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Principal Platform Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Gradial

Principal Platform Engineer

Seattle, WA · On-site

They are seeking a Principal Platform Engineer to enhance their platform's reliability and scalability while working closely with the CTO and engineering team in a high-growth environment.

Gradial

Principal Platform Engineer

Seattle, WA · On-site

The Role As a Principal Platform Engineer at Gradial, you will shape the foundation our platform runs on as we scale. You will work closely with the CTO and engineering team to make our systems ...

ACI Worldwide

Principal Platform Engineer

Norcross, GA · On-site

About the Role The Principal Platform Engineer is a senior individual contributor and technical leader responsible for shaping, scaling, and governing ACI's internal platforms as products , not ...

ACI Worldwide

Principal Platform Engineer

Norcross, GA · On-site

About the Role The Principal Platform Engineer is a senior individual contributor and technical leader responsible for shaping, scaling, and governing ACI's internal platforms as products , not ...

FICO

Principal Platform Engineer

$150.50K - $236.50K/yr

The Opportunity "As a Principal Platform Engineer, you will lead the design, implementation, and evolution of our cloud-native platform infrastructure. This role will be instrumental in building and ...

Ralliant

Principal Platform Engineer

Beaverton, OR · On-site

Beaverton, OR or Raleigh, NC We are seeking a Principal Platform Engineer to design, build, and implement scalable, secure infrastructure solutions across commercial and CMMC Level 2 environments.

Elucid

Principal Platform Engineer

Boston, MA · On-site

$170K - $205K/yr

Come work at Elucid and be part of delivering on our mission to prevent heart attacks and strokes! We're seeking a Principal Platform Engineer who's passionate about building resilient cloud ...

Judge Group, Inc.

Principal Platform Engineer

Manhattan, NY · Remote

$145K - $180K/yr

Summary The Principal Platform Engineer ensures stability, scalability, and continuous enhancement of enterprise service-management platforms. As the organization expands its use of digital workflows ...

Micron

Principal Platform Engineer

Boise, ID

We are seeking a Principal Platform Engineer - a senior individual contributor who will serve as a technical leader within the SMAI Platform Engineering team. In this role, you will architect ...

Gradial

Principal Platform Engineer

Seattle, WA · On-site

The Role As a Principal Platform Engineer at Gradial, you will shape the foundation our platform runs on as we scale. You will work closely with the CTO and engineering team to make our systems ...

Elucid

Principal Platform Engineer

Boston, MA · On-site

Come work at Elucid and be part of delivering on our mission to prevent heart attacks and strokes! We're seeking a Principal Platform Engineer who's passionate about building resilient cloud ...

Motional

Principal Platform Engineer

$200K - $275K/yr

As a Principal Engineer within the Platform Engineering group, you will serve as the primary architect for Motional's global cloud and hybrid infrastructure. Your mission is to evolve our current R&D ...

Motional

Principal Platform Engineer

Boston, MA · On-site +1

$200K - $275K/yr

As a Principal Engineer within the Platform Engineering group, you will serve as the primary architect for Motional's global cloud and hybrid infrastructure. Your mission is to evolve our current R&D ...

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How much do principal platform engineer jobs pay per year?

As of May 29, 2026, the average yearly pay for principal platform engineer in the United States is $147,220.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $118,500.00 and $173,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a Principal Platform Engineer job?

A Principal Platform Engineer is a senior-level technical leader responsible for designing, building, and optimizing scalable platform infrastructure. They collaborate with engineering teams to ensure reliability, security, and efficiency while driving best practices in automation, cloud services, and DevOps. This role often involves strategic decision-making, mentorship, and implementing new technologies to enhance system performance.

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

To thrive as a Principal Platform Engineer, you need expert knowledge in systems architecture, cloud infrastructure, and strong programming abilities, usually supported by a computer science degree and several years of platform engineering experience. Familiarity with tools such as Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, and cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or GCP is common, along with relevant certifications (e.g., AWS Certified Solutions Architect). Exceptional leadership, strategic thinking, and effective communication set top performers apart in this role. These skills enable Principal Platform Engineers to design reliable, scalable infrastructure, mentor teams, and drive technical excellence across the organization.

What are the typical challenges a Principal Platform Engineer faces in their daily work?

Principal Platform Engineers often navigate the complexities of designing scalable systems, implementing automation, and maintaining platform reliability in dynamic, high-traffic environments. They may face challenges such as balancing architectural decisions with business needs, ensuring system security, and integrating new technologies while minimizing disruptions. Collaboration across multiple teams—such as development, operations, and security—is a vital and ongoing aspect of the job. Staying current with the latest tools and best practices is important for overcoming these challenges and driving continuous platform improvement.

What engineers make $500,000 a year?

Principal Platform Engineers and other senior technical roles in technology companies can earn $500,000 or more annually, especially with bonuses, stock options, and extensive experience. These positions typically require advanced skills in cloud infrastructure, software architecture, and leadership, often involving working with tools like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud and holding relevant certifications.
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Principal Platform Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Principal Platform Engineer job openings in the United States as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 81% Full Time, 8% Part Time, 3% Temporary, and 8% Contract. Highlights an 66% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 31% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $147,220 per year, or $70.8 per hour.

Principal Platform Engineer

Career Renew

San Francisco, CA • On-site

$275K - $330K/yr

Full-time

Posted 15 days ago

Job description

Career Renew is recruiting for one of its clients a Principal Platform Engineer - this is an onsite position in San Francisco. Salary range: 275-330K USD base plus benefits plus equity.

We are looking for a Principal Platform Engineer with 10+ years of experience to architect, scale, and own the core Kubernetes infrastructure powering our autonomous AI agents for scientific discovery. This is a hands-on leadership role (roughly 70% IC work and 30% management) where you'll lead a small, mighty team while rolling up your sleeves and building from day one. You must be a true Kubernetes expert who has architected and operated clusters for long-running, stateful workloads, not just short-lived inference or web servers. We need someone with high EQ who can work cross-functionally with senior stakeholders whilst managing juniors, and who has recent startup experience owning an entire infrastructure platform end-to-end.


What you will do:

  • Architect, build, and operate Kubernetes clusters orchestrating thousands of persistent, stateful AI agents that run 12+ hours while maintaining state throughout their lifecycle.

  • Design and develop custom resource definitions (CRDs) and Kubernetes operators (Kubebuilder, Operator SDK, controller-runtime) to manage domain-specific workloads like AI agent lifecycles and research pipelines.

  • Own the full infrastructure platform on AWS including infrastructure-as-code, observability, networking, storage, and scaling strategies with full architectural ownership.

  • Lead and mentor a small platform team (1-2 engineers initially), collaborating closely with backend, ML, and research teams to translate workload requirements into reliable infrastructure patterns.

  • Establish infrastructure best practices around observability, monitoring, alerting, and incident response to ensure a production-grade environment that lets science move faster.

Tech stack
Kubernetes, AWS (EKS), Terraform, Pulumi, Custom Kubernetes Operators, CRDs, Kubebuilder, Operator SDK, controller-runtime, Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, Infrastructure-as-Code, GitOps, Docker, StatefulSets, CSI Drivers, Service Mesh, Python, Go
Requirements:
10+ years of experience in infrastructure/platform engineering, with deep hands-on Kubernetes expertise. (Mandatory)
Architected and owned Kubernetes platforms end-to-end for long-running stateful workloads (not just short-lived inference or web servers) (Mandatory)
Recent startup or small-team experience with full infrastructure ownership.(Mandatory)
Led or mentored a small team (1 - 5); formal management experience not required. (Nice-to-have)
Experience with data-intensive platforms, scientific computing, or ML/AI infrastructure (Nice-to-have)
Top CS/engineering school (e.g. Waterloo, CMU, Georgia Tech) is a plus but not required if work experience is strong.
Cloud infrastructure experience (AWS EKS, GCP GKE, or Azure AKS); familiarity with IaC tools (Terraform, Pulumi, or similar) and observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, or similar). (Mandatory)
High EQ - will work cross-functionally with senior stakeholders from day one while managing a small team. (Mandatory)
Biotech, pharma, or scientific computing background. (Nice-to-have)
Why you should join us

Join a $70M Seed-funded team building the future of scientific discovery. Work directly with science organizations and shape how AI transforms research workflows at unprecedented speed.


We use AI agents to uncover real science breakthroughs - our flagship agent Kosmos runs hundreds of research tasks in parallel and compresses months of work into single runs.


Join a rocket ship at the perfect inflection point. They just signed a major deal and are scaling rapidly - massive impact from day one.


Principal Platform Engineer role in SF (Dogpatch). $275K–$330K base + equity. 70/30 IC-to-management split leading a small team of 1–2 to start.