Principal Software Engineer

About the Job

At Otto, we are building a personal AI assistant running on a dedicated device that connects to apps people use every day. Our mobile and desktop apps bring this assistant to users through real-time conversations, connected services, and clear controls over its actions.

Role Overview

We're looking for a Principal Software Engineer to own the technical direction and hands-on development of our React Native mobile experience. This is an individual contributor role combining architectural judgment with strong product instincts. You'll write production code, solve difficult mobile problems, and help ship a polished, reliable app.

What you will do

• Lead the architecture and development of our React Native and Expo app across iOS and Android.
• Build responsive experiences for streaming AI conversations, device onboarding, connected apps, and approvals.
• Design reliable approaches to real-time connections, state synchronization, reconnects, and interrupted user journeys.
• Work across JavaScript and native platform boundaries, including Bluetooth, authentication, deep links, and push notifications.
• Partner closely with design to deliver accessible interfaces with thoughtful interaction details.
• Own mobile performance, production debugging, and release quality.
• Improve testing, developer tooling, and engineering practices where they meaningfully improve reliability and delivery.
• Guide technical decisions and mentor engineers while remaining deeply involved in implementation.

What you will bring

• Deep experience shipping and maintaining production React Native applications on both iOS and Android.
• Experience operating at a principal, staff, lead, or equivalent level with ownership of significant architectural decisions.
• Strong TypeScript and React fundamentals including rendering behavior, state management, and performance.
• Confidence debugging native mobile issues and working with iOS and Android tooling.
• A strong understanding of asynchronous systems, networking, and the mobile application lifecycle.
• Evidence of owning apps beyond launch: diagnosing failures, improving reliability, and evolving the architecture.
• Strong product judgment, attention to interaction quality, and clear communication.

Helpful Experience

• Expo and Expo Router.
• Bluetooth provisioning or connected hardware.
• WebSockets, streaming interfaces, and real-time synchronization.
• Secure messaging and end-to-end encryption.
• Shared mobile and web codebases.
• Consumer products and early-stage engineering teams.