Principal engineer

About Volumio
Volumio is a premium audio streaming company that has been pioneering high-fidelity music playback for over 10 years. We develop both hardware and software solutions that deliver audiophile-grade streaming experiences. Our latest innovation, CORRD, is an AI-driven music discovery platform that breaks users out of algorithmic bubbles by unifying multiple streaming services.
We're a lean, technically-driven team of innovators based in Florence, passionate about delivering exceptional audio experiences through elegant software and hardware integration.

The Role
We're seeking an experienced Principal Engineer / Tech Lead to drive the technical evolution of Volumio’s core platform. This is a senior, high-impact role at the intersection of backend systems, embedded Linux, and audio infrastructure. You will be responsible for shaping architecture, guiding technical decisions, and ensuring long-term scalability, performance, and audio integrity across Volumio’s ecosystem.

This role goes beyond implementation: you’ll act as a technical reference for the team, work closely with product and leadership, and help define how Volumio’s software platform evolves as our products and user base grow.

What you’ll do

Own and evolve the architecture of Volumio’s core backend and system services
Lead the design of scalable, modular, and service-oriented systems
Drive technical direction across backend, audio pipeline, and embedded Linux components
Ensure high standards for audio quality, reliability, and performance
Review designs and implementations with a long-term, system-level perspective
Mentor engineers and raise the overall technical bar of the team
Collaborate closely with product, hardware, and mobile teams to align technical solutions with business goals
Make and defend architectural decisions in complex, ambiguous environments
Core Technical Skills
5+ years of professional software engineering experience
Strong background in systems or backend architecture
Solid understanding of audio playback pipelines:
PCM/DSD, resampling, bit-perfect playback
OS audio stacks (ALSA/Pipe Wire/Core Audio/WASAPI)
Strong background in Linux, better if relevant to audio, networking, and devices
Platform & Architecture
Proven experience designing service-oriented or modular architectures
Strong knowledge of containerization (Docker/LXC/Run C, Linux namespaces, cgroups)
Familiarity with g RPC, Web Sockets, event-driven architectures
Languages & Tooling
Comfortable working in Node.js environments (to understand and evolve the existing system)
Strong proficiency in at least one systems-friendly language (e.g. Go)
Experience with CI/CD, observability, and production diagnostics
Leadership
Prior experience as Tech Lead, Principal Engineer, or Architect
Ability to drive decisions in ambiguous, evolving systems
Comfortable pushing back on shortcuts that compromise long-term portability
Nice to Have
Direct experience with MPD or similar audio daemons
Embedded/Linux audio product experience
Experience with Flutter
Background in consumer electronics, audio hardware, or Io T
Experience designing plugin ecosystems or third-party SDKs
Why join Volumio

Work on high-end audio systems used by music enthusiasts worldwide
Principal-level ownership with direct influence on architecture and strategy
Small, highly technical team with strong engineering culture
Opportunity to work across backend systems, embedded Linux, and audio pipelines
Flexible work environment
Be part of innovative projects like CORRD that are reshaping music discovery
Location
Based in Florence, Italy, or remote, with regular collaboration overlap with CET timezone