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Principal Engineer Jobs in Raleigh, NC (NOW HIRING)

Epic Games

Principal Engineer, AI Platform

Cary, NC · On-site

$125K - $167K/yr

As a Principal Engineer on the AI Platform team, you'll own the technical direction of our agent infrastructure stack end to end. You'll set the architecture across the six platforms above, drive ...

Hazen and Sawyer

Senior Principal Engineer

Raleigh, NC · On-site

$110K - $152K/yr

Seeking Professional Licensed Engineer with 5 - 15 years of experience in the water industry. Background and experience in municipal or industrial water, wastewater, reclaimed water, stormwater ...

Microsoft

Principal Circuit Design Engineer

Raleigh, NC · On-site

$188K - $304K/yr

We are looking for a Principal Circuit Design Engineer with a passion for envisioning and creating complex technical IPs and solutions in conjunction with our SoC partners. Responsibilities

Novartis

Principal Engineer, MS&T

Durham, NC

$126K - $234K/yr

As a Principal Engineer, MS&T, you will serve as a scientific and technical leader for upstream processes, bringing deep expertise in gene therapy manufacturing to support innovation, troubleshoot ...

NetApp

Distinguished Engineer

Morrisville, NC

Prior experience as a Principal or Senior Principal engineer working on high-scale, geo-distributed applications or services built on major cloud providers is highly preferred. Experience with open ...

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All JobsPrincipal Engineer JobsPrincipal Engineer Jobs in Raleigh, NC

Principal Engineer information

See Raleigh, NC salary details

$71.9K

$143.1K

$206.6K

How much do principal engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 15, 2026, the average yearly pay for principal engineer in Raleigh, NC is $143,102.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $115,200.00 and $168,200.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What Is a Principal Engineer?

A principal engineer oversees the research, development, and design of engineering projects for a company or organization. These engineering experts are leaders in their industries and need an advanced understanding of their discipline to manage projects and guide team members. As a principal engineer, your job duties include creating budgets, negotiating with vendors, and delegating work. You may also train staff members, set project deadlines, and work to improve engineering application processes.

What is the difference between Principal Engineer vs Senior Engineer?

AspectPrincipal EngineerSenior Engineer
CredentialsTypically requires 8+ years of experience, advanced technical skills, and often leadership or mentorship experienceUsually requires 3-7 years of experience with strong technical skills
Work EnvironmentLeads complex projects, influences technical strategy, collaborates across teamsFocuses on executing technical tasks, supporting project development, and mentoring junior staff
Employer & Industry UsageCommon in large tech companies, engineering firms, and organizations with advanced technical hierarchiesWidely used across industries for experienced technical contributors

The main difference between a Principal Engineer and a Senior Engineer lies in their level of responsibility, experience, and influence. Principal Engineers typically lead complex projects and shape technical strategies, while Senior Engineers focus on executing technical tasks and supporting team efforts. Both roles require strong technical skills, but Principal Engineers often have more leadership and strategic responsibilities.

Can you make $500,000 as an electrical engineer?

Principal engineers in electrical engineering can potentially earn $500,000 or more annually, especially with extensive experience, advanced skills, and leadership roles in high-paying industries like aerospace, defense, or energy. Such salaries often include bonuses, stock options, or other incentives, but are typically reserved for senior-level positions in large organizations or specialized fields.

What engineers make $500,000?

Principal engineers, especially in high-demand industries like technology, aerospace, and finance, can earn $500,000 or more annually, often including bonuses, stock options, or profit sharing. Achieving this level typically requires extensive experience, advanced skills, and leadership responsibilities in complex projects or organizations.

What are Principal Engineers?

Principal Engineers are highly experienced technical experts who lead engineering teams, provide strategic technical direction, and help solve complex engineering challenges within an organization. They often act as mentors, set technical standards, and collaborate with stakeholders across departments to drive innovation and ensure the success of engineering projects. Principal Engineers typically have many years of industry experience and are recognized for their deep technical knowledge and leadership skills.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Principal Engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Principal Engineer, you need deep technical expertise in your engineering discipline, strong problem-solving abilities, and typically an advanced degree or equivalent experience. Familiarity with complex software development tools, architectural frameworks, and industry certifications like AWS Certified Solutions Architect or relevant PE licenses is common. Exceptional leadership, communication, and mentorship skills help Principal Engineers guide teams and influence project direction. These competencies are essential for driving innovation, ensuring technical excellence, and delivering large-scale, high-impact solutions.

What engineers make $300,000 a year?

Principal engineers, especially in high-demand industries like technology, aerospace, and finance, can earn $300,000 or more annually with extensive experience, advanced skills, and often in senior or leadership roles. Compensation may include base salary, bonuses, and stock options, particularly in large companies or startups with significant growth potential.

How does a Principal Engineer typically collaborate with cross-functional teams to drive project success?

Principal Engineers play a key role in collaborating with cross-functional teams, such as product management, design, and operations, to ensure technical solutions align with business objectives. They often lead architectural discussions, mentor team members, and facilitate communication between engineering and non-engineering stakeholders. This collaboration helps identify potential challenges early, streamline development processes, and deliver high-quality products. Additionally, Principal Engineers are often involved in setting technical standards and guiding teams through complex problem-solving.

How much is a principal engineer paid?

A principal engineer's salary typically ranges from $120,000 to $180,000 annually, depending on experience, industry, and location. They often have advanced technical skills, leadership responsibilities, and may receive bonuses or stock options as part of compensation.
More about Principal Engineer jobs
What are the most commonly searched types of Principal Engineer jobs in Raleigh, NC? The most popular types of Principal Engineer jobs in Raleigh, NC are:
What are popular job titles related to Principal Engineer jobs in Raleigh, NC? For Principal Engineer jobs in Raleigh, NC, the most frequently searched job titles are:
What job categories do people searching Principal Engineer jobs in Raleigh, NC look for? The top searched job categories for Principal Engineer jobs in Raleigh, NC are:
What cities near Raleigh, NC are hiring for Principal Engineer jobs? Cities near Raleigh, NC with the most Principal Engineer job openings:
Principal Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Principal Engineer job openings in Raleigh, NC as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 92% Full Time, 4% Part Time, 1% Temporary, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 5% Hybrid, and 8% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $143,102 per year, or $68.8 per hour.
Principal Engineer, Enterprise Productivity Engineering

Principal Engineer, Enterprise Productivity Engineering

Epic Games

Cary, NC • On-site

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Retirement, PTO

Posted 2 days ago

Job description

WHAT MAKES US EPIC?
At the core of Epic's success are talented, passionate people. Epic prides itself on creating a collaborative, welcoming, and creative environment. Whether it's building award-winning games or crafting engine technology that enables others to make visually stunning interactive experiences, we're always innovating.
Being Epic means being a part of a team that continually strives to do right by our community and users. We're constantly innovating to raise the bar of engine and game development.
IT
What We Do
Our IT organization is dedicated to building a proactive, resilient tech ecosystem that empowers the people of Epic. We are committed to optimizing business processes through emerging technologies, ensuring seamless IT success and high-performance support across the entire company.
What You'll Do
Enterprise Productivity Engineering (EPE) enhances the effectiveness of Epic Games and maximizes end user productivity. We apply engineering talent and established best practices to solve high-impact problems all across Epic. EPE builds and maintains internal products, platforms, and AI-powered systems that serve teams across the entire company. Our impact is measured by whether other teams at Epic can move faster because of what we build.
You'll be the technical backbone of EPE. This role sits at the intersection of technical leadership and hands-on engineering. You'll own the standards, architecture patterns, and engineering practices that the org runs on. You'll also be the person we pull into our most complex and visible projects when they need principal-level engineering muscle to get across the finish line. You will work alongside the team leads as a peer and influence the technical direction with a hands-on approach. In any given week this role may be defining a new AI-assisted development process, writing production code, and explaining complex technical decisions to executive leadership.
In this role, you will
  • Own technical standards, best practices, and architectural guidance across multiple teams
  • Step into the org's highest-priority projects when they need hands-on help to ship
  • Partner with team leads to raise the quality bar on design, code, and delivery
  • Drive EPE's engineering direction, including how we build with tools like Claude Code, Cloud Infrastructure, and LLM primitives
  • Direct AI development tools to build, test, and review code. Debug problems and unblock teams
  • Drive operational maturity: CI/CD pipelines, testing practices, code quality, observability, and infrastructure-as-code, as well as evaluate new tools and patterns, then help teams adopt them without disrupting delivery
  • Mentor engineers across multiple teams in both software development and AI engineering, as well as represent EPE's technical direction in cross-org conversations with other engineering leaders and executives at Epic
What we're looking for
  • 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, with meaningful time spent as a senior individual contributor or technical lead
  • Deep, hands-on expertise in Python and Golang for production systems, as well as strong experience with AWS cloud infrastructure, including infrastructure-as-code (Terraform preferred)
  • Real, practical experience building AI-powered systems: RAG architectures, prompt engineering, context window management, LLM integrations, and agentic workflows, as well as familiarity with AI development tools like Claude Code and similar coding assistants, not just as a user but understanding how to build effective workflows around them
  • Solid DevOps background: CI/CD (Github Actions preferred), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), automated testing, and release management
  • Strong experience designing and operating distributed systems, APIs, and service deployments in production
  • Demonstrated ability to context-switch between strategic technical leadership and deep hands-on engineering work
  • Experience setting and maintaining engineering standards across multiple teams without having direct authority over those teams
  • Strong communication skills. You can explain a technical decision to a director and a junior engineer in the same afternoon and both walk away understanding it
  • Comfort with ambiguity. EPE solves problems across the entire company, so the domain changes constantly. You need to be someone who thrives on that, not someone who needs a narrow lane
EPIC JOB + EPIC BENEFITS = EPIC LIFE
Our intent is to cover all things that are medically necessary and improve the quality of life. We pay 100% of the premiums for both you and your dependents. Our coverage includes Medical, Dental, a Vision HRA, Long Term Disability, Life Insurance & a 401k with competitive match. We also offer a robust mental well-being program through Modern Health, which provides free therapy and coaching for employees & dependents.
Throughout the year we celebrate our employees with events and company-wide paid breaks. We offer unlimited PTO and sick time and recognize individuals for 7 years of employment with a paid sabbatical.
ABOUT US
Epic Games is a leading interactive entertainment company. For over 30 years we've been making award-winning games and engine technology that empowers others to make visually stunning games and 3D content that bring environments to life like never before. Epic's award-winning Unreal Engine technology not only provides game developers the ability to build high-fidelity, interactive experiences for PC, console, mobile, and VR, it is also a tool being embraced by content creators across a variety of industries such as media and entertainment, automotive, and architectural design. As we continue to build our Engine technology and develop remarkable games, we strive to build teams of world-class talent.
Like what you hear? Come be a part of something Epic!
Epic Games deeply values diverse teams and an inclusive work culture, and we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. Learn more about our Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy here.
Note to Recruitment Agencies: Epic does not accept any unsolicited resumes or approaches from any unauthorized third party (including recruitment or placement agencies) (i.e., a third party with whom we do not have a negotiated and validly executed agreement). We will not pay any fees to any unauthorized third party. Further details on these matters can be found here.

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