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Principal Software Engineer Backend Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Alarm.com

Principal Software Engineer

Mclean, VA · On-site

$136K - $183K/yr

Principal Software Engineer -- emPower Do you love working with connected devices, automation, and ... Reason across the full product stack, including backend services, databases, APIs, web and mobile ...

Alarm.com

Principal Software Engineer

Tysons Corner, VA

$135K - $182K/yr

Principal Software Engineer -- emPower Do you love working with connected devices, automation, and ... Reason across the full product stack, including backend services, databases, APIs, web and mobile ...

Alarm.com

Principal Software Engineer

Washington, DC · On-site

$152K - $205K/yr

Principal Software Engineer -- emPower Do you love working with connected devices, automation, and ... Reason across the full product stack, including backend services, databases, APIs, web and mobile ...

Alarm.com

Principal Software Engineer

Arlington, VA

$155K - $208K/yr

Principal Software Engineer -- emPower Do you love working with connected devices, automation, and ... Reason across the full product stack, including backend services, databases, APIs, web and mobile ...

Vast

Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Long Beach, CA · On-site

$159K - $226K/yr

Vast is looking for a Senior Software Engineer , Backend reporting to the Senior Manager, Software Engineering to support the development of the systems that will be required for the design and build ...

VTG

Principal Software Engineer

Hanover, MD · On-site

$200K - $275K/yr

The Principal Software Engineer will design, develop, integrate, test, and maintain enterprise ... Develop enterprise backend applications and services, preferably using Java and/or C++. * Interface ...

KBR

Principal Software Engineer

El Segundo, CA · On-site +1

$143K - $192K/yr

Principal Software Engineer Belong. Connect. Grow. with KBR! KBR is seeking an experienced ... Develop modern user interfaces using Angular and related technologies. * Back-End Development:

VTG

Principal Software Engineer

Hanover, MD · On-site

$200K - $275K/yr

The Principal Software Engineer will design, develop, integrate, test, and maintain enterprise ... Develop enterprise backend applications and services, preferably using Java and/or C++. * Interface ...

THOMSON REUTERS

Principal Software Engineer

New York, NY · Hybrid

$147K - $198K/yr

Principal Software Engineer The global capital markets are among the largest markets in the world ... This role is backend-leaning - you'll spend most of your time on server-side architecture, data ...

KBR, Inc.

Principal Software Engineer

El Segundo, CA · On-site

$143K - $192K/yr

Principal Software Engineer Belong. Connect. Grow. with KBR! KBR is seeking an experienced ... Develop modern user interfaces using Angular and related technologies. * Back-End Development:

Thomson Reuters

Principal Software Engineer

New York, NY · On-site

$147K - $198K/yr

Principal Software Engineer The global capital markets are among the largest markets in the world ... This role is backend-leaning - you'll spend most of your time on server-side architecture, data ...

THOMSON REUTERS

Principal Software Engineer

Ann Arbor, MI · Hybrid

$132K - $177K/yr

Principal Software Engineer The global capital markets are among the largest markets in the world ... This role is backend-leaning - you'll spend most of your time on server-side architecture, data ...

THOMSON REUTERS

Principal Software Engineer

Eagan, MN · Hybrid

$137K - $184K/yr

Principal Software Engineer The global capital markets are among the largest markets in the world ... This role is backend-leaning - you'll spend most of your time on server-side architecture, data ...

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Principal Software Engineer Backend information

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$160.9K

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How much do principal software engineer backend jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 9, 2026, the average yearly pay for principal software engineer backend in the United States is $160,936.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $135,000.00 and $181,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

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

AspectPrincipal Software Engineer BackendSenior Software Engineer Backend
CredentialsBachelor's/Master's in CS or related, extensive experienceBachelor's/Master's in CS or related, 3-7 years experience
Work EnvironmentLeadership roles, architecture design, cross-team collaborationDevelopment, implementation, and maintenance of backend systems
Industry UsageStrategic technical leadership, high-level decision makingHands-on coding, feature development, and troubleshooting

The main difference between a Principal Software Engineer Backend and a Senior Software Engineer Backend lies in their scope of responsibilities. The Principal typically focuses on architecture, strategic planning, and leadership, while the Senior is more involved in coding and implementing features. Both roles require strong technical skills, but the Principal often guides multiple teams and influences technical direction.

What is a principal software engineer backend?

A principal software engineer backend is a senior technical role responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining the server-side components of software applications. They often lead technical projects, set coding standards, and collaborate with cross-functional teams, typically requiring extensive experience in programming languages, system architecture, and cloud services. Strong problem-solving skills and expertise in tools like databases and APIs are essential for this position.

What cities are hiring for Principal Software Engineer Backend jobs?

Cities with the most Principal Software Engineer Backend job openings:

What states have the most Principal Software Engineer Backend jobs?

States with the most job openings for Principal Software Engineer Backend jobs include:

What are popular job titles related to Principal Software Engineer Backend jobs?

For Principal Software Engineer Backend jobs, the most frequently searched job titles are:

Infographic showing various Principal Software Engineer Backend job openings in the United States as of September 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Internship, 1% As Needed, 88% Full Time, 7% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 85% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 12% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $160,936 per year, or $77.4 per hour.

Principal Software Engineer (Backend Engineer)

San Francisco, CA • On-site, Remote

Hired Recruiters
Internet and IT • 1 - 10 employees
Learn more about Hired Recruitersexternal

$159K - $213K/yr

Full-time

Re-posted 23 days ago

Job description

About this Role
At Fandom, this Principal Engineer role reports to the VP of Engineering and works with the Data Platform team. you will be a technical leader who builds engagement and monetizes the experiences from both an architectural and systems design perspective, for over 300 million monthly users across Fandom sites and applications. You will be a top technical leader throughout all of Fandom.
You Will...
  • Have a Broad Technical Impact
    • You will oversee this technical area from an architectural and systems design perspective, leading other engineers, and working side-by-side with them to discover and implement solutions.
    • You will be a top technical leader throughout all of Fandom and communicate across a variety of audiences is imperative.
  • Execute with the Future in Mind
    • You will be one that must always think about the future, not overbuilding for it, and finding that right balance of developing solutions for current issues while not over-engineering for issues we are not sure we'll need to solve for
    • Always have a plan for potential future issues and growth opportunities.
    • Stay up to date with all applicable new technology innovations happening in the industry, and know when is the right time to bring new thoughts and potential infrastructure changes into discussions, with an understanding of the trade-offs and potential impact on overall tech-debt.
  • Be Accountable
    • Provide technical leadership for impactful projects that involve multiple teams and span multiple technologies and systems
    • Lead large projects or large pieces of projects depending on the project scale
    • Proactivity identify risks and opportunities to improve our processes and technologies
    • Influence other senior leaders on engineering strategy
  • Lead Key Initiatives
    • Work with the Data Science team to build and scale Recommendations for TV, Movie, and Games both inline in the User's experience and as stand-alone pages
    • Stream user pageview and action-event data into a system that develops a dynamic Profile of each user to be used to Personalize their experiences in many ways
    • Scale out our Gamification systems to encourage users to develop high-quality content and be rewarded for their efforts
    • Use all of the above to find new ways to monetize the users' experiences through Affiliate, E-Commerce, Display, and hopefully many more types of future revenue streams

You Have...
  • 10+ years of software engineering experience with a track-record of back-end development, design and architecture
  • Expertise in a modern form of 1 or more of the following languages: Java, Python, Golang, Kotlin
  • Designing and architecting scaled-up back-end systems (Kafka, MySQL, NoSQL, MongoDB, Neo4j), with expertise in both relational and nonrelational systems and when it is necessary to choose each one
  • A high degree of proficiency in how to optimize full-stack web systems, in cached environments.
  • Experience building large user personalization, recommendation and search-based systems with an average monthly base of at least 50-100M monthly users
  • Deep experience as an expert and technical leader for large Engineering teams.
  • Experience explaining complicated technical plans to a variety of audiences.
  • A mindset that is business-oriented, collaborative, and comfortable with mentoring others

Bonus Points if You Have...
  • A passion for fandoms and an interest in building products for fan communities around the world.
  • Contributed to open-source projects

Job Required Skills:
Python, Java

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