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Principal Software Developer Jobs in Texas (NOW HIRING)

RIS Principal Software Engineer

College Station, TX · Hybrid

$111.60K - $149.70K/yr

Job Title RIS Principal Software Engineer Agency Texas A&M University Department Research Info Systems Service Department Proposed Minimum Salary Commensurate Job Location College Station, Texas Job ...

Principal Software Engineer

Westlake, TX

$129.60K - $173.80K/yr

Principal Engineer - Agentic AI The Role A Principal Software Engineer's roles includeproviding ... Cloud & DevOps : Cloud-native development (AWS), containerization, monitoring tools Technical ...

Principal Software Engineer

Westlake, TX · On-site

$129.60K - $173.80K/yr

Principal Engineer - Agentic AI The Role A Principal Software Engineer's roles include providing ... Cloud & DevOps : Cloud-native development (AWS), containerization, monitoring tools Technical ...

Principal Software Engineer

Westlake, TX

$129.60K - $173.80K/yr

Principal Engineer - Agentic AI The Role A Principal Software Engineer's roles includeproviding ... Cloud & DevOps : Cloud-native development (AWS), containerization, monitoring tools * Technical ...

Principal Software Engineer

Westlake, TX · On-site

$129.60K - $173.80K/yr

Principal Engineer - Agentic AI The Role A Principal Software Engineer's roles include providing ... Cloud & DevOps : Cloud-native development (AWS), containerization, monitoring tools Technical ...

Principal Software Engineer

Austin, TX · On-site +1

$133.80K - $179.40K/yr

About this Role Reporting to the Engineering Manager, the Principal Software Engineer works in a cross-ocean product team and serves as a technical leader for delivering the best web experience for ...

Principal Software Engineer

Austin, TX

$133.80K - $179.40K/yr

The Ideal Candidate Aspira's Principal Software Engineer is a technical leader who drives the design, development, and optimization of critical software systems. This role involves coding ...

Principal Software Engineer

Austin, TX · On-site

$186.20K - $232.80K/yr

Position Summary We are seeking an accomplished Principal Software Engineer to shape the future of ... Drive adoption of Generative AI to improve developer productivity and software quality. * Lead the ...

Principal Software Engineer

Austin, TX · On-site

$186.20K - $232.80K/yr

Position Summary We are seeking an accomplished Principal Software Engineer to shape the future of ... Drive adoption of Generative AI to improve developer productivity and software quality. * Lead the ...

Principal Software Engineer

Plano, TX · On-site

$130K - $174.30K/yr

... CD, DevOps practices, and platform engineering capabilities. • Provide technical leadership in ... software engineering experience, with strong backend focus. • 5+ years designing and building ...

Principal Software Engineer

Houston, TX · On-site

$128.90K - $172.80K/yr

We are hiring a Principal Software Engineer with deep experience and expertise in designing and delivering solutions using modern software engineering practices and cloud technologies. You will be ...

Experience with DevOps, Infrastructure as Code and infrastructure automation. * Good Understanding ... Principal Software Engineer #LI -SR1 #LI- Hybrid ----- The salary range for this position is $152 ...

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Showing results 1-20

Principal Software Developer information

See Texas salary details

$88K

$131.5K

$172.8K

How much do principal software developer jobs pay per year?

As of May 29, 2026, the average yearly pay for principal software developer in Texas is $131,522.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $115,100.00 and $144,400.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

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

To thrive as a Principal Software Developer, you need advanced expertise in software engineering, architecture design, and problem-solving, typically backed by a degree in computer science or a related field and extensive industry experience. Mastery of programming languages (such as Java, Python, or C#), software development frameworks, cloud platforms, and familiarity with tools like Git, Docker, and CI/CD systems is critical. Leadership, effective communication, and mentorship abilities are vital soft skills that set top performers apart in this role. These competencies ensure scalable solutions, effective project delivery, and the growth of high-performing development teams.

How does a Principal Software Developer typically balance hands-on coding with leadership and mentorship responsibilities?

As a Principal Software Developer, you’ll often split your time between writing high-impact code and guiding technical direction for the team. While you remain involved in architecting and developing complex features, a significant portion of your role will also involve mentoring less-experienced developers, leading code reviews, and fostering best practices. You’ll collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to align technical solutions with business goals, and you’re expected to influence the overall engineering culture. This balance requires strong time management skills and a passion for both technical excellence and team development.

What does a Principal Software Developer do?

A Principal Software Developer is a senior-level engineer responsible for leading complex software projects, setting technical direction, and mentoring other developers. They design and architect software solutions, ensure best coding practices, and collaborate with stakeholders to align technical strategy with business goals. Principal Software Developers often influence company-wide technology decisions and help solve the most challenging engineering problems. Their role typically combines hands-on coding with leadership and strategic planning.

What is the difference between Principal Software Developer vs Senior Software Engineer?

AspectPrincipal Software DeveloperSenior Software Engineer
CredentialsBachelor's or Master’s in Computer Science; extensive experienceBachelor's or Master’s in Computer Science; 5+ years experience
Work EnvironmentLeads technical strategy, mentors teams, influences architectureDevelops features, writes code, mentors junior staff
Industry UsageUsed in large organizations, tech companies, and enterprise settingsCommon across startups, mid-sized, and large companies

The Principal Software Developer typically holds a higher-level role focused on technical leadership, architecture, and strategic planning, whereas the Senior Software Engineer primarily focuses on coding, feature development, and mentoring. Both roles require strong technical skills, but the Principal position involves broader responsibilities and influence within the organization.

What cities in Texas are hiring for Principal Software Developer jobs? Cities in Texas with the most Principal Software Developer job openings:
Infographic showing various Principal Software Developer job openings in Texas as of May 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 90% Full Time, 8% Part Time, and 1% Contract. Highlights an 97% Physical, and 3% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $131,522 per year, or $63.2 per hour.
Principal Software Developer - GPU AI/HPC kernels

Principal Software Developer - GPU AI/HPC kernels

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc

Austin, TX • On-site

$185.50K/yr

Full-time

Posted 2 days ago


Advanced Micro Devices rating

7.8

Company rating: 7.8 out of 10

Based on 6 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

53rd of 137 rated electronics manufacturers


Job description

WHAT YOU DO AT AMD CHANGES EVERYTHING
At AMD, our mission is to build great products that accelerate next-generation computing experiences-from AI and data centers, to PCs, gaming and embedded systems. Grounded in a culture of innovation and collaboration, we believe real progress comes from bold ideas, human ingenuity and a shared passion to create something extraordinary. When you join AMD, you'll discover the real differentiator is our culture. We push the limits of innovation to solve the world's most important challenges-striving for execution excellence, while being direct, humble, collaborative, and inclusive of diverse perspectives. Join us as we shape the future of AI and beyond. Together, we advance your career.
THE ROLE:
AMD is looking for a principal software developer to join our growing team. As a key contributor you will be part of our ROCm GPU-compute mathematical libraries team working on innovative hardware and software technologies. You will help deliver exceptional performance and feature enhancements via maintainable code development, optimizations/tuning, and collaboration.
THE PERSON:
The successful candidate would possess excellent software skills in C/C++, Python and has expert understanding of software performance and computer architecture. Must have strong desire and ability to solve problems, and be able to schedule, and work on tasks independently. Should be a great team player with excellent communication skills.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
  • Develop software in C++, Python, HIP, assembly, and SOTA programming technologies to enable key mathematical operations on GPU
  • Design GPU computational software libraries for AI, HPC applications
  • Aid management in planning, and delivering industry-leading software for current and future processors
  • Supervise small development team
  • Carry-out performance optimizations and projections for important use-cases to maximize hardware utilization
  • Support development of programs to sustain seamless performance analysis, and performance/functional test coverage
  • Identify and help resolve quality issues working closely with libraries development teams and other internal engineering teams

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:
  • 10+ years professional software development experience
  • Demonstrated capacity to technically lead and people manage junior to mid-level developers
  • Proficient in C/C++ & Python programming employing best software design practices
  • GPU software development or validation involving HIP, CUDA, or OpenCL
  • Experience with software libraries and API design
  • Exposure to Matrix/Tensor operations and numerical work
  • Software emulation to support FP numerical formats is a plus
  • Experience in software performance estimations, optimizations and debugging
  • Ability to closely interact with technical leads, developers, and test teams to maintain and release production software

ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS:
  • Master's or Doctoral degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent

THE ROLE:As GPU Software Architect, you will provide technical leadership at the intersection of GPU architecture, multi-ASIC platform bring-up, and software enablement for next-generation GPU products. This is a "Software-First" architecture role: you will reimagine and redefine the end-to-end software libraries lifecycle as it spans across multiple ASICs to create a unified software fabric and process supporting development of software libraries on cutting edge hardware.
You will serve as a bridging authority between software architecture and the hardware ecosystem, ensuring that architectural intent translates into working, performant, and scalable solutions for partnerships established with software libraries teams.
This role is focused on leading a team focused on new GPUs and new product introductions, with accountability spanning early architecture definition, pre-silicon modeling, multi-ASIC bring-up strategy, and software readiness for emerging platforms.
THE PERSON:You are a deeply technical leader who thrives in ambiguous, first-of-kind environments. You combine strong architectural intuition with hands-on experience bringing up complex hardware platforms and enabling software stacks on new silicon.
You are comfortable operating across layers - from architecture trade-offs and interconnect topology down to firmware, drivers, and performance tooling - and you are trusted to make decisions when data is incomplete. You naturally connect and lead teams through technical credibility, clarifying intent, and reducing friction between hardware and software organizations.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
  • Architecture & Platform Leadership: Provide technical leadership for GPU architecture decisions with direct impact on multi-ASIC platforms, interconnects, memory systems, and scalability. Translate architectural concepts into concrete platform requirements spanning ASIC, firmware, drivers, and software libraries.
  • Multi-ASIC Bring-Up Strategy: Define and lead bring-up strategies for new GPU platforms, including strategies spanning multiple ASICs. Partner with silicon, systems, and software teams to identify risks early and drive mitigation plans from pre-silicon through first silicon.
  • Hardware-Software Co-Design: Drive hardware/software interface definition, ensuring architecture choices support and reflect the drive towards performance and quality. Influence firmware, driver, runtime, and performance software design to align with architectural intent.
  • Early Silicon Enablement: Act as a technical escalation point during early silicon bring-up, debugging complex cross-layer issues spanning hardware, firmware, and software. Guide the creation of diagnostics, validation tools, and bring-up workflows that scale across teams and products.
  • Cross-Functional Technical Leadership: Work across architecture, design, verification, drivers, performance libraries, and product teams to ensure alignment. Provide technical mentorship and review, raising the overall effectiveness of teams working on new GPU platforms.
  • Knowledge Capture & Reuse: Capture lessons learned from new product bring-up and translate them into reusable architecture patterns, best practices, and documentation.
  • Leverages AI-assisted software development tools to accelerate the design, implementation, review, and documentation of complex software libraries. Establishes best practices for responsible use of AI assistance, including validation, review, and traceability of generated code and technical artifacts.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE:
  • Deep experience in GPU, accelerator, or SoC architecture, including memory systems, interconnects, and scalability considerations. History of technical leadership across distributed, cross-functional engineering teams.
  • Strong background in systems software, firmware, drivers, or performance software used to enable new silicon. Proven experience in hardware/software co-design, including defining interfaces and debugging cross-layer issues.
  • Hands-on programming experience in C/C++ and Python. Familiarity with low-level debugging tools and workflows. Experience working with performance modeling, simulators, or early validation infrastructure.
  • Applied experience using AI-assisted coding tools in professional software engineering workflows, including code generation, refactoring, test creation, documentation, and design exploration.
  • Advanced degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.

ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS:
  • Advanced degrees, such as M.Sc., M.Eng., Ph.D. are preferred

LOCATION: Austin, TX
#LI-DR1
#LI-HYBRID
This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship.
Benefits offered are described: AMD benefits at a glance.
AMD does not accept unsolicited resumes from headhunters, recruitment agencies, or fee-based recruitment services. AMD and its subsidiaries are equal opportunity, inclusive employers and will consider all applicants without regard to age, ancestry, color, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, race, religion, political and/or third-party affiliation, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates and will accommodate applicants' needs under the respective laws throughout all stages of the recruitment and selection process.
AMD may use Artificial Intelligence to help screen, assess or select applicants for this position. AMD's "Responsible AI Policy" is available here.
This posting is for an existing vacancy.