ZipRecruiter

Log In

1

Distinguished Engineer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Nvidia

Distinguished Engineer - Dynamo

Santa Clara, CA · On-site

As a Distinguished Engineer, you will be a key technical leader, helping drive technology and product direction, provide deep technical expertise and guidance to the team and NVIDIA at large, and ...

Nvidia

Distinguished Engineer - Dynamo

Santa Clara, CA · On-site

As a Distinguished Engineer, you will be a key technical leader, helping drive technology and product direction, provide deep technical expertise and guidance to the team and NVIDIA at large, and ...

previous pagenext page

Showing results 21-40

All JobsDistinguished Engineer JobsDistinguished Engineer Jobs in California

Distinguished Engineer information

See California salary details

$30.6K

$94.5K

$125.8K

How much do distinguished engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 7, 2026, the average yearly pay for distinguished engineer in California is $94,542.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $79,900.00 and $114,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a distinguished engineer?

A Distinguished Engineer is a senior-level technical expert recognized for their deep expertise, leadership, and impact on engineering and innovation. They drive complex technical strategies, mentor engineers, and influence the company's technology direction. Unlike managerial roles, they focus on solving high-impact technical challenges and setting industry standards.

What are typical career advancement opportunities for a distinguished engineer?

As a Distinguished Engineer, you have the opportunity to influence major technical decisions and take on leadership roles in shaping company technology strategy. While this position is already among the highest technical tracks, you may advance further to roles like Chief Architect or Principal Technical Fellow, or choose to expand your impact by moving into organizational leadership or executive positions. Distinguished Engineers often lead cross-functional initiatives, mentor other engineers, and represent the company in industry forums or technical communities. This role offers a blend of deep technical contribution and broad organizational influence, enabling career growth along both technical and leadership paths.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a distinguished engineer?

To thrive as a Distinguished Engineer, you need extensive expertise in software architecture, system design, and deep technical problem-solving, often supported by an advanced degree and a robust track record in engineering leadership roles. Mastery of programming languages, architectural frameworks, cloud platforms, and experience with industry-standard tools such as CI/CD pipelines is typical, along with relevant certifications like AWS Certified Solutions Architect or Google Cloud Professional Engineer. Exceptional communication, mentorship, and strategic thinking skills set candidates apart by fostering innovation and guiding teams towards effective solutions. These skills and qualities are crucial for driving large-scale technical initiatives, shaping company-wide technology strategies, and mentoring engineering talent.

What does a Distinguished Engineer do?

A Distinguished Engineer is a senior technical role responsible for leading complex projects, setting technical strategy, and driving innovation within an organization. They often mentor other engineers, contribute to technical standards, and work on high-impact initiatives using advanced skills and industry best practices.

What are popular job titles related to Distinguished Engineer jobs in California?

For Distinguished Engineer jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Distinguished Engineer jobs in California look for?

The top searched job categories for Distinguished Engineer jobs in California are:

What cities in California are hiring for Distinguished Engineer jobs?

Cities in California with the most Distinguished Engineer job openings:

Distinguished Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Distinguished Engineer job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 95% Full Time, 2% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 85% Physical, 6% Hybrid, and 9% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $94,542 per year, or $45.5 per hour.

Distinguished Engineer / Technical Fellow

Armada

San Francisco, CA • Hybrid

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement, PTO

Re-posted just now

Job description

About the Role

As a Distinguished Engineer / Technical Fellow, you will be the primary architect of Armada's long-term technical vision. This is a "builder-leader" role for a world-class technologist who possesses a deep, fundamental understanding of data center architecture, high-density compute, and massive-scale AI infrastructure. You will solve the most difficult technical hurdles across our core product suite while leading the R&D for "Next Horizon" projects, such as Data Centers in Space. Beyond internal development, you will act as a key technical diplomat, collaborating with our most strategic industry partners to design deep-tech solutions that deepen Armada's product adoption and expand our reach into entirely new frontiers.

Location: Bellevue, WA / San Francisco, CA / Remote

What You'll Do (Key Responsibilities)

  • Architecting the Universal Edge: Lead the evolution of the Armada Edge Platform (AEP), ensuring seamless orchestration of compute and AI workloads across globally distributed, high-latency, and disconnected environments.
  • Next Horizon Projects: Drive the architectural roadmap for visionary initiatives, including Data Centers in Space. This involves adapting the Armada stack for orbital compute modules and solving for the unique challenges of Low Earth Orbit (LEO)-including radiation-tolerant software, thermal management, and power-constrained AI processing.
  • Strategic Partner Engineering: Work directly with elite industry partners to co-design solutions that integrate Armada's technology deeper into their global ecosystems. You will ensure our platform becomes the standard infrastructure for compute, whether terrestrial or orbital.
  • Technical Strategy: Partner with Company Leadership to define the 3-5 year technical roadmap, identifying emerging technologies in high-density GPU orchestration and orbital data processing that align with our long-term business goals.
  • Hard-Problem Solver: Act as the final point of escalation for complex architectural challenges involving real-time data streaming, computer vision, and network-aware workload distribution.
  • Innovation & R&D: Lead Proof-of-Concepts for next-generation capabilities, such as in-orbit inference, adaptive learning at the edge, and secure Earth-to-space data orchestration.
  • Mentorship: Elevate the entire engineering organization by mentoring Staff and Principal engineers, fostering a culture of high-performance engineering and architectural rigor.

Required Qualifications:

  • Core Infrastructure Mastery: Deep understanding of Data Center operations, Compute architectures (CPU/GPU/NPU), and AI Infrastructure at scale. You should understand the full stack from silicon to the orchestration layer.
  • Experience: 15+ years of software engineering experience, with a proven track record as a Distinguished Engineer, Fellow, or equivalent senior technical leader at a major infrastructure or AI company.
  • Distributed Systems Mastery: Expert-level knowledge of distributed systems and data storage in resource-constrained, remote, or "denied" environments.
  • Systems Programming: Mastery of Go, C++, or Rust, with a deep understanding of how software interacts with physical compute hardware and non-terrestrial networking layers.
  • Ecosystem Influence: Proven ability to work across company lines with partners to build "1+1=3" technical solutions that drive adoption and industry standards.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Deep understanding of networking stacks, specifically optimization for satellite and terrestrial mesh networks.
  • Interest or experience in orbital mechanics, radiation-tolerant software design, or space-based communication protocols.
  • Experience building "Day 2" operations for fleets of thousands of remote, distributed devices in harsh environments.

Compensation

For U.S. Based candidates: To ensure fairness and transparency, the starting base salary range for this role for candidates in the U.S. are listed below, varying based on location experience, skills, and qualifications.

In addition to base salary, this role will also be offered equity and subsidized benefits (details available upon request).

Benefits

  • Competitive base salary and equity
  • Medical, dental, and vision (subsidized cost)
  • Health savings accounts (HSA), flexible spending accounts (FSA), and dependent care FSAs (DCFSA)
  • Retirement plan options, including 401(k) and Roth 401(k)
  • Unlimited paid time off (PTO)
  • 14 paid company holidays per year

#LI-SM2

#LI-Hybrid

Apply