Principal Software Engineer Jobs in Tennessee
Principal Software Engineer jobs in Tennessee are in strong demand, with the state's technology sector concentrated in Nashville, Memphis, and Chattanooga across healthcare IT, financial technology, and enterprise software development at every level from staff engineer through distinguished engineer. Nashville anchors the bulk of hiring, where organizations like HCA Healthcare, Asurion, and Deloitte Consulting maintain large engineering teams building systems at enterprise scale. The most sought-after specialties in Tennessee are distributed systems architecture, cloud platform engineering, and healthcare data infrastructure. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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We are seeking a software engineer to build and evolve a large-scale Application Performance Monitoring (APM) platform. This role works across backend services, streaming data pipelines, telemetry agents, infrastructure, query capabilities, and user experience to help customers understand and improve the performance and reliability of their applications.
You will develop and maintain Java microservices and Apache Flink applications that ingest, process, store, query, and present high-volume observability data. The APM platform operates at substantial scale, processing millions of spans per minute while maintaining low latency, reliability, data quality, and cost efficiency.
Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain core APM repositories, shared platform capabilities, APIs, and operational tooling.
- Build scalable query-engine capabilities for traces, spans, metrics, logs, and service topology data.
- Design and operate Flink-based streaming ingestion pipelines that validate, enrich, transform, aggregate, and route telemetry.
- Lead and support the transition from relational database storage to OCI Log Analytics, including data migration, infrastructure migration, schema evolution, compatibility, and operational continuity.
- Define and manage telemetry schemas, versioning, data contracts, migrations, and data-quality controls.
- Build and maintain application monitoring agents and instrumentation with low runtime overhead and reliable configuration.
- Develop APM UI experiences for exploring telemetry, diagnosing incidents, configuring monitoring and alerts, and visualizing traces, dependencies, and performance trends.
- Deploy and operate cloud-native services using OCI components, including OCI Streaming and Kubernetes/OKE.
- Partner directly with customers to understand analysis requirements, troubleshoot product and query issues, and optimize queries for successful, performant use of the APM product.
- Improve reliability, scalability, observability, security, and cost efficiency across the platform.
Qualifications
- Strong Java software-engineering experience, especially building distributed microservices.
- Hands-on experience developing Apache Flink applications and streaming data pipelines.
- Strong knowledge of OCI services, particularly OCI Streaming and Kubernetes/OKE.
- Experience with relational databases, data modeling, schema evolution, and data or infrastructure migrations.
- Familiarity with OCI Log Analytics or comparable log analytics and observability platforms.
- Familiarity with OpenTelemetry and modern monitoring technologies, including distributed tracing, metrics, logs, instrumentation, and observability data models.
- Experience designing and operating high-throughput systems, ideally involving telemetry, event streams, or millions of events per minute.
- Ability to work effectively across backend systems, data engineering, infrastructure, agents, UI development, and customer-facing technical problem solving.
We are seeking a software engineer to build and evolve a large-scale Application Performance Monitoring (APM) platform. This role works across backend services, streaming data pipelines, telemetry agents, infrastructure, query capabilities, and user experience to help customers understand and improve the performance and reliability of their applications.
You will develop and maintain Java microservices and Apache Flink applications that ingest, process, store, query, and present high-volume observability data. The APM platform operates at substantial scale, processing millions of spans per minute while maintaining low latency, reliability, data quality, and cost efficiency.
Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain core APM repositories, shared platform capabilities, APIs, and operational tooling.
- Build scalable query-engine capabilities for traces, spans, metrics, logs, and service topology data.
- Design and operate Flink-based streaming ingestion pipelines that validate, enrich, transform, aggregate, and route telemetry.
- Lead and support the transition from relational database storage to OCI Log Analytics, including data migration, infrastructure migration, schema evolution, compatibility, and operational continuity.
- Define and manage telemetry schemas, versioning, data contracts, migrations, and data-quality controls.
- Build and maintain application monitoring agents and instrumentation with low runtime overhead and reliable configuration.
- Develop APM UI experiences for exploring telemetry, diagnosing incidents, configuring monitoring and alerts, and visualizing traces, dependencies, and performance trends.
- Deploy and operate cloud-native services using OCI components, including OCI Streaming and Kubernetes/OKE.
- Partner directly with customers to understand analysis requirements, troubleshoot product and query issues, and optimize queries for successful, performant use of the APM product.
- Improve reliability, scalability, observability, security, and cost efficiency across the platform.
Qualifications
- Strong Java software-engineering experience, especially building distributed microservices.
- Hands-on experience developing Apache Flink applications and streaming data pipelines.
- Strong knowledge of OCI services, particularly OCI Streaming and Kubernetes/OKE.
- Experience with relational databases, data modeling, schema evolution, and data or infrastructure migrations.
- Familiarity with OCI Log Analytics or comparable log analytics and observability platforms.
- Familiarity with OpenTelemetry and modern monitoring technologies, including distributed tracing, metrics, logs, instrumentation, and observability data models.
- Experience designing and operating high-throughput systems, ideally involving telemetry, event streams, or millions of events per minute.
- Ability to work effectively across backend systems, data engineering, infrastructure, agents, UI development, and customer-facing technical problem solving.
See All 16 Principal Software Engineer Jobs in Tennessee
Find roles in Tennessee that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find JobsPrincipal Software Engineer Jobs by City in Tennessee
Where Tennessee roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Principal Software Engineer Job Market in Tennessee
A snapshot from current Tennessee openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
- Oracle12
- CVS Health2
- HireRight1
- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital1
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Healthcare & Medical Services
What Tennessee Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in principal software engineer jobs across Tennessee.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related field
- Ten or more years of progressive software engineering experience including technical leadership
- Deep expertise in at least one primary language such as Java, Python, Go, or C++
- Demonstrated experience designing large-scale distributed systems or cloud-native architectures
- Proven ability to mentor senior engineers and drive engineering standards across teams
- Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud in production environments
Principal Software Engineer Jobs in Tennessee: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a principal software engineer in Tennessee?
The path to a principal software engineer role in Tennessee runs through demonstrated technical depth and leadership, not a state-issued license, since software engineering carries no Tennessee licensing requirement. Most Tennessee employers expect a bachelor's degree in computer science or engineering followed by a decade of progressive experience. Candidates who have led architecture decisions, mentored teams, and shipped complex distributed or cloud systems at Nashville's large healthcare IT or fintech firms move most reliably into principal roles.
How much do principal software engineers make in Tennessee?
Principal software engineers in Tennessee earn a median of about $122,430 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $75,280 for the lowest 10% to over $166,380 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire principal software engineers in Tennessee?
Employers hiring principal software engineers in Tennessee right now include Oracle, CVS Health, and HireRight, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Tennessee's healthcare IT and financial technology sectors, anchored in Nashville, produce the highest volume of principal-level openings among established employers in the state.
Which Tennessee cities have the most principal software engineer jobs?
Nashville, Tennessee, and Memphis account for the largest concentration of principal software engineer openings in Tennessee. Nashville dominates because of its dense cluster of healthcare IT companies, insurance technology firms, and enterprise software consultancies, while Memphis contributes openings through its logistics technology and financial services base, and Chattanooga has grown as a secondary tech hub driven by manufacturing automation and startup investment.
Are there remote principal software engineer jobs in Tennessee?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 50% of principal software engineer openings tied to Tennessee are remote or hybrid as of August 2026, reflecting how thoroughly this role is performed through code review, architecture documents, and video collaboration rather than physical presence. The portions most likely to stay fully remote are platform architecture and systems design work, while roles that require hands-on mentorship of co-located teams skew toward hybrid schedules.
How can I get hired as a principal software engineer in Tennessee with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path for someone without principal-level experience is landing a senior software engineer role first and building a visible architecture or technical leadership record from there. Tennessee employers like HCA Healthcare, Asurion, and Deloitte Consulting regularly hire senior engineers through structured new-grad and experienced-hire programs, which feed internal promotion pipelines. Contributing to open-source infrastructure projects, completing cloud architecture certifications from AWS or Google, and moving laterally from staff engineer or tech lead roles all sharpen a profile for principal consideration.
Where can I find and apply to principal software engineer jobs in Tennessee?
You can find and apply to principal software engineer jobs in Tennessee on Migrate Mate, which lists current Tennessee openings updated regularly. Find the roles that fit your experience and apply directly to each one.
See All 16 Principal Software Engineer Jobs in Tennessee
Find roles in Tennessee that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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