# Principal Software Engineer

**Company:** [Typeface](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/typeface)
**Location:** Palo Alto, CA
**Role:** Fullstack Engineering
**Salary:** $248k – $267k/yr
**Experience:** 10+ years
**Skills:** LLMs, Multimodal Ai, AWS, GCP, Azure, Docker, Kubernetes, Prompt Engineering, Fine-Tuning, Distributed Systems
**Posted:** 2026-01-07

> Principal Software Engineer architects scalable AI systems using LLMs and multimodal AI for enterprise content generation. Leads cross-functional initiatives, mentors engineers, and ensures best practices in cloud-native, distributed systems. Requires 10+ years experience with 3+ in principal roles.

## Job Description

## What You'll Do

As a Principal Engineer, you will:
- Solve **complex architectural challenges** to harness the power of **LLMs and multimodal AI** for scalable, enterprise-grade content generation.
- Lead cross-functional technical initiatives spanning multiple teams and product areas.
- Partner with enterprise customers to deeply understand their challenges and translate them into robust, high-impact solutions.
- Mentor and guide engineers across the organization, raising the bar for technical excellence.
- Advocate for **best-in-class engineering practices**, ensuring security, scalability, and maintainability across the platform.

## How You'll Make an Impact

### Architectural Leadership
- Define and evolve the architecture for AI-driven, multimodal content personalization.
- Evaluate and integrate cutting-edge AI technologies, optimizing for cost, latency, and output quality.

### Cross-Company Impact
- Spearhead engineering initiatives that address critical business priorities.
- Translate complex enterprise customer requirements into practical, scalable solutions.

### Mentorship & Advocacy
- Coach engineers in AI/ML systems, distributed architectures, and multimodal generation pipelines.
- Champion engineering best practices — from code quality to CI/CD, observability, and security.

### Execution Excellence
- Contribute hands-on to code and design when needed.
- Ensure solutions meet **enterprise-grade** standards for security, reliability, and compliance.

## What You Bring
- 10+ years in software engineering, with at least 3+ years in a principal/staff-level IC role.
- Proven experience architecting distributed systems, AI/ML platforms, or large-scale SaaS applications.
- Strong background in cloud-native architecture (**AWS**, **GCP**, **Azure**), containerization (**Docker**, **Kubernetes**), and modern API design.
- Track record of influencing technical direction across multiple teams.
- Excellent communication skills for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Expertise in LLMs (prompt engineering, fine-tuning, inference) and multimodal AI (text, image, video, audio).

**Base Salary**: The range for this role is $247,500-$267,000. Actual compensation may vary based on level, experience, and skillset as assessed in the interview process.

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