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Remote Principal Engineer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Wsgr

Principal Solutions Engineer

San Diego, CA · On-site +1

The Principal Solutions Engineer will lead the development of complex, integrated business ... This position is available as a hybrid or fully remote work schedule. Responsibilities: Solution ...

Wsgr

Principal Solutions Engineer

Los Angeles, CA · On-site +1

The Principal Solutions Engineer will lead the development of complex, integrated business ... This position is available as a hybrid or fully remote work schedule. Responsibilities: Solution ...

Wsgr

Principal Solutions Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

The Principal Solutions Engineer will lead the development of complex, integrated business ... This position is available as a hybrid or fully remote work schedule. Responsibilities: Solution ...

Wsgr

Principal Solutions Engineer

Palo Alto, CA · On-site +1

The Principal Solutions Engineer will lead the development of complex, integrated business ... This position is available as a hybrid or fully remote work schedule. Responsibilities: Solution ...

Boss Tech

Principal Engineer

San Jose, CA · On-site +1

Experience with DevOps automation and CI/CD best practices * Experience with microservices architecture * Experience with Agile Bonus Skills * Relational data modeling * New Relic, Kibana, AWS and ...

Cotality

Principal Software Engineer (Python)

Irvine, CA · On-site +1

$144K - $194K/yr

The hybrid-remote Principal Software Development Engineer leads the design, development, and testing of complex software systems and applications. This senior-level position is responsible for ...

Atlassian

Senior Principal Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

$147K - $203K/yr

We are hiring a Senior Principal Engineer for our AI Foundations team, the group responsible for making AI work well across our engineering: how we measure it, the context we feed it, and the compute ...

Atlassian

Senior Principal Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

$147K - $203K/yr

We are hiring a Senior Principal Engineer for our AI Foundations team, the group responsible for making AI work well across our engineering: how we measure it, the context we feed it, and the compute ...

Atlassian

Senior Principal Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

We are hiring a Senior Principal Engineer for our AI Foundations team, the group responsible for making AI work well across our engineering: how we measure it, the context we feed it, and the compute ...

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Remote Principal Engineer information

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$145.3K

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How much do remote principal engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 8, 2026, the average yearly pay for remote principal engineer in California is $145,292.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $116,900.00 and $170,700.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a remote principal engineer?

A Remote Principal Engineer is a senior-level technical expert who leads complex engineering projects while working remotely. They provide architectural guidance, mentor teams, and ensure high-quality technical solutions. This role requires deep expertise in software development, systems design, and strategic decision-making. Principal Engineers collaborate with stakeholders, drive innovation, and help align technical goals with business objectives. Strong communication and leadership skills are essential for success in this position.

What skills and qualifications are needed to thrive as a remote principal engineer?

To thrive as a Remote Principal Engineer, you need advanced expertise in software architecture, coding, and systems design, typically backed by a relevant degree and extensive industry experience. Mastery of modern programming languages, cloud platforms (such as AWS, Azure, or GCP), and proficiency with DevOps tools and architectural frameworks are expected. Exceptional leadership, clear communication, and proactive problem-solving skills help you drive projects and mentor distributed engineering teams. These abilities ensure you can lead complex technical initiatives, foster innovation, and maintain high collaboration in a remote environment.

What does a remote principal engineer do?

As a Remote Principal Engineer, you will lead the architecture and development of major technical projects, set engineering standards, and make critical design decisions. Your day-to-day work may involve collaborating with cross-functional teams, reviewing code, mentoring other engineers, and ensuring system scalability and reliability. You'll often participate in high-level strategic discussions, address technical challenges, and help define the technology roadmap. The role is highly collaborative, requiring frequent virtual meetings and regular updates to stakeholders.

What are the most commonly searched types of Principal Engineer jobs in California? The most popular types of Principal Engineer jobs in California are:
What are popular job titles related to Remote Principal Engineer jobs in California? For Remote Principal Engineer jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:
What job categories do people searching Remote Principal Engineer jobs in California look for? The top searched job categories for Remote Principal Engineer jobs in California are:
What cities in California are hiring for Remote Principal Engineer jobs? Cities in California with the most Remote Principal Engineer job openings:
Remote Principal Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Remote Principal Engineer job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Full Time. Highlights an 100% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $145,292 per year, or $69.9 per hour.

Principal Engineer, AI Platform

Pinterest

San Francisco, CA • On-site, Remote

Full-time

Re-posted 26 days ago

Job description

Millions of people across the world come to Pinterest to find new ideas every day. It's where they get inspiration, dream about new possibilities and plan for what matters most. Our mission is to help those people find their inspiration and create a life they love. As a Pinterest employee, you'll be challenged to take on work that upholds this mission and pushes Pinterest forward.

As a Principal Engineer on the AI Platform team, you'll help architect the infrastructure that powers both Generative AI and Recommender Systems across Pinterest's entire product suite. Our team builds the end-to-end engines for petabyte-scale data orchestration, model training and fine-tuning, and high-performance inference, ensuring our models scale seamlessly to hundreds of millions of inferences per second in service of over 600 million monthly active users.

What you'll do:

  • Set the technical vision and roadmap for the Pinterest AI Platform, aligning with business priorities and long-term company strategy.
  • Drive cross-functional strategic initiatives that advance our platform capabilities across:
    • Generative AI: multimodal data management, post-training, evaluation, and batch/online inference.
    • Recommender Systems: feature stores, training infra, and large-scale high performance inference.
    • AI-powered tools that automate the user experience across our platforms, connecting every stage of the AI/ML lifecycle to enhance productivity and accelerate development.
  • Cultivate a collaborative and inclusive culture where every team member feels welcome and empowered, and provide candid, constructive feedback that accelerates individual and team growth.

What we're looking for:

  • Deep expertise in AI/ML infrastructure and distributed systems: Hands-on experience designing, building, and operating highly available, production-grade systems at large scale; strong technical judgment; and proficiency in at least one of C++, Java, or Rust.
  • Proven track record of company-wide impact: Experience leading cross-organizational initiatives, navigating ambiguity, defining technical strategy, influencing architecture decisions, and aligning cross-functional partners and executives around a shared direction.
  • Strong ownership and a high engineering bar: Sets and upholds high standards for engineering quality, integrity, and accountability, and takes end-to-end ownership of outcomes.
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field.

Relocation Statement: 

  • This position is not eligible for relocation assistance. Visit our PinFlex page to learn more about our working model.

In-Office Requirement Statement: 

  • We recognize that the ideal environment for work is situational and may differ across departments. What this looks like day-to-day can vary based on the needs of each organization or role.
  • This role will need to be in the office for in-person collaboration 1-2 times per quarter and therefore needs to be in a commutable distance from one of the following offices: Palo Alto, CA or San Francisco, CA.

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