Principal Solutions Engineer Jobs in California
Principal Solutions Engineer jobs in California are among the most active in the country, concentrated in enterprise software, cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, and semiconductor technology, with openings at every level from senior individual contributor to principal-level leadership. The largest hiring metros are San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles, where established employers like Salesforce, Cisco, and Oracle maintain major engineering and sales engineering operations. The most in-demand specialties across California right now are cloud architecture, AI and machine learning platform integration, and enterprise security solutions. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Showing 5 of 40+ Principal Solutions Engineer jobs
DESCRIPTION
This is a builder-facing, customer-obsessed role. You will not just advise — you will architect the reference patterns, influence the AWS product roadmap, and mentor a community of Solutions Architects across the segment. Your success will be measured first and foremost by **customer outcomes**: the business problems you help solve, the workloads you help move to and optimize on AWS, and the measurable impact your customers realize.
Key job responsibilities
### Customer Impact & Outcomes
- Own the senior technical relationship for several of the largest semiconductor accounts, translating each customer's business objectives (faster tape-outs, reduced design cycle time, cost-per-wafer efficiency, time-to-market) into AWS architectures and adoption plans.
- Lead high-stakes technical engagements from discovery through production, keeping the customer's business outcome as the primary framing lens for every recommendation.
- Serve as the trusted advisor to VP/CTO-level stakeholders, earning the right to influence multi-year technology strategy.
### EDA Domain Leadership
- Architect and optimize large-scale **EDA workloads** on AWS — front-end (logic/RTL simulation, synthesis, verification) and back-end (place-and-route, physical verification, timing/signoff) flows at scale.
- Guide customers on high-throughput HPC design, elastic compute (Spot/On-Demand fleets), high-performance shared storage (FSx for Lustre, NFS appliances), scheduler integration (LSF, Slurm), and license optimization for EDA tools (Synopsys, Cadence, Siemens EDA).
- Advise on Graviton adoption for EDA tooling, cost/performance benchmarking, and hybrid burst-to-cloud patterns.
### Generative AI Leadership
- Help semiconductor customers apply **Generative AI** to their business — from design assistants, RTL/verification copilots, and knowledge-mining across design data, to GenAI-accelerated documentation, test generation, and yield/manufacturing analytics.
- Architect production GenAI solutions on **Amazon Bedrock**, agentic patterns (AgentCore), model customization, RAG over proprietary design data, and responsible-AI guardrails.
- Establish reference architectures that bridge EDA and GenAI (e.g., LLM-assisted design workflows) and evangelize them across the segment.
### Technical Influence & Scale
- Operate with **organization-wide (org+) influence** — your architectures, mechanisms, and thought leadership should scale beyond your accounts to the broader HTES segment and AWS field.
- Create reusable assets: reference architectures, whitepapers, workshops, and internal enablement that raise the technical bar for the entire SA team.
- Represent the voice of the semiconductor customer to AWS service teams; influence the product roadmap for EDA and GenAI capabilities.
- Mentor and develop SAs across the segment, contributing to hiring, calibration, and technical community-building.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 10+ years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics) experience
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, mathematics or equivalent
- Experience developing technology solutions and evangelising end-to-end technology roadmaps that guide IT transformations toward cloud computing
- Experience communicating across technical and non-technical audiences and at C-level, including training, workshops, publications
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Knowledge of distributed systems design and implementation or equivalent
- Knowledge of large scale automation and workflow management or equivalent
- Knowledge of database design and implementation or equivalent
- Knowledge of presentations and whiteboarding skills with a high degree of comfort speaking with internal and external executives, IT management, and developers
- Experience architecting, migrating, transforming or modernizing customer requirements to the cloud
- Deep hands-on experience architecting large-scale HPC and/or EDA workloads (semiconductor design, verification, or manufacturing compute).
- Demonstrated expertise designing and deploying **Generative AI** solutions in production (LLMs, RAG, agentic systems, model customization).
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.
Pursuant to the San Francisco 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.
USA, CA, East Palo Alto - 210,200.00 - 284,300.00 USD annually
USA, CA, San Francisco - 210,200.00 - 284,300.00 USD annually
DESCRIPTION
This is a builder-facing, customer-obsessed role. You will not just advise — you will architect the reference patterns, influence the AWS product roadmap, and mentor a community of Solutions Architects across the segment. Your success will be measured first and foremost by **customer outcomes**: the business problems you help solve, the workloads you help move to and optimize on AWS, and the measurable impact your customers realize.
Key job responsibilities
### Customer Impact & Outcomes
- Own the senior technical relationship for several of the largest semiconductor accounts, translating each customer's business objectives (faster tape-outs, reduced design cycle time, cost-per-wafer efficiency, time-to-market) into AWS architectures and adoption plans.
- Lead high-stakes technical engagements from discovery through production, keeping the customer's business outcome as the primary framing lens for every recommendation.
- Serve as the trusted advisor to VP/CTO-level stakeholders, earning the right to influence multi-year technology strategy.
### EDA Domain Leadership
- Architect and optimize large-scale **EDA workloads** on AWS — front-end (logic/RTL simulation, synthesis, verification) and back-end (place-and-route, physical verification, timing/signoff) flows at scale.
- Guide customers on high-throughput HPC design, elastic compute (Spot/On-Demand fleets), high-performance shared storage (FSx for Lustre, NFS appliances), scheduler integration (LSF, Slurm), and license optimization for EDA tools (Synopsys, Cadence, Siemens EDA).
- Advise on Graviton adoption for EDA tooling, cost/performance benchmarking, and hybrid burst-to-cloud patterns.
### Generative AI Leadership
- Help semiconductor customers apply **Generative AI** to their business — from design assistants, RTL/verification copilots, and knowledge-mining across design data, to GenAI-accelerated documentation, test generation, and yield/manufacturing analytics.
- Architect production GenAI solutions on **Amazon Bedrock**, agentic patterns (AgentCore), model customization, RAG over proprietary design data, and responsible-AI guardrails.
- Establish reference architectures that bridge EDA and GenAI (e.g., LLM-assisted design workflows) and evangelize them across the segment.
### Technical Influence & Scale
- Operate with **organization-wide (org+) influence** — your architectures, mechanisms, and thought leadership should scale beyond your accounts to the broader HTES segment and AWS field.
- Create reusable assets: reference architectures, whitepapers, workshops, and internal enablement that raise the technical bar for the entire SA team.
- Represent the voice of the semiconductor customer to AWS service teams; influence the product roadmap for EDA and GenAI capabilities.
- Mentor and develop SAs across the segment, contributing to hiring, calibration, and technical community-building.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 10+ years of specific technology domain areas (e.g. software development, cloud computing, systems engineering, infrastructure, security, networking, data & analytics) experience
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, mathematics or equivalent
- Experience developing technology solutions and evangelising end-to-end technology roadmaps that guide IT transformations toward cloud computing
- Experience communicating across technical and non-technical audiences and at C-level, including training, workshops, publications
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Knowledge of distributed systems design and implementation or equivalent
- Knowledge of large scale automation and workflow management or equivalent
- Knowledge of database design and implementation or equivalent
- Knowledge of presentations and whiteboarding skills with a high degree of comfort speaking with internal and external executives, IT management, and developers
- Experience architecting, migrating, transforming or modernizing customer requirements to the cloud
- Deep hands-on experience architecting large-scale HPC and/or EDA workloads (semiconductor design, verification, or manufacturing compute).
- Demonstrated expertise designing and deploying **Generative AI** solutions in production (LLMs, RAG, agentic systems, model customization).
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.
Pursuant to the San Francisco 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.
USA, CA, East Palo Alto - 210,200.00 - 284,300.00 USD annually
USA, CA, San Francisco - 210,200.00 - 284,300.00 USD annually
See All 40 Principal Solutions Engineer Jobs in California
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Find JobsPrincipal Solutions Engineer Jobs by City in California
Where California roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Principal Solutions Engineer Job Market in California
A snapshot from current California openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Electronics & Hardware
- Manufacturing
- Telecommunications
What California Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in principal solutions engineer jobs across California.
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a closely related technical field
- Seven or more years of solutions engineering, presales, or technical consulting experience
- Demonstrated ability to architect and present complex enterprise software or cloud solutions
- Hands-on experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud
- Strong background in customer-facing technical roles including proofs of concept and demos
- Familiarity with enterprise sales cycles and cross-functional collaboration with account teams
Principal Solutions Engineer Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a principal solutions engineer in California?
Most principal solutions engineers in California reach the role through a progression that starts with a technical degree in computer science, systems engineering, or a related field, followed by years of hands-on work in solutions engineering, sales engineering, or technical consulting. California employers typically expect deep product expertise and a history of owning complex deals end to end. No state-issued license is required, but certifications from major cloud vendors carry real weight with California hiring managers.
How much do principal solutions engineers make in California?
Principal solutions engineers in California earn a median of about $139,160 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $78,850 for the lowest 10% to over $213,370 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire principal solutions engineers in California?
Employers hiring principal solutions engineers in California right now include Amazon Web Services, Intuit, and HP, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of October 2026. California's concentration of enterprise software headquarters, cloud infrastructure companies, and large technology buyers means demand stays consistent across both vendor and end-user sides of the market.
Which California cities have the most principal solutions engineer jobs?
San Francisco, San Jose, and Santa Clara hold the most principal solutions engineer openings in California. The San Francisco Bay Area and San Jose lead because of the dense concentration of enterprise software vendors, cloud platforms, and cybersecurity firms headquartered there, while Los Angeles reflects demand from media technology, aerospace, and large enterprise customers that maintain significant California footprints.
Are there remote principal solutions engineer jobs in California?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 64% of principal solutions engineer openings tied to California are remote or hybrid as of October 2026, reflecting the role's desk-based, software-driven nature. The parts of the work most likely to stay fully remote are discovery calls, product demos, and solution design, while enterprise accounts with complex on-site infrastructure may still expect occasional travel.
How can I get hired as a principal solutions engineer in California with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is moving into a solutions engineer or sales engineer associate role from a technical adjacent position such as support engineer, implementation consultant, or software developer. Large California technology employers including Salesforce, Cisco, and ServiceNow run associate solutions engineer and technical residency programs aimed at candidates early in their careers. Earning a vendor cloud certification and building a portfolio of architecture diagrams or proof-of-concept projects gives candidates a concrete edge when applying to these programs.
Where can I find and apply to principal solutions engineer jobs in California?
You can find and apply to principal solutions engineer jobs in California on Migrate Mate, which lists current California openings. Search the listings to find roles that match your experience and location, then apply directly to the ones that fit.
See All 40 Principal Solutions Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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