Principal Jobs in Palo Alto, CA
Principal jobs in Palo Alto concentrate along University Avenue, in the California Avenue corridor, and near the Stanford Research Park, drawing demand from K-12 school districts, edtech firms, and research-driven organizations. Employers hiring right now include JPMorganChase, Amazon, and HP. Scan the live roles below and apply to whichever ones fit.
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Showing 5 of 786+ Principal jobs
DESCRIPTION
Omni-channel advertising is reshaping how advertisers achieve their marketing objectives on Amazon and beyond. In this role, you will serve as the single-threaded leader of a product, engineering, science, and business development team charged with bringing Amazon's omni-channel advertising vision to life. You and your team will work across partner teams — including the Amazon Demand-Side Platform (DSP), Supply-Side Platform (SSP), and go-to-market organizations — to define the product strategy, build the technology, and drive advertiser adoption. You will design advertiser-facing workflows powered by generative AI, partner with teams building creative transformation technology that converts a single advertiser asset into display, audio, and video formats, and identify and resolve gaps in ad-serving and bidding logic that limit omni-channel performance. If you are a technically curious product leader who thrives on turning ambiguous, high-impact opportunities into concrete results, we would love to hear from you.
Key job responsibilities
- Own the 3–5 year product vision and strategic roadmap for omni-channel advertising, translating broad market opportunity into a sequenced plan of deliverables with clear trade-offs and measurable outcomes.
- Lead end-to-end product development across engineering, science, design, and business development teams, deconstructing complex technical challenges into straightforward solutions and driving alignment across multiple organizations.
- Define and coordinate experimentation strategies — including multi-phase testing programs — to validate hypotheses around ad-serving optimization, creative transformation, and advertiser adoption, using data and metrics to inform investment decisions.
- Partner as a technical peer with engineering and applied science teams to evaluate architecture proposals for extensibility, scalability, and performance, ensuring today's decisions do not constrain tomorrow's strategic options.
- Drive strategic communications through written narratives, business reviews, and executive forums, influencing senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders to secure resources and align priorities.
A day in the life
Your morning might begin with a deep-dive into experiment results from a new ad-format test, deciding whether the signal warrants scaling or pivoting. By mid-morning you are in an architecture review with engineering, weighing trade-offs in real-time bidding logic. After lunch you lead a cross-team alignment session to resolve a prioritization conflict between your roadmap and a partner team's deliverables. Later you draft a vision document for a whitespace opportunity you have been researching, pulling together advertiser feedback, usage data, and competitive signals. You close the day by reviewing a generative AI prototype your team built to streamline creative workflows, pressure-testing the output quality before greenlighting the next sprint.
About the team
Our team sits within Amazon Ads and is focused on making omni-channel advertising simple and effective for advertisers of every size. We build the products and technology that let advertisers reach customers across display, audio, and video through a unified experience. The team is a collaborative mix of product managers, software engineers, applied scientists, and business development professionals who work closely with partner teams across the DSP, SSP, and sales organizations. We are investing in generative AI, creative automation, and advanced bidding systems — and this role will be at the center of shaping what comes next.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree
- 7+ years of end to end product delivery experience
- Experience with feature delivery and tradeoffs of a product
- 7+ years of technical product or program management experience
- Experience contributing to engineering discussions around technology decisions and strategy related to a product
- Experience owning/driving roadmap strategy and definition
- Experience with and deep understanding of advertising technologies (i.e., ad server, DSP)
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience working directly with Engineers on product enhancements
- Experience in project management methodologies, business analysis, or process improvement
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.
The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.
LOCATION
USA, CA, Palo Alto - 206,900.00 - 279,900.00 USD annually
USA, MA, Boston - 179,900.00 - 243,400.00 USD annually
USA, NY, New York - 197,900.00 - 267,800.00 USD annually
USA, WA, SEATTLE - 179,900.00 - 243,400.00 USD annually
DESCRIPTION
Omni-channel advertising is reshaping how advertisers achieve their marketing objectives on Amazon and beyond. In this role, you will serve as the single-threaded leader of a product, engineering, science, and business development team charged with bringing Amazon's omni-channel advertising vision to life. You and your team will work across partner teams — including the Amazon Demand-Side Platform (DSP), Supply-Side Platform (SSP), and go-to-market organizations — to define the product strategy, build the technology, and drive advertiser adoption. You will design advertiser-facing workflows powered by generative AI, partner with teams building creative transformation technology that converts a single advertiser asset into display, audio, and video formats, and identify and resolve gaps in ad-serving and bidding logic that limit omni-channel performance. If you are a technically curious product leader who thrives on turning ambiguous, high-impact opportunities into concrete results, we would love to hear from you.
Key job responsibilities
- Own the 3–5 year product vision and strategic roadmap for omni-channel advertising, translating broad market opportunity into a sequenced plan of deliverables with clear trade-offs and measurable outcomes.
- Lead end-to-end product development across engineering, science, design, and business development teams, deconstructing complex technical challenges into straightforward solutions and driving alignment across multiple organizations.
- Define and coordinate experimentation strategies — including multi-phase testing programs — to validate hypotheses around ad-serving optimization, creative transformation, and advertiser adoption, using data and metrics to inform investment decisions.
- Partner as a technical peer with engineering and applied science teams to evaluate architecture proposals for extensibility, scalability, and performance, ensuring today's decisions do not constrain tomorrow's strategic options.
- Drive strategic communications through written narratives, business reviews, and executive forums, influencing senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders to secure resources and align priorities.
A day in the life
Your morning might begin with a deep-dive into experiment results from a new ad-format test, deciding whether the signal warrants scaling or pivoting. By mid-morning you are in an architecture review with engineering, weighing trade-offs in real-time bidding logic. After lunch you lead a cross-team alignment session to resolve a prioritization conflict between your roadmap and a partner team's deliverables. Later you draft a vision document for a whitespace opportunity you have been researching, pulling together advertiser feedback, usage data, and competitive signals. You close the day by reviewing a generative AI prototype your team built to streamline creative workflows, pressure-testing the output quality before greenlighting the next sprint.
About the team
Our team sits within Amazon Ads and is focused on making omni-channel advertising simple and effective for advertisers of every size. We build the products and technology that let advertisers reach customers across display, audio, and video through a unified experience. The team is a collaborative mix of product managers, software engineers, applied scientists, and business development professionals who work closely with partner teams across the DSP, SSP, and sales organizations. We are investing in generative AI, creative automation, and advanced bidding systems — and this role will be at the center of shaping what comes next.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor's degree
- 7+ years of end to end product delivery experience
- Experience with feature delivery and tradeoffs of a product
- 7+ years of technical product or program management experience
- Experience contributing to engineering discussions around technology decisions and strategy related to a product
- Experience owning/driving roadmap strategy and definition
- Experience with and deep understanding of advertising technologies (i.e., ad server, DSP)
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience working directly with Engineers on product enhancements
- Experience in project management methodologies, business analysis, or process improvement
Amazon is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of protected veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status.
Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
Our inclusive culture empowers Amazonians to deliver the best results for our customers. If you have a disability and need a workplace accommodation or adjustment during the application and hiring process, including support for the interview or onboarding process, please visit https://amazon.jobs/content/en/how-we-hire/accommodations for more information. If the country/region you’re applying in isn’t listed, please contact your Recruiting Partner.
The base salary range for this position is listed below. Your Amazon package will include sign-on payments and restricted stock units (RSUs). Final compensation will be determined based on factors including experience, qualifications, and location. Amazon also offers comprehensive benefits including health insurance (medical, dental, vision, prescription, Basic Life & AD&D insurance and option for Supplemental life plans, EAP, Mental Health Support, Medical Advice Line, Flexible Spending Accounts, Adoption and Surrogacy Reimbursement coverage), 401(k) matching, paid time off, and parental leave. Learn more about our benefits at https://amazon.jobs/en/benefits.
LOCATION
USA, CA, Palo Alto - 206,900.00 - 279,900.00 USD annually
USA, MA, Boston - 179,900.00 - 243,400.00 USD annually
USA, NY, New York - 197,900.00 - 267,800.00 USD annually
USA, WA, SEATTLE - 179,900.00 - 243,400.00 USD annually
See All 786+ Principal Jobs in Palo Alto
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Who's Hiring
- JPMorganChase286
- Amazon214
- HP143
- Lockheed Martin71
- Stanford Medicine Children's Health71
Principal Jobs in Palo Alto: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a principal job in Palo Alto?
The strongest path into a principal role in Palo Alto runs through the Palo Alto Unified School District and the private and charter schools clustered along the Midpeninsula corridor. Candidates who have served as assistant principals, instructional coaches, or department heads within Silicon Valley districts stand out. Familiarity with data-driven school improvement, dual-language programs, and the expectations of a high-achieving parent community gives applicants a clear edge locally.
Which companies hire principals in Palo Alto?
Palo Alto principal roles are posted by JPMorganChase, Amazon, and HP and others right now, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Hiring comes primarily from public school districts, independent preparatory schools, and edtech companies headquartered near the Stanford campus that need instructional leadership or curriculum principals.
Are there remote principal jobs in Palo Alto?
Yes, though with limits: hands-on school leadership roles require daily on-site presence, while curriculum development, edtech product, and instructional design principal roles can be fully remote. About 0% of principal openings tied to Palo Alto are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting the strong edtech and research sector presence here. Curriculum and assessment principal roles are the most consistently remote in the local market.
How can I get a principal job in Palo Alto with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry point is securing a teacher-leader or assistant principal role within Palo Alto Unified or a neighboring Midpeninsula district first. Edtech companies near the Stanford Research Park also hire instructional coordinators and curriculum associates who progress toward principal-level roles. Volunteering for site leadership teams, pursuing a California administrative services credential while employed locally, and building relationships within the Santa Clara County Office of Education community accelerates the path considerably.
Related Jobs in California
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