# Principal Engineer

Occupation

Canonical page: https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/principal-engineer

A Principal Engineer is one of the most senior individual-contributor technical roles in an engineering organization, responsible for defining system architecture and driving scalability and performance engineering decisions across multiple teams. They provide technical leadership and cross-team mentorship, often setting standards for cloud computing adoption and guiding major technical investments company-wide. This role is typically held by a highly experienced engineer with 10+ years of experience who influences engineering strategy at a level comparable to a director, without direct management responsibilities.

Top skills: [Cloud Computing](https://career.thegoodapps.co/skills/cloud-computing)

## Career ladder

- Often comes from: [Senior C Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/senior-c-engineer), [Senior Embedded Systems Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/senior-embedded-systems-engineer), [Senior Firmware Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/senior-firmware-engineer), [Senior Materials Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/senior-materials-engineer), [Senior Software Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/senior-software-engineer), [Staff Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/staff-engineer)
- Often leads to: [Director of Engineering](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/director-of-engineering), [Distinguished Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/distinguished-engineer)

## Similar roles

[Distinguished Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/distinguished-engineer), [Engineering Manager](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/engineering-manager), [Senior Site Reliability Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/senior-site-reliability-engineer), [Software Architect](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/software-architect), [Staff Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/staff-engineer)

## Open Principal Engineer roles (6)

- [Principal Engineer](https://elevancehealth.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/ANT/job/GA-ATLANTA-740-W-PEACHTREE-ST-NW/Principal-Engineer_JR201269) at [Elevance Health](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/elevance-health) — Atlanta, GA (listed on Elevance Health's own careers site)
- [Principal Engineer](https://jabil.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Jabil_Careers/job/Chihuahua/Principal-Engineer_J2458969) at [Jabil](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/jabil) — Chihuahua (listed on Jabil's own careers site)
- [Principal Engineer, Hybrid Bonding Module](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/146bb129-b078-457b-9faa-9c7baee00e12/principal-engineer-hybrid-bonding-module-at-intel) at [Intel](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/intel) — Full-time, Hillsboro, OR, $211,400 – $298,440
- [Principal Engineer, APTD](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/ebceac6a-a289-4063-96c0-2a9d9de05c75/principal-engineer-aptd-at-micron-technology) at [Micron Technology](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/micron-technology) — Boise, ID
- [Principal Technical Director, AI-Enabled Spectrum Dominance](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/2b889712-177b-4bfc-a5c6-5ed98cd2b8ec/principal-technical-director-ai-enabled-spectrum-dominance-at-voyager) at [Voyager](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/voyager) — Washington, DC
- [Principal Engineer - Standard Cell Design](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/814ecc3e-0d12-4154-8fb7-6f3d19597797/principal-engineer-standard-cell-design-at-intel) at [Intel](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/intel) — Full-time, $220,920 – $311,890

## Likely next role (15)

Where Principal Engineers commonly go next: [Director of Engineering](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/director-of-engineering), [Distinguished Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/distinguished-engineer).

- [Distinguished Engineer](https://elevancehealth.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/ANT/job/IL-CHICAGO-233-S-WACKER-DR-STE-3700/Distinguished-Engineer_JR199998) at [Elevance Health](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/elevance-health) — Chicago, IL (listed on Elevance Health's own careers site)
- [Director of Engineering](https://mymvw.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/MVW/job/Sheraton-Steamboat-Resort-Villas/Director-of-Engineering_JR92009) at [Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/marriott-vacations-worldwide-corporation) — Sheraton Steamboat Resort Villas (listed on Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation's own careers site)
- [Director, Core Digital Platforms](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/493ab8df-15ea-4e16-ac50-12d5b5fba4ff/director-core-digital-platforms-at-shake-shack) at [Shake Shack](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/shake-shack) — Full-time, Atlanta, GA
- [Director, Autonomous Vehicles Platform](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/d505544a-cb96-4e23-98b1-d19b79f2f6fa/director-autonomous-vehicles-platform-at-nvidia) at [NVIDIA](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/nvidia) — Full-time, Santa Clara, CA, $320,000 – $488,750
- [Director, Cash-In Engineering Partner](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/a5064548-77f2-4321-bf8b-88bf15b96ccf/director-cash-in-engineering-partner-at-lseg) at [LSEG](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/lseg)
- [Director Product and Engineering](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/d944c0d9-3c4e-416c-a345-e98da03cdde7/director-product-and-engineering-at-the-home-depot) at [The Home Depot](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/the-home-depot) — Atlanta, GA
- [Director, Infrastructure Engineering](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/21421b0c-0d87-4013-bfe1-3ee4a4219de2/director-infrastructure-engineering-at-columbia-sportswear) at [Columbia Sportswear](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/columbia-sportswear) — Full-time, Portland, OR
- [Director, Software Engineering & Architecture - FreeWheel](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/bdf4c849-b8c1-4f35-a2df-c7e47d4cc6ba/director-software-engineering-architecture-freewheel-at-comcast) at [Comcast](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/comcast) — Chicago, IL, $172,261 – $258,392
- [Director of Engineering – vSphere Kubernetes Service](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/a88f4948-ff0c-4458-95b2-d162e181dd37/director-of-engineering-vsphere-kubernetes-service-at-broadcom-inc) at [Broadcom Inc.](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/broadcom-inc) — USA-CA - Promontory B, $174,400 – $279,000
- [Director of Forward Deployed Engineering](https://career.thegoodapps.co/jobs/8066011d-bbfe-449a-8885-7c2d461eea3c/director-of-forward-deployed-engineering-at-vercel) at [Vercel](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/vercel) — Full-time, New York, NY, $240,000 – $300,000

## Roles similar to Principal Engineer (280)

From [Distinguished Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/distinguished-engineer), [Engineering Manager](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/engineering-manager), [Senior Site Reliability Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/senior-site-reliability-engineer), [Software Architect](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/software-architect), [Staff Engineer](https://career.thegoodapps.co/occupations/staff-engineer).

- [Senior Site Reliability Engineer](https://careers.duolingo.com/jobs/8784354002?gh_jid=8784354002) at [Duolingo](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/duolingo) — New York, NY (listed on Duolingo's own careers site)
- [Engineering Manager, GPU Infrastructure](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/cohere/28239d75-5dd9-41fb-ba43-cb08b491be2b/application) at [Cohere](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/cohere) — Full-time, United States, Canada, CA$330,000 – CA$400,000 (listed on Cohere's own careers site)
- [Engineering Manager, Billing Platform](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/sentry/9b7ba790-75d1-404c-bf9f-c3776179f7f2/application) at [Sentry](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/sentry) — San Francisco, CA · Remote, $220,000 – $450,000 (listed on Sentry's own careers site)
- [Distinguished Engineer](https://elevancehealth.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/ANT/job/IL-CHICAGO-233-S-WACKER-DR-STE-3700/Distinguished-Engineer_JR199998) at [Elevance Health](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/elevance-health) — Chicago, IL (listed on Elevance Health's own careers site)
- [Staff Engineer](https://shipt.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Shipt_External/job/Staff-Engineer_R4160) at [Shipt](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/shipt) (listed on Shipt's own careers site)
- [Engineering Manager](https://jabil.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Jabil_Careers/job/Memphis-TN/Engineering-Manager_J2460985) at [Jabil](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/jabil) (listed on Jabil's own careers site)
- [Senior Manager, R&D](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/Crusoe/14e5f5a1-cb56-4b3e-ac4c-a31152b6fcbf/application) at [Crusoe](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/crusoe) — Full-time, Denver, CO, $132,000 – $165,000 (listed on Crusoe's own careers site)
- [Software Architect](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/taskrabbit/jobs/8113218) at [Taskrabbit](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/taskrabbit) — San Francisco, CA (listed on Taskrabbit's own careers site)
- [Engineering Manager](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/confido/10fbb497-7893-422f-bca5-1c72084faddc/application) at [Confido](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/confido) — New York, NY, $260,000 – $320,000 (listed on Confido's own careers site)
- [Software Architect](https://relx.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/RiskSolutions/job/Alpharetta-GA/Software-Architect_R115293) at [LexisNexis Risk Solutions](https://career.thegoodapps.co/organizations/lexisnexis-risk-solutions) — Alpharetta, GA (listed on LexisNexis Risk Solutions's own careers site)

## People with this title (0)

No one holds this exact title here yet.