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Technical Principal Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Snowflake

SnowCAT Technical Principal

Menlo Park, CA · On-site +1

$225K - $323K/yr

As Technical Principal on the SnowCAT team you will: * Impact Snowflake's product success in multiple market segments and workloads. * Engage with PM and Engineering across multiple feature areas.

GM Financial

Technical Principal - GenAI

Irving, TX · On-site

The Principal AI Engineer is a hands-on technical leader and thought partner who guides teams in designing, building, and delivering enterprise-grade Generative AI solutions, including agentic ...

GM Financial

Technical Principal - GenAI

Irving, TX · Hybrid

The Principal AI Engineer is a handson technical leader and thought partner who guides teams in designing, building, and delivering enterprisegrade Generative AI solutions, including agentic systems ...

GM Financial

Principal Salesforce Developer

Arlington, TX · On-site

$48.75 - $64.50/hr

At GM Financial, Technical Principals are both hands-on development and key influencers that help shape the architectural future of our solutions. The principal will work with leaders in the business ...

GM Financial

Principal Salesforce Developer

Arlington, TX · Hybrid

$50 - $66.25/hr

At GM Financial, Technical Principals are both hands-on development and key influencers that help shape the architectural future of our solutions. The principal will work with leaders in the business ...

Granicus

Principal Engineer, AI Security

$150K - $187K/yr

Job Summary Granicus is seeking a Principal Engineer, AI Security to help mature existing and ... This is a senior technical leadership role focused on maturing and implementing the AI security ...

New

Granicus

Job Summary Granicus is seeking a Principal Engineer, AI Security to help mature existing and ... This is a senior technical leadership role focused on maturing and implementing the AI security ...

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Technical Principal information

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$36.5K

$109.4K

$182K

How much do technical principal jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 19, 2026, the average yearly pay for technical principal in the United States is $109,393.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $85,000.00 and $125,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

How does a Technical Principal typically balance hands-on technical work with leadership and mentorship responsibilities?

As a Technical Principal, you will often find yourself balancing deep technical involvement with guiding and mentoring team members. While you may still participate in architecture design and occasional coding, much of your time will be spent setting technical direction, facilitating collaboration across teams, and supporting the professional growth of engineers. Prioritizing clear communication and aligning technical decisions with business goals are key challenges. This balance allows you to drive innovation while ensuring the team delivers high-quality solutions and continuously develops their skills.

What is the difference between Technical Principal vs Senior Engineer?

AspectTechnical PrincipalSenior Engineer
Required CredentialsTypically requires advanced degrees and extensive industry experienceUsually requires a bachelor's or master's degree and several years of experience
Work EnvironmentLeads technical strategy, oversees multiple projects, and mentors teamsFocuses on designing, developing, and implementing technical solutions within projects
Employer & Industry UsageCommon in large tech firms, engineering consultancies, and R&D departmentsWidely used across industries for technical expertise roles
Comparison Search IntentHigh overlap in technical expertise, leadership, and strategic inputFocuses more on hands-on technical work and project delivery

The Technical Principal role is more strategic and leadership-oriented, often involving oversight and mentorship, whereas a Senior Engineer primarily focuses on technical execution and project development. Both roles require strong technical skills, but the Technical Principal typically has broader responsibilities and industry recognition.

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

To thrive as a Technical Principal, you need deep expertise in software architecture, system design, and a proven track record in leading large-scale technology projects, often backed by relevant degrees or certifications. Familiarity with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure), DevOps tools, and enterprise frameworks, along with certifications like TOGAF or AWS Certified Solutions Architect, are typically required. Leadership, strategic thinking, and excellent communication skills help you guide teams, influence stakeholders, and foster innovation. These skills are vital for ensuring technical excellence, aligning technology with business goals, and driving organizational success.

What is the meaning of technical?

In the context of a Technical Principal role, 'technical' refers to specialized knowledge and skills related to engineering, technology, or scientific principles. It involves understanding complex systems, tools, and processes to develop, implement, or oversee technical solutions within an organization.

What is a Technical Principal?

A Technical Principal is a senior technology leader who provides strategic technical guidance, oversees complex projects, and ensures that technology solutions align with business goals. They often mentor teams, set technical standards, and influence architectural decisions across the organization. Technical Principals play a key role in driving innovation, evaluating new technologies, and ensuring best practices are followed throughout the software development lifecycle.

What does being technical mean?

Being technical in a role like a Technical Principal involves having a strong understanding of engineering principles, technical skills, and industry tools. It requires problem-solving abilities, familiarity with relevant technologies, and often certifications or advanced training to lead complex projects and guide technical teams.

What is a technical definition?

A technical definition explains the specific meaning of a term or concept within a particular field, such as engineering or information technology. For a Technical Principal, understanding precise technical definitions is essential for developing standards, guiding projects, and communicating complex ideas clearly. These definitions often involve industry-specific terminology, standards, and detailed descriptions to ensure clarity and consistency.

What is the full meaning of tech?

In the context of a Technical Principal role, 'tech' is short for 'technology,' which encompasses tools, systems, and methods used in engineering, software development, and IT. It often involves expertise in areas like programming, hardware, and digital infrastructure to solve complex problems. Understanding core technological concepts is essential for success in such roles.
More about Technical Principal jobs
What job categories do people searching Technical Principal jobs look for? The top searched job categories for Technical Principal jobs are:
Technical Principal jobs near you
Infographic showing various Technical Principal job openings in the United States as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 89% Full Time, 7% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 90% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 7% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $109,393 per year, or $52.6 per hour.
SnowCAT Technical Principal

SnowCAT Technical Principal

Snowflake

Menlo Park, CA • On-site, Remote

$225K - $323K/yr

Full-time

Posted 9 days ago

Job description

At Snowflake, we are powering the era of the agentic enterprise. To usher in this new era, we seek AI-native thinkers across every function who are energized by the opportunity to reinvent how they work. You don't just use tools; you possess an innate curiosity, treating AI as a high-trust collaborator that is core to how you solve problems and accelerate your impact. We look for low-ego individuals who thrive in dynamic and fast-moving environments and move with an experimental mindset - who rapidly test emerging capabilities to discover simpler, more powerful ways to deliver results. At Snowflake, your role isn't just to execute a function, but to help redefine the future of how work gets done.
About this Position
We are looking for a senior leader in the cloud data platform space to join our team and help shape some of the most cutting edge features at Snowflake! This individual will work collaboratively and hands-on with Product Management and Engineering to accelerate customers adopting our most challenging features and architectures. We are looking for an experienced professional capable of both applying their past experiences to new architectures and using their aptitude to learn the next new wave of technologies that can benefit customers on the Snowflake Data Cloud.
This position will be a part of the SnowCAT team (Customer Acceleration Team) within the product organization. SnowCAT is a group that brings deep experience with database, application, container, machine learning, and AI technologies to investigate the newest, most demanding customer scenarios and validate emerging features and capabilities in the Snowflake product. SnowCAT team members work closely with product managers, engineering leaders, and a variety of field organizations and customers to turn today's 'bleeding edge' into tomorrow's mainstream.
As Technical Principal on the SnowCAT team you will:
  • Impact Snowflake's product success in multiple market segments and workloads.
  • Engage with PM and Engineering across multiple feature areas.
  • Engage with customer CTO's and senior business/technical leaders to deploy, prove, evaluate, and advise on new Snowflake capabilities.
  • Create and advocate for new technical architectures, often backed by sample code.
  • Dig into selected competing cloud data platform products to evaluate their newest features and best practices and compare them against Snowflake's capabilities.
  • Analyze Snowflake telemetry and understand Snowflake's internals to investigate the root cause for feature behavior, both desired and undesired.
  • Communicate findings and recommendations effectively and persuasively to Product Management and Engineering leaders.
  • Partner with various Marketing teams to position Snowflake's feature advantages to technical field organizations and customers.
  • Own and execute on multiple, concurrent SnowCAT projects, maintaining a thorough written record of progress.

Our ideal Technical Principal will have:
  • Proven expertise as leader or senior contributor in a data-centric software or services team.
  • Deep familiarity with distributed database architectures, query processing and the drivers of performance.
  • Comfort integrating diverse tooling on cloud platforms including AWS, Azure and GCP.
  • Curiosity and motivation to work with a variety of distributed computing / database platforms in the cloud and understand strengths & weaknesses impacting performance
  • Deep experience with a variety of database-centric workloads including analytic queries, data engineering / ETL, machine learning, streaming data / IOT, and transaction processing.
  • Expert SQL skills and strong experience in other programming languages/frameworks adjacent to Snowflake, including but not limited to Python, Java, Javascript, Scala, etc.
  • Experience with agents/LLMs, containerized services, data intensive applications, and/or machine learning model development.
  • Strong vibe coding skills to build synthetic workloads and prototypes to stress platforms and features.
  • Excellent communication skills in presenting to technical audiences inside and outside the company.
  • An ability to thrive in the dynamic environment that comes with being part of a hyper-growth company. That means flexibility and willingness to jump in and do whatever it takes to be successful.
  • Proven expertise in understanding the voice of the customer and partnering across engineering, marketing, and sales to deliver compelling products that meet those customers' needs.
  • 20+ years of experience in a technical role for data-centric software or services -- testing and tuning products, implementing complex solutions with customers, product management, or benchmarking.

Snowflake is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, race, religion, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.
Every Snowflake employee is expected to follow the company's confidentiality and security standards for handling sensitive data. Snowflake employees must abide by the company's data security plan as an essential part of their duties. It is every employee's duty to keep customer information secure and confidential.
Snowflake is growing fast, and we're scaling our team to help enable and accelerate our growth. We are looking for people who share our values, challenge ordinary thinking, and push the pace of innovation while building a future for themselves and Snowflake.
How do you want to make your impact?
For jobs located in the United States, please visit the job posting on the Snowflake Careers Site for salary and benefits information: careers.snowflake.com

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