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Principal Software Engineer

248k – 267kPalo Alto, CAFullstack EngineeringHybrid10+ YOE
Summary

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.

About the role

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.

Skills
LLMsMultimodal AIAWSGCPAzureDockerKubernetesPrompt EngineeringFine-tuningDistributed Systems
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