaborate with platform, infrastructure, and DevOps teams to ensure systems are cloud-native, fault-tolerant, and horizontally scalable.
• Act as a trusted architectural advisor for engineering leadership, helping prioritize modernization efforts and technical debt reduction initiatives.
• Conduct architecture reviews, ensuring that performance, maintainability, and scalability are baked into every stage of the software lifecycle.
• Mentor senior engineers and architects, fostering a culture of design excellence and long-term technical vision.

What We're Looking For

• Experience transitioning monolithic enterprise systems to microservices or service mesh architectures.
• Familiarity with domain-driven design (DDD), CQRS, and event sourcing principles.
• Prior work in multi-product platforms where shared infrastructure and modular boundaries are key.
• Knowledge of data federation, API gateway patterns, and global scaling strategies.
• Background in technical leadership for distributed or hybrid engineering organizations.

Why Xsolla

• Shape the future architecture of a global-scale game commerce platform used by millions worldwide.
• Collaborate with world-class engineers across continents in a culture that values technical mastery and autonomy.
• Drive modernization initiatives that directly influence the scalability, velocity, and resilience of Xsolla's core systems.
• Enjoy competitive compensation, a global team environment, and opportunities for long-term technical leadership.

At Xsolla, we are passionate about providing a conducive environment for our team to thrive personally and professionally. Our comprehensive Benefits Program caters to the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of our full-time employees and their families. This includes 100% company-paid medical, dental, and vision plans, disability and life insurance, chiropractic coverage, flexible spending accounts, and a fully vested 401(k) retirement plan with a 4% company match from the start date.

Understanding the detrimental effects of burnout, we offer unlimited Flexible Time Off and 14 paid holidays each year. Personal and professional development is a cornerstone of our ethos at Xsolla. Each employee has a personalized career roadmap, developed in partnership with their manager, aligning individual and company goals. We support this growth through in-house training, independent study, conference attendance, and higher education opportunities.

Xsolla is a global leader in video game commerce, established in 2005. Our mission is to simplify the complexities of global distribution, marketing, and monetization in the gaming industry. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with offices worldwide, we support major gaming titles and partners. Our deep commitment to gaming's blend of technology and artistry drives our continuous innovation and dedication to our partners' success.

The role involves typical office activities such as sitting, standing, bending, lifting, and moving intermittently during working hours. These requirements can be met with or without reasonable accommodations. The responsibilities of this position are dynamic and may evolve to align with the organization's goals and objectives.