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Senior Principal Engineer Jobs in San Ramon, CA (NOW HIRING)

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

$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 ...

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All JobsPrincipal Engineer JobsSenior Principal Engineer JobsSenior Principal Engineer Jobs in San Ramon, CA

Senior Principal Engineer information

See San Ramon, CA salary details

$91.6K

$173.7K

$239.7K

How much do senior principal engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 14, 2026, the average yearly pay for senior principal engineer in San Ramon, CA is $173,696.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $140,200.00 and $193,300.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a senior principal engineer?

A Senior Principal Engineer is a highly experienced technical leader who is responsible for guiding the overall engineering direction and strategy within an organization. They typically possess deep expertise in their field, provide mentorship to other engineers, and influence major architectural and technical decisions. Senior Principal Engineers often collaborate with cross-functional teams, ensure best practices are followed, and play a critical role in driving innovation. Their work has a significant impact on the company's products and technical vision.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a senior principal engineer?

To excel as a Senior Principal Engineer, you need deep technical expertise in your engineering discipline, advanced problem-solving abilities, and typically a bachelor's or master's degree in engineering or a related field. Proficiency with industry-standard design and simulation software, project management tools, and relevant certifications (such as PMP or PE) are often required. Exceptional leadership, strategic thinking, and strong communication skills distinguish top performers in this role. These competencies are vital for leading complex projects, driving innovation, and effectively guiding engineering teams to achieve organizational goals.

What does a senior principal engineer do?

Senior Principal Engineers often serve as technical leaders on cross-functional projects, collaborating closely with product managers, architects, and development teams to define technical direction and ensure architectural consistency. They provide deep expertise to solve complex engineering challenges, mentor other engineers, and help align project goals with the organization's strategic vision. Their role frequently involves facilitating communication between different departments and ensuring technical decisions support both immediate project needs and long-term scalability.

What is the difference between Senior Principal Engineer vs Lead Engineer?

AspectSenior Principal EngineerLead Engineer
CredentialsTypically requires a bachelor's or master's degree in engineering, with extensive industry experienceSimilar educational background, often with additional certifications or specialized training
Work EnvironmentFocuses on high-level technical strategy, innovation, and mentorship across projectsLeads specific projects or teams, overseeing technical execution and coordination
Industry UsageCommon in large corporations and R&D settingsFound in both startups and established companies, often in project-based roles

While both roles require strong technical expertise, the Senior Principal Engineer typically focuses on strategic technical leadership and innovation at an organizational level, whereas the Lead Engineer manages project execution and team coordination. The Senior Principal Engineer often operates at a higher, more strategic level within the engineering hierarchy.

What are popular job titles related to Senior Principal Engineer jobs in San Ramon, CA?

For Senior Principal Engineer jobs in San Ramon, CA, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Senior Principal Engineer jobs in San Ramon, CA look for?

The top searched job categories for Senior Principal Engineer jobs in San Ramon, CA are:

What cities near San Ramon, CA are hiring for Senior Principal Engineer jobs?

Cities near San Ramon, CA with the most Senior Principal Engineer job openings:

Senior Principal Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Senior Principal Engineer job openings in San Ramon, CA as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 86% Full Time, 9% Part Time, and 5% Contract. Highlights an 85% Physical, 5% Hybrid, and 10% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $173,696 per year, or $83.5 per hour.

Senior Principal Engineer

Atlassian

San Francisco, CA • On-site, Remote

$147K - $203K/yr

Other

Re-posted 14 days ago

Job description

Overview
Working at Atlassian
Atlassians can choose where they work - whether in an office, from home, or a combination of the two. That way, Atlassians have more control over supporting their family, personal goals, and other priorities. We can hire people in any country where we have a legal entity.
Responsibilities
Dev Infra builds the tools, platforms, and infrastructure that every engineer at Atlassian uses to ship. 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 it runs on.
The reach of this work is unusual. Because Dev Infra builds and stress tests the same class of developer tools Atlassian sells, what you build shapes both how Atlassian ships software and what Atlassian ships to millions of developers.
In this role, you will:
  • Set the technical vision for how Atlassian enables and builds AI across the software development lifecycle, and turn it into infrastructure teams adopt.
  • Stay hands on. Prototype the hardest parts yourself, write code, and set the engineering bar others build to. At this level you lead by doing.
  • Build the foundational systems that make AI effective for every engineer, including how we measure whether AI works, give it the right context, and run it reliably and affordably at scale.
  • Give engineers and leaders real signal instead of hype, so the company can see where AI genuinely helps.
  • Partner across engineering and product teams to shape both the tools we use internally and the AI capabilities we ship to customers.
  • Decide when to buy a proven solution, when to build alongside our product teams, and when a problem deserves something purpose built.
  • Grow the talent around you. Mentor senior engineers, align principals across the organization, and raise the ceiling for what the team believes is possible.

Compensation
At Atlassian, we strive to design equitable, explainable, and competitive compensation programs. We follow consistent hiring practices and account for each candidate's skills, knowledge, and experience when setting base pay within the range.
Please visit go.atlassian.com/payzones for more information on which locations are included in each of our geographic pay zones. However, please confirm the zone for your specific location with your recruiter.
This role may also be eligible for benefits, bonuses, commissions, and equity.
Pay Ranges
In The United States, we have three geographic pay zones. For this role, our current base pay ranges for new hires in each zone are:
Zone A: $243,900 - $318,425
Zone B: $219,510 - $286,583
Zone C: $202,437 - $264,293
Qualifications
  • 12+ years in hands on technical leadership roles, with end to end ownership across the software development lifecycle.
  • A track record of setting technical direction across a function or organization, not just one team, and bringing many engineers with you.
  • Deep expertise building large scale systems in one or more of: distributed systems and cloud infrastructure, developer platforms, data and measurement systems, or applied AI.
  • Genuine technical depth. You still write code, go deep into hard problems, and raise the quality bar for everyone around you.
  • Strong judgment on cost, scale, and return on investment. You treat efficiency as a real engineering problem.
  • Experience influencing decision makers and turning ambiguity into a clear plan.
  • Real excitement for an open, unmapped space. Building software with AI is being invented now, and you want to help invent it.

Nice to have:
  • Hands on experience with modern AI systems such as large language models, agents, or AI developer tools.
  • Background in developer experience, developer productivity, or the tooling and infrastructure behind CI and CD.

Benefits & Perks
Atlassian offers a wide range of perks and benefits designed to support you, your family and to help you engage with your local community. Our offerings include health and wellbeing resources, paid volunteer days, and so much more. To learn more, visit go.atlassian.com/perksandbenefits
About Atlassian
At Atlassian, we're motivated by a common goal: to unleash the potential of every team. Our software products help teams all over the planet and our solutions are designed for all types of work. Team collaboration through our tools makes what may be impossible alone, possible together.
We believe that the unique contributions of all Atlassians create our success. To ensure that our products and culture continue to incorporate everyone's perspectives and experience, we never discriminate based on race, religion, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, or marital, veteran, or disability status. All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.
To provide you the best experience, we can support with accommodations or adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process. Simply inform our Recruitment team during your conversation with them.
To learn more about our culture and hiring process, visit go.atlassian.com/crh
In line with local law, identity verification (which may include use of biometric data) is a condition of employment with Atlassian for employment fraud purposes.

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