Principal Software Engineer - Data & Geospatial Platforms - Xcalibur Smart Mapping
2 days ago
Madrid
Company profile Xcalibur Smart Mapping is the global leader in airborne and mapping geophysics industry, providing comprehensive and sustainable solutions for mapping and assessing natural capital, renewable and non-renewable resources with +100 years of accumulated experience. With over 1,400 executed projects and more than 50 million linear kilometers flown, we have become global leaders across six continents. Our worldwide presence is underpinned by a fleet of 40 specialized aircraft equipped with state-of-the-art geophysical systems. Our mission is to apply technology and smart data to discover natural capital responsibly, help stakeholders create opportunities for growth and integration, and protect biodiversity — accelerating a just energy transition for a more sustainable economy. Job description As a Principal Software Engineer — Data & Geospatial Platforms, you will play a key role in designing and evolving next-generation cloud-native platforms combining geospatial systems, large-scale Earth data, artificial intelligence, and distributed architectures. You will work closely with engineering, AI, geoscience, product, and business teams to build scalable systems capable of transforming complex Earth and geospatial data into operational and decision-ready platforms. This is a senior hands-on technical leadership role combining architecture, platform engineering, software development, and technical mentorship. We expect you to remain deeply technical while helping define the long-term technical direction of the platform ecosystem. Key responsibilities Technical Leadership • Lead architecture and technical decisions across backend systems, cloud infrastructure, APIs, and platform services., • Design scalable, observable, and maintainable distributed systems., • Define engineering standards, best practices, and platform governance., • Drive technical evolution initiatives including scalability, async processing, real-time systems, and cloud optimization., • Ensure platform reliability, security, performance, and operational efficiency., • Maintain and evolve architectural documentation, technical roadmaps, and engineering guidelines. Hands-on Engineering • Write and review production-quality software across backend services, APIs, infrastructure, and platform tooling., • Build and evolve cloud-native applications and distributed services., • Prototype new capabilities and validate technical approaches through real implementation., • Resolve complex production incidents and participate in technical postmortems., • Collaborate closely with AI, geospatial, and data engineering teams. Team Collaboration & Mentorship • Mentor software engineers across backend, frontend, and infrastructure domains., • Participate in technical hiring and engineering evaluations., • Promote a strong engineering culture focused on ownership, pragmatism, quality, and continuous improvement., • Help teams make better technical decisions through collaboration and guidance. Product & Stakeholder Collaboration • Translate business and product requirements into scalable technical solutions., • Collaborate with multidisciplinary stakeholders balancing delivery speed, scalability, and technical debt., • Communicate technical concepts, trade-offs, and risks clearly to technical and non-technical audiences., • Support technical discussions with strategic customers and partners when required. Knowledge and Skills Technical skills • Strong experience designing and building modern backend platforms using Python and modern web frameworks., • Experience with distributed systems architectures and cloud-native infrastructure., • Experience designing and implementing scalable APIs and asynchronous systems., • Strong knowledge of relational databases and large-scale data architectures., • Experience with Infrastructure as Code and modern cloud environments., • Excellent programming skills and experience developing production-quality software., • Experience with modern frontend frameworks and TypeScript ecosystems is a plus., • Experience with Kubernetes and containerized workloads is a plus., • Experience working with geospatial technologies, spatial databases, or Earth observation datasets is a plus., • Familiarity with AI/ML-enabled systems or data-intensive platforms is a plus., • Experience with Google Cloud Platform or similar cloud ecosystems is a plus. Non technical skills • Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities., • Pragmatic mindset with the ability to balance scalability, delivery, and business impact., • Strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical audiences., • Ability to operate autonomously and drive technical initiatives from concept to production., • Strong team player capable of working in demanding and fast-changing environments., • Leadership and mentoring capabilities with a collaborative mindset., • Ability to make decisions with incomplete information and defend them with sound technical reasoning. Experience and Education • 7+ years of professional experience in software engineering, including senior or staff-level technical leadership responsibilities., • Experience building scalable cloud-native platforms and distributed systems., • Previous experience in high-growth technology environments or complex engineering teams is a plus., • Working knowledge of geospatial, mapping, or geophysics-related platforms is a plus., • Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or related technical field., • Certifications in Cloud, Software Architecture, Data Engineering, or related areas are a plus., • Fluent in English. What we offer • Flexible work environment, • High-impact technical ownership, • Exposure to large-scale data, AI, and cloud-native systems, • International multidisciplinary teams, • Professional development support and certifications, • Competitive compensation package, • Opportunity to shape next-generation geospatial and Earth data platforms