Principal Software Engineer

About Us

Matson has been the leading ocean shipping and logistics provider throughout the Pacific since 1882. We are the supply chain lifeline for Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, and islands of the South Pacific. We also offer the top two ocean shipping services in the world's largest trade lane - Asia to the U.S. West Coast. With our subsidiaries Matson Terminals and Matson Logistics, our business focus is exceeding customer expectations with quality, reliability, and integrity.

We strive to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner and promote land-based environmental programs in Hawaii, Guam, and Alaska. We help improve the communities in which we work and live through our community giving program that annually supports hundreds of local organizations.

Matson is honored to be certified as a Great Place to Work. Our team of dedicated and talented employees consistently deliver exceptional results for our customers and the communities in which we serve.

Learn more at matson.com.

About the Role

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to join our Strategic Innovation team. This role is hands-on and highly technical, with responsibility for designing, building, and owning modern, full-stack applications on AWS. You will operate with a strong bias toward rapid prototyping, MVP development, and production-grade delivery, while providing technical leadership across teams.

This position requires deep expertise in full stack application development using AWS serverless architectures and cloud security, along with the ability to influence design decisions, mentor engineers, and work closely with business stakeholders to translate ideas into working software.

What you'll do:

• Design, architect, and build full stack, serverless applications using AWS best practices.
• Own the end to end lifecycle of applications, from concept and prototyping through production deployment and ongoing support.
• Rapidly develop MVPs, prototypes, and proof of concepts to validate business ideas under tight timelines.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to engineers, including mentoring offshore development teams.
• Establish and enforce engineering best practices, including code quality, testing, security, and documentation.
• Collaborate closely with product, business, and operations teams to understand requirements and deliver scalable, secure solutions.
• Work with DevOps and platform teams to ensure reliable CI/CD pipelines and smooth deployments across environments.
• Perform design and code reviews and drive continuous improvement in development processes and standards.
• Provide architectural direction across multiple applications and initiatives, ensuring consistency, scalability, and long-term maintainability.
• Lead critical technical trade off decisions, balancing speed, cost, risk, and long-term impact.
• Take accountability for production readiness and operational health, including reliability, observability, and cost efficiency.

You have these skills:

• Core Engineering Skills
• Expert-level proficiency in TypeScript / JavaScript, Node.js, and React.
• Strong experience building medium to large-scale web applications.
• Deep understanding of microservices and event-driven architectures.
• Strong database skills across SQL and NoSQL, including Aurora RDS and DynamoDB.
• AWS & Serverless Architecture
• Extensive hands-on experience with AWS serverless services, including:
• Lambda, API Gateway, Cognito, EventBridge, Step Functions
• S3 and CloudFront for front-end delivery
• Strong understanding of AWS security concepts, including IAM, OAuth, Cognito and identity management.
• Experience with Okta is a plus.
• DevOps, CI/CD, and Infrastructure
• Proven experience building fully automated infrastructure and deployments using:
• AWS CloudFormation and AWS CDK
• CodePipeline, CodeDeploy, and GitHub integrations
• Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices.
• Hands-on experience with Linux-based environments.
• Experience with containers and container platforms such as Docker and AWS ECS.
• Tools and Emerging Technologies
• Strong working knowledge of GitHub and modern development workflows.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools such as Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or similar.
• Working knowledge of Large Language Models, including prompt engineering and API integrations.
• Communication and Leadership
• Ability to clearly communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Comfortable working in cross-functional teams and influencing decisions without direct authority.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Creative, pragmatic problem-solver with a bias toward action and delivery.

And these qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent practical experience.
• Approximately 10 years of professional software development experience.
• At least 5 years of hands-on experience building enterprise-grade applications on AWS.
• Prior experience in a technical lead, senior engineer, or principal-level role.

Extra credit if you have:

• Experience working with or leading offshore development teams is a strong plus.
• Experience in shipping, logistics, or transportation domain is strongly preferred.

At Matson, we're looking for people to build a unified team to maintain our values of trust, integrity, and reliability. We welcome people who think rigorously and thoughtfully challenge assumptions.

#MI

Matson is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), age, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, parental status, ancestry, disability, AIDS/HIV status, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, genetic information, or any other protected status. Qualified applicants with arrest and/or conviction records will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with federal and state laws, as well as applicable local ordinances, including, but not limited to, the San Francisco and Los Angeles Fair Chance Ordinances.
View our applicant privacy statement: https://www.matson.com/media/Applicant_Privacy_Statement.pdf.