Principal Software Engineer Visa Sponsorship Jobs in California
Principal software engineer roles in California attract some of the highest concentrations of visa sponsorship in the country. Companies like Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon, and Salesforce regularly hire at this level across the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. These roles typically require deep technical leadership experience and are well-suited to H-1B visa and O-1 visa pathways.
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INTRODUCTION
Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.
Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce.
We are looking for a highly skilled Principal Engineer to join our Endpoint Protection & Infrastructure Vulnerability Scanning team. Reporting directly to the Sr. Director of Endpoint Protection & Infra Vuln Scanning, you will serve as a technical anchor for a critical security engineering team — driving architecture, leading end-to-end software delivery, and setting engineering standards across the organization.
This is a hands-on, high-impact role for a deeply technical engineer who thrives at the intersection of software development, security infrastructure, and platform engineering.
ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES
- Lead end-to-end software development across complex security data pipelines from ingestion to canonical data stores and downstream consumers.
- Own system architecture for vulnerability scanning and endpoint protection platforms, including authoring System Design Records (SDRs) and Architecture Decision Records (ADRs).
- Drive platform reliability through availability monitoring strategies, alerting frameworks, and infrastructure hardening.
- Design and build APIs and services including REST API optimization, policy evaluation engines, integration adapter registries, and projection/aggregation services.
- Set engineering standards across the team for code quality, design consistency, and documentation practices.
- Mentor and guide Lead and Senior Engineers through PR reviews, sprint planning, and technical deep dives.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with security architects, platform teams, and partner engineering orgs to ensure clean system integration and dependency alignment.
- Workload split is approximately 75% new feature development and 25% maintenance, on-call, and bug remediation.
- Support on-call operations on a rotating schedule, including flexibility for major incidents across time zones.
- Leverage AI-assisted development tools to accelerate delivery, enforce engineering rigor, and support multi-language development.
BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
- 10+ years of core software development experience with mastery in multiple programming languages and platforms.
- Strong foundation in database engineering, API development, and data pipeline construction, including experience with event-driven architectures, and distributed systems.
- Demonstrated ability to craft and deliver large, sophisticated projects across the full software lifecycle, including experience with products released for public consumption across multiple releases.
- Proven experience with infrastructure hardening and operational reliability (alerting, availability monitoring, MTTR reduction).
- Ability to design systems at scale including experience with architecture reviews, design documentation, and cross-team alignment; experience working with engineering teams, architects, and executive leadership to craft architectural vision and roadmap.
- Develops technical performance architecture that solves the most complex performance and scalability challenges, with the ability to drive long-term design strategies spanning multiple complex projects.
- Strong engineering process discipline: PR reviews, design reviews, sprint execution, and documentation; experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies and short release cycles.
- Ability to provide mentorship to team members, supporting their understanding of architecture and aiding in their technical growth.
- Skilled at fostering cross-functional technical collaboration to surface, escalate, and resolve critical issues effectively.
- Ability to deliver technical reports and performance presentations to customers and at industry events.
- A related technical degree required.
Responsibilities
- Ensure company and customer data remains secure, utilizing knowledge of a wide variety of security disciplines, including network, application and infrastructure security.
- Audit Salesforce cloud infrastructure against industry and company security standards, develop uplift plan, and execute on plan to align cloud infrastructure with those standards.
- Collaborate with various internal teams, including infrastructure, engineering, operations, and product development to design and architect infrastructure (i.e. network, operating system, databases) and applications to protect against attackers.
- Serve as a hands-on technical specialist, responsible for handling the complex and detailed technical work necessary to establish and maintain enhanced cloud security.
- Architect, configure, manage, and deploy technologies to improve Salesforce’s ability to prevent intrusions. Track down targeted vulnerabilities and defend against active adversaries. Research, gather threat intelligence and build, optimize, and automate systems to consume threat feeds and track adversaries.
- Create innovative solutions to complex security problems, including the design and use of software to identify security issues, deploy security solutions, and perform reporting activities.
- Utilize graduate-level research/analytical skills to understand the latest threats and methodologies for effectively designing advanced controls in the prevention, detection, and reaction to threats to the environments.
- Mentor and guide engineering teams to achieve team deliverables.
- Communicate clearly to both Engineering and Executive audiences.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- You have 5+ years experience in a computer network-related occupation.
- You have 2+ years experience in each of the following skills:
- Unix/Linux system administration, including working with Windows environments and hardening guidelines.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure and other public and private cloud infrastructure (EC2, VPC, ELB, S3, EMR, IAM).
- Building and operating secure infrastructures.
- You have some experience in each of the following skills:
- Security disciplines including security engineering, vulnerability analysis, firewalls, and encryption technologies.
- Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networking, such as Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) stack, TCP, and Software-Defined Networking (SDN).
- Writing code in programming languages such as Python and Ruby to automate software/systems.
- Utilizing knowledge of core protocols and cryptographic standards to guide secure implementations.
- Security technologies, including host and network-based protection and detection technologies.
- Network, host and application security practices.
COMPENSATION
- The typical base salary range for this position is $197,300 - $313,700 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range for this role is $237,700 - $344,700 annually.
The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable.
BENEFITS
When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future — but to redefine what’s possible — for yourself, for AI, and the world.
ACCOMMODATIONS
If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.
Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our recruiters assess and evaluate candidates’ resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make any candidate selection and hiring decisions. Please see our Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about how we use your personal data and your rights, including with regard to use of AI tools and opt out options.
POSTING STATEMENT
Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education.
In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program. More details about company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
At Salesforce, we believe in equitable compensation practices that reflect the dynamic nature of labor markets across various regions.
Principal Software Engineer Job Roles in California
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Search Principal Software Engineer Jobs in CaliforniaPrincipal Software Engineer Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies sponsor visas for principal software engineers in California?
Large technology employers in California are among the most active H-1B sponsors at the principal software engineer level. Google, Apple, Meta, Amazon Web Services, Salesforce, Adobe, and Nvidia have consistent records of sponsoring senior and principal engineering roles. Semiconductor firms in the Silicon Valley corridor and enterprise software companies headquartered in San Jose and San Francisco also sponsor at this level regularly.
Which visa types are most common for principal software engineer roles in California?
The H-1B is the most common visa category for principal software engineers in California, as the role clearly qualifies as a specialty occupation requiring at least a bachelor's degree in a directly related field. Senior candidates with sustained national or international recognition may qualify for the O-1A. Candidates already holding L-1A or L-1B status through a multinational employer can also transfer into a California-based principal engineering role.
Which cities in California have the most principal software engineer sponsorship jobs?
The San Francisco Bay Area, including San Jose, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and San Francisco itself, accounts for the largest share of principal software engineer sponsorship roles in California. Los Angeles has a growing technology sector, with companies in West Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Culver City hiring at senior engineering levels. San Diego has a notable presence in defense technology, biotech software, and wireless communications.
How to find principal software engineer visa sponsorship jobs in California?
Migrate Mate filters job listings specifically by visa sponsorship availability, making it easier to identify principal software engineer roles in California where employers are actively open to sponsoring. You can filter by location across the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Given competition for these senior roles, focusing on employers with a documented history of H-1B filings in California's technology sector is a practical starting point.
Are there any California-specific considerations for principal software engineers seeking sponsorship?
California's technology concentration means prevailing wage requirements for principal software engineer roles are among the highest in the country, driven by the Department of Labor's wage determinations for the Bay Area and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. Employers sponsoring at this level are required to pay at least the prevailing wage for the specific location and job classification. California also has a strong pipeline of senior engineering talent from UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Caltech, meaning sponsoring employers often have well-established immigration processes.
What is the prevailing wage for sponsored principal software engineer jobs in California?
U.S. employers sponsoring a visa must pay at least the prevailing wage, which is what workers in the same role, area, and experience level typically earn. The Department of Labor sets this rate to make sure companies aren't hiring foreign workers simply because they'd accept lower pay than a U.S. worker. It varies by job title, location, and experience. You can look up current prevailing wage rates for any occupation and location using the OFLC Wage Search page.