Principal Software Engineer

• →10+ years of experience in full-stack software engineering, building from 0-to-1 in production environments [Required]

• Owned a product 0-to-1 (system design through deployment) [Must have]
• Led technical initiatives across teams without direct authority [Required]
• Defined SLAs and ran production systems at scale [Required]

• Bachelor's or Master's degree (Computer Science preferred) [Required]

• Deep expertise in 2+ of: AI/ML infra, distributed systems, data pipelines, security, frontend architecture [Must have]
• Professional experience with GoLang, TypeScript, or Python [Required]
• Uses AI tools to accelerate development velocity [Strongly preferred]

• High autonomy; thrives on ambiguous problems at startups [Required]
• External presence via talks, blog posts, or open-source [Strongly preferred]

• Must work on-site in San Francisco [Must have]

• Prefers management-only or architecture-only over daily hands-on coding
• Needs highly-structured, slow-paced corporate environments

• Salary: $220K–$280K (intake cited $240K–$300K — discrepancy flagged)
• Equity: Competitive equity (percentage not specified)
• On-site policy: Hybrid — on-site in San Francisco; ~3 days/week in office (per intake)
• Visa sponsorship: Not open to any visas (US citizens / Green Card holders only)
• Employment type: Full-time
• Location: San Francisco, CA

1. This role requires on-site work in San Francisco. Are you able to work from this location and come into the office regularly?
2. Which two of the following are your strongest areas of expertise: distributed systems, data pipelines, AI/ML infrastructure, security, or frontend architecture? Briefly describe a project where you demonstrated depth in each.
3. Tell us about a product you owned from zero to one — from initial system design through deployment. What was it and what decisions did you drive?
4. Can you be on-site? If not, are you willing to relocate?
5. What is your salary expectation?
6. How actively are you exploring new opportunities?

Updated Aug 13, 2026

• Large Legacy Enterprise & IT Services: Oracle, SAP, IBM, Cisco, Accenture, Deloitte, TCS, Infosys, Capgemini
• Large Non-Tech Enterprises (Finance, Retail, Telecom): JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Walmart Labs, Target, AT&T, Verizon
• Traditional Hardware and Defense Companies: Intel, Dell, HP, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman

For reference only — do not source these specific profiles.

Dennis Liger — LinkedIn Principal SDE @ Atlassian | San Francisco Bay Area

• Good, respectable companies
• Some startup experience, including leading the company
• YC background
• Additional notes: HM is typically skeptical if someone's last job was a super-executive role, but Dennis has a lot of senior development as a principal and is three years past the super-executive role, showing he's comfortable working in a company again.

Wei S. — LinkedIn Principal Engineer at Google | Ex-OpenAI | Co-founder of ProtonMail | MIT PhD | San Francisco Bay Area

• AI-forward team at Google
• MIT