Principal Engineer Jobs

Principal Engineer jobs are open across technology, fintech, healthtech, defense, and enterprise software, from senior engineer to staff and distinguished-level roles, with specializations in platform engineering, distributed systems, and infrastructure architecture. Find a role that fits from the openings below and apply directly.

Find Principal Engineer JobsLooking for remote work? View remote principal engineer jobs →

Overview

Open roles3,711+
Top stateCalifornia
Top employerNorthrop Grumman
Top citySan Diego, CA
Work type42% On-site
Top industryTechnology

Showing 5 of 3,711+ Principal Engineer jobs

Amazon.com
Principal Commissioning Engineer
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Amazon.com
Added 1d ago
Principal Commissioning Engineer
Amazon.com
Herndon, Virginia
Specialized Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Project & Program Management
Quality Control
Engineering (Non-Software)
$137k - $185k/yr
On-Site
Bachelor's
10,000+

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Constellation Energy
Principal Electrical Engineer- CES
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Constellation Energy
Added 1d ago
Principal Electrical Engineer- CES
Constellation Energy
Warrendale, Pennsylvania
Compliance & Risk
Environmental Science
Health & Safety
Specialized Engineering
$106k - $152k/yr
On-Site
Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering
10,000+

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MKS
Principal Mechanical Engineer
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MKS
Added 1d ago
Principal Mechanical Engineer
MKS
Irvine, California
Business Strategy
Product Management
Project & Program Management
Project Management
$130k - $200k/yr
Bachelor of Science
5,001-10,000

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Okta
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, SecureAI
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Okta
Added 1d ago
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, SecureAI
Okta
San Francisco, California
Cloud Engineering
DevOps
Solutions Engineering & Architecture
$238k - $326k/yr
Master's degree
5,001-10,000

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G
Critical Facility Architect, Principal - Electrical Engineer
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G
Added 1d ago
Critical Facility Architect, Principal - Electrical Engineer
Global Software Resources
Oakland, California
Business Strategy
Consulting & Professional Services
Project Management
Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering

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Principal Engineer Job Market

Who's Hiring

  • Northrop Grumman
    Northrop Grumman649
  • Raytheon
    Raytheon197
  • Collins Aerospace
    Collins Aerospace104
  • BAE Systems USA
    BAE Systems USA93
  • Oracle
    Oracle74

Top Industries Hiring

  • Technology & Software71
  • Electronics & Hardware48
  • Energy15
  • Manufacturing7
  • Chemicals & Materials7

What Employers Look For

The qualifications that appear most often in principal engineer jobs.

  • 10 or more years of software engineering experience with 3 or more years in a senior technical leadership role
  • Deep expertise in distributed systems, microservices architecture, or large-scale platform design
  • Proficiency in at least one primary language such as Java, Python, Go, or C++ at production scale
  • Experience defining technical roadmaps, engineering standards, and cross-team architectural direction
  • Strong background in cloud infrastructure on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud including networking and reliability patterns
  • Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a closely related field

Tips for Your Principal Engineer Job Search

Reframe your resume around influence

Principal engineer resumes stall when they read like senior engineer resumes. Replace task-based bullet points with outcomes you drove at org scale: architecture decisions adopted company-wide, engineering standards you authored, or systems that unblocked multiple teams.

Apply early to roles that fit

Migrate Mate lists principal engineer openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.

Target companies at the right growth stage

Principal engineer roles are most clearly defined at companies large enough to have distinct staff and senior staff tiers. Series B and later startups, and enterprises mid-migration, hire most actively because architectural debt is acute and technical leadership is underdeveloped.

Prepare a system design narrative in advance

Most principal-level loops include at least one deep system design session. Walk in with two or three real examples you can detail end to end, covering the tradeoffs you rejected and why. Generic designs drawn from textbooks fail at this level.

Negotiate scope before negotiating compensation

At the principal level, the title can mean staff engineer, principal engineer, or distinguished engineer depending on the company ladder. Before discussing pay, clarify reporting structure, decision authority, and whether the role is individual contributor or carries direct reports.

Follow up with a written technical take

After a final-round system design interview, send a brief follow-up note that refines one tradeoff you discussed or flags a constraint you would handle differently. It signals the depth of thinking hiring managers expect from someone at this level.

Principal Engineer Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions

Which companies are hiring the most principal engineers?

The companies hiring the most principal engineers right now include Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and Collins Aerospace, with the largest share of openings in California, Texas, and Massachusetts, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. Demand is consistently highest at large technology companies, defense contractors, and enterprise software firms scaling platform and infrastructure teams.

How many principal engineer jobs are remote?

About 58% of principal engineer openings are fully remote or hybrid as of September 2026, making it one of the more remote-accessible senior technical roles. Platform engineering, distributed systems, and cloud architecture positions tend to offer the most location flexibility, while roles tied to hardware, embedded systems, or on-site lab environments are more likely to require in-person presence.

How do you become a principal engineer?

Becoming a principal engineer typically requires moving from senior engineer to a role where you own technical direction beyond your immediate team. The path involves leading cross-functional architecture decisions, mentoring multiple engineers, building a reputation for engineering judgment that other teams rely on, and demonstrating that your technical choices have measurable long-term impact on product reliability, scalability, or developer productivity.

Can you get hired as a principal engineer without prior principal-level experience?

Yes, candidates are hired at the principal level from strong senior engineer backgrounds when they can show scope that already matches the role. If you have owned architecture decisions that affected multiple teams, authored engineering standards adopted across an organization, or led a platform migration end to end, those contributions often carry more weight than holding a prior principal title at a smaller company.

What does the principal engineer interview process look like?

The principal engineer interview process typically runs four to six rounds and includes a recruiter screen, a hiring manager conversation focused on scope and leadership philosophy, one or two deep system design sessions, a behavioral or executive interview assessing cross-functional influence, and sometimes a technical presentation or architecture review. Loops at this level spend more time on judgment, tradeoffs, and organizational impact than on algorithmic coding problems.

Where can I find and apply to principal engineer jobs?

You can find and apply to principal engineer jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from across the United States. Search the available roles, find the ones that match your background and preferred location or remote setup, and apply directly to each listing.

See All 3,711+ Principal Engineer Jobs

Find roles that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.

Find Principal Engineer Jobs