About the role

At Vanta, our mission is to help businesses earn and prove trust. We believe that security should be monitored and verified continuously, and we empower companies to practice better security and prove it with ease. Vanta has a kind and talented team, and while some have prior security experience, many have been successful at Vanta without it. Vanta is transforming how companies build and scale trust. As a Principal Engineer, you'll define the golden path for frontend development across the organization—establishing patterns, standards, and systems that enable our product engineering teams to ship faster while maintaining the highest quality. While Vanta has strong backend engineering practices, our frontend capabilities are still maturing. This is your opportunity to establish what "frontend good" looks like at Vanta: defining best practices for data layer architecture, state management, testing frameworks, and design systems. You'll work closely with our AI Developer Experience team on cutting-edge AI tooling and agentic feedback loops for AI-generated frontend code—ensuring our AI-assisted development maintains quality and consistency. You'll operate across multiple teams within both Platform and Product Engineering, especially our Design Systems and Frontend Platform teams to influence engineering-wide standards. This is a hands-on role where you'll embed with teams to solve complex problems, write code alongside engineers, and zoom out to write strategic documents for executive audiences. You'll partner directly with the Head of Platform Engineering to drive operational excellence and technical strategy for frontend at Vanta. Visit our Vanta Engineering Blog to learn more about what our team is working on! What you’ll do as a Principal Engineer at Vanta: Define and drive the technical strategy for frontend development across Vanta, establishing patterns and standards that scale Establish best practices for data layer architecture, state management, testing frameworks, and design systems organization-wide Partner with our AI Developer Experience team to build cutting-edge AI tooling and agentic feedback loops for AI-generated frontend code Embed with teams to solve complex technical problems hands-on, spending approximately 50% of your time writing code Drive operational excellence initiatives across Platform teams, including metrics definition, standard-setting, and org-wide rollout Influence engineering-wide decisions and strategy through technical leadership and clear communication with executive audiences Work across Design Systems, Frontend Platform, and Product Engineering teams to create shared solutions with broad organizational impact Mentor and coach engineers across the organization, helping them level up their frontend skills and architectural thinking How to be successful in this role: Expert-level proficiency in JavaScript and deep experience with modern frontend technologies Experience with GraphQL and building scalable data architectures for web applications Broad technical knowledge across testing frameworks, build systems, accessibility standards, internationalization, and localization Proven track record of driving organization-wide technical initiatives and influencing engineering strategy Demonstrated ability to balance hands-on technical work with strategic thinking and executive communication Strong skills in building platforms and tools for other developers, with a focus on consumable APIs and excellent developer experience Experience leading technical change while maintaining product velocity and quality Ability to navigate ambiguity, identify high-leverage work, and know when to delegate versus embed deeply Excellent verbal and written communication skills, capable of influencing peers and leadership across the organization Track record of building relationships and navigating complex organizational dynamics Open to using AI to amplify their skills and strengthen their work - demonstrating curiosity, a willingness to learn, and sound judgment in applying AI responsibly to improve efficiency and impact. What you can expect as a Vanta’n: Industry-competitive salary and equity Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, with 100% of employee-only benefit premiums covered for most medical plans 16 weeks fully-paid Parental Leave for all new parents Health & wellness stipend Remote workspace, internet, and cellphone stipend Commuter

About Vanta

About Vanta Vanta (YC W18) is the leading automated compliance and trust management platform designed to simplify and centralize compliance and security workflows for organizations of all sizes.

Why YC Startups Need Vanta As a YC company, proving your security compliance is crucial for hitting new milestones—from finding product market fit, to selling to bigger customers. We would know, we’ve been there—and we’ve helped over 10,000 customers do just that! Vanta's all-in-one solution, combined with expert service partners, helps you quickly and painlessly achieve and maintain compliance with top frameworks—like SOC 2 and ISO 27001—and build a strong security foundation, so you can close bigger deals and scale faster. Learn more at vanta.com.

YC Companies get Exclusive Discounts on Vanta’s packages: Vanta’s packages for startups are designed to make security and compliance easier, faster, and more cost-effective. Whether you’re closing your first deal or gearing up for growth, our all-in-one solution provides the tools necessary to become compliant quickly, demonstrate your security posture, and build a strong security foundation.

Why Vanta?

Built for startups: Vanta knows startups. We went through YC in 2018 and have since helped thousands of startups, including YC companies Supabase (YC S20), Fern (YC W23), and Newfront (YC W18) achieve and maintain compliance quickly. Startups like Charityvest (YC S20), BreachRX, and Flo Health have gone from zero to SOC 2 Type I or ISO 27001 certification in 10 days or less with Vanta.

Future-proof, feature-rich, automated platform: Vanta’s modular platform is built for the needs of today and tomorrow, including:

35+ frameworks spanning security, privacy, industry, geographic, and custom frameworks
375+ integrations that automate evidence collection for these frameworks
1,200+ automated, hourly tests to ensure real, continuous security—not just at audit time, but all the time
Pre-built policy templates, lightweight agent for security checks, background checks, cyber insurance, cookie consent management, auditor portal, user access reviews, security awareness training, risk assessments, vendor security reviews, managing vulnerabilities, and more
Tailored support for early-stage companies: Vanta offers internal, no-cost Customer Success and GRC (compliance) experts, robust technical support, detailed documentation, and a 24/7 chatbot for frequently asked questions.
(Optional) Purchase Vanta with auditors experienced in your framework and the Vanta platform, or choose from a range of MSP/consulting partners for additional services like penetration tests and virtual CISO support—some at no cost. We don’t force vendor lock-in.
Transparent pricing and promises: Vanta strives to do what it says on the tin: we believe in setting and meeting customer expectations. We offer flexible contracts, fair and transparent pricing, and publish our support metrics. We prefer to focus on helping customers succeed and let them explain why they chose us over others—check out our G2 reviews and customer case studies!

Proven market leader and well-funded: Vanta was founded in 2018 and has raised $350M with over 700 employees. We’ve guided over 10,000 customers through their first or multiple audit cycles for various frameworks. These customer learnings and our funding help drive a fast pace of product development to delight customers and ensure Vanta will be there for you in the future.

Interested in seeing why Upflow (YC W20), Tailor (YC S22), and hundreds of other YC companies trust Vanta to automate compliance so they can focus on scaling? Reach out to our team at [email protected] to get started!

Principal Software Engineer, Platform

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