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Distinguished Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Sr. Distinguished Engineer

Mclean, VA · On-site

$105K - $145K/yr

Sr. Distinguished Engineer Sr. Distinguished Engineer, Software Engineer - Enterprise data storage and consumption platforms We are the Data Storage, & Consumption platform team within the Enterprise ...

Sr. Distinguished Engineer

Mclean, VA · On-site

$105K - $145K/yr

Sr. Distinguished Engineer Sr. Distinguished Engineer, Software Engineer - Enterprise data storage and consumption platforms We are the Data Storage, & Consumption platform team within the Enterprise ...

Distinguished Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work alongside ...

Sr. Distinguished Engineer

New York, NY · On-site

$114K - $157K/yr

Sr. Distinguished Engineer Sr. Distinguished Engineer, Software Engineer - Enterprise data storage and consumption platforms We are the Data Storage, & Consumption platform team within the Enterprise ...

Distinguished Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work alongside ...

Distinguished Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work alongside ...

Distinguished Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work alongside ...

Distinguished Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work alongside ...

Distinguished Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work alongside ...

Distinguished Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work alongside ...

Distinguished Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work alongside ...

Distinguished Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work alongside ...

Distinguished Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work alongside ...

Distinguished Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work alongside ...

Distinguished Engineer, Enterprise AI About Scale AI Our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. The Enterprise AI business delivers performant, reliable ...

Distinguished Engineer, Enterprise AI About Scale AI Our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. The Enterprise AI business delivers performant, reliable ...

Distinguished Software Engineer As a Distinguished Engineer at Capital One, you will be a part of a community of technical experts working to define the future of banking in the cloud. You will work ...

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Distinguished Engineer information

See salary details

$31K

$95.8K

$127.5K

How much do distinguished engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 15, 2026, the average yearly pay for distinguished engineer in the United States is $95,796.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $81,000.00 and $116,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in the Distinguished Engineer position, and why are they important?

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 is a Distinguished Engineer job?

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 engineer makes $500,000 a year?

Highly experienced senior engineers, such as Distinguished Engineers or Principal Engineers in technology companies, can earn $500,000 or more annually, especially when including bonuses, stock options, and other compensation. These roles typically require advanced technical skills, leadership abilities, and significant industry experience.

What jobs make $1,000,000 per year?

In the context of a Distinguished Engineer, roles at the senior technical leadership level in large technology companies can reach or exceed $1,000,000 annually, including base salary, bonuses, and stock options. These positions typically require advanced technical skills, extensive experience, and often involve strategic decision-making and innovation. Compensation varies widely based on company size, location, and individual performance.

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 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 engineers make 300,000 a year?

Senior and distinguished engineers in fields such as software, systems, or hardware engineering can earn $300,000 or more annually, especially with extensive experience, advanced skills, and leadership responsibilities. Compensation often includes base salary, bonuses, and stock options, particularly in large tech companies or startups with high growth potential.
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Sr. Distinguished Engineer

Sr. Distinguished Engineer

Capital One

Mclean, VA • On-site

$105K - $145K/yr

Full-time

Posted 4 days ago


Capital One rating

7.7

Company rating: 7.7 out of 10

Based on 135 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

73rd of 141 rated banks


Job description

Sr. Distinguished Engineer

Sr. Distinguished Engineer, Software Engineer - Enterprise data storage and consumption platforms

We are the Data Storage, & Consumption platform team within the Enterprise Data at Capital One . By joining the team, you will lead technical initiatives to mature & grow the consumption platforms leveraged by all lines of businesses in Capital One.

These initiatives will deliver solutions for improving the consumption platform scalability, Operational Excellence, Performance & Resiliency.

Come join our team if you are self-driven, actively looking for ways to improve and mature platforms for Enterprise scale, enable frictionless consumption of the data for various personas and know how to drive technical strategy to get things done. You would need AWS infrastructure technical knowledge, Snowflake, Databricks platform expertise, BI tools, sincere willingness to improve, inter-personal skills and dedicated focus on the tasks.

Distinguished Engineers are individual contributors who strive to be diverse in thought so we visualize the problem space. At Capital One, we believe diversity of thought strengthens our ability to influence, collaborate and provide the most innovative solutions across organizational boundaries. Distinguished Engineers will significantly impact our trajectory and devise clear roadmaps to deliver next generation technology solutions.

  • Deep technical experts and thought leaders that help accelerate adoption of the very best engineering practices, while maintaining knowledge on industry innovations, trends and practices.

  • Visionaries, collaborating on Capital One's toughest issues, to deliver on business needs that directly impact the lives of our customers and associates.

  • Role models and mentors, helping to coach and strengthen the technical expertise and know-how of our engineering and product community.

  • Evangelists, both internally and externally, help to elevate the Distinguished Engineering community and establish themselves as a go-to resource on given technologies and technology-enabled capabilities.

Responsibilities:

  • Have a software engineering/problem solving mindset being equally comfortable with deep diving on issues, hands on keyboard and know how to build highly resilient operational platforms that can scale to 8K-10K users and with 4 nine's availability.

  • Prototype, benchmarks new features/solutions for performance, cost, new feature availability.

  • Operate with a platform mindset with deep familiarity on multi-tenancy, serverless computing, distributed system computing patterns.

  • Operate as a trusted advisor for a specific technology, platform or capability domain, helping to shape use cases and implementation in an unified manner by building proof of concepts, exploratory analysis.

  • Effectively communicate with and influence key stakeholders across the enterprise, at all levels of the organization.

  • Build awareness, increase knowledge and drive adoption of modern technologies, sharing consumer and engineering benefits to gain buy-in.

  • Promote a culture of engineering excellence, using opportunities to reuse and innersource solutions where possible.

  • Strike the right balance between lending expertise and providing an inclusive environment where others' ideas can be heard and championed; leverage expertise to grow skills in the broader Capital One team.

  • Lead the way in creating next-generation talent for Tech, mentoring internal talent and actively recruiting external talent to bolster Capital One's Tech talent.

Basic Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's Degree

  • At least 9 years of experience in software engineering

  • At least 5 years of experience with AWS cloud platform

  • At least 2 years experience with ML and AI technologies

  • At least 3 years of experience working with Big Data (Spark)

Preferred Qualifications:

  • 5+ years of experience with Big Data Technologies

  • 5+ years experience architecting and delivering software systems or platforms

  • 3+ years of DevOps experience using AWS, Python, Terraform, Jenkins, GitHub and Artifactory

  • 6+ years of experience in cloud native platforms

  • 5+ years of experience in open source frameworks

  • 3+ years of experience in Test Automation

Capital One will consider sponsoring a new qualified applicant for employment authorization for this position.

The minimum and maximum full-time annual salaries for this role are listed below, by location. Please note that this salary information is solely for candidates hired to perform work within one of these locations, and refers to the amount Capital One is willing to pay at the time of this posting. Salaries for part-time roles will be prorated based upon the agreed upon number of hours to be regularly worked.

McLean, VA: $314,800 - $359,300 for Sr Distinguished Engineer


New York, NY: $343,400 - $392,000 for Sr Distinguished Engineer










Candidates hired to work in other locations will be subject to the pay range associated with that location, and the actual annualized salary amount offered to any candidate at the time of hire will be reflected solely in the candidate's offer letter.

This role is also eligible to earn performance based incentive compensation, which may include cash bonus(es) and/or long term incentives (LTI). Incentives could be discretionary or non discretionary depending on the plan.

Capital One offers a comprehensive, competitive, and inclusive set of health, financial and other benefits that support your total well-being. Learn more at theCapital One Careers website. Eligibility varies based on full or part-time status, exempt or non-exempt status, and management level.

This role is expected to accept applications for a minimum of 5 business days.No agencies please. Capital One is an equal opportunity employer (EOE, including disability/vet) committed to non-discrimination in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Capital One promotes a drug-free workplace. Capital One will consider for employment qualified applicants with a criminal history in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable laws regarding criminal background inquiries, including, to the extent applicable, Article 23-A of the New York Correction Law; San Francisco, California Police Code Article 49, Sections 4901-4920; New York City's Fair Chance Act; Philadelphia's Fair Criminal Records Screening Act; and other applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding criminal background inquiries.

If you have visited our website in search of information on employment opportunities or to apply for a position, and you require an accommodation, please contact Capital One Recruiting at 1-800-304-9102 or via email at RecruitingAccommodation@capitalone.com. All information you provide will be kept confidential and will be used only to the extent required to provide needed reasonable accommodations.

For technical support or questions about Capital One's recruiting process, please send an email to Careers@capitalone.com

Capital One does not provide, endorse nor guarantee and is not liable for third-party products, services, educational tools or other information available through this site.

Capital One Financial is made up of several different entities. Please note that any position posted in Canada is for Capital One Canada, any position posted in the United Kingdom is for Capital One Europe and any position posted in the Philippines is for Capital One Philippines Service Corp. (COPSSC).


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