Staff Software Engineer- Payroll Platform
UKG · Lowell, MA
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Jun 29, 2026
Lowell, MA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A principal/staff-level engineering role focused on setting the long-term technical direction for payroll platforms, including distributed systems architecture, cloud-native modernization, and AI integration. Day-to-day work spans hands-on development for critical initiatives, architectural governance across multiple teams, and mentoring senior engineers. Best suited to a seasoned backend engineer with broad full-stack exposure who is comfortable operating at both a strategic and a code level.
Staff level · 6+ years · Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH · Full-time
Advertised as Principal, but the requirements read as Staff.
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 220 people in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 170–290
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $169,742 (middle half $134,780–$187,781).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The role is titled implicitly at the Principal/Staff level — it is described as a cross-team technical authority setting org-wide architectural direction, mentoring senior engineers, and influencing hiring and succession planning. The advertised framing (Principal Engineer scope) exceeds what the 6+ years minimum alone would support, so seniority is assessed as Staff rather than Principal: the JD gives genuine cross-team scope but stops short of org-wide, top-of-ladder authority.
The alt SOC (11-3021 Computer and Information Systems Managers) is flagged because the role includes meaningful people-leadership activities (mentoring, influencing hiring, succession planning, fostering team culture); however, the primary day-to-day work described is hands-on architecture and software engineering, so 15-1252 is the primary classification.
Location is Lowell, MA (3 days/week in-office required), which falls within the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH CBSA.
Degree requirement is set to None because the JD explicitly accepts 'equivalent practical experience' in lieu of a Bachelor's degree.
Cloud platform is listed as 'Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform' — Azure is named first; AWS and GCP are captured as alternatives since any one satisfies the requirement.
'Distributed systems' is retained as a skill because the JD gates on 'significant experience designing and operating large-scale distributed systems' — this is a concrete architectural domain requirement, not a generic soft concept.
AI/LLM-related skills (LLMs, RAG, vector databases, machine learning) appear under a clearly secondary preferred/nice-to-have section and are marked accordingly.
Read the full posting
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