Principal Software Engineer

Nvidia

Confirmed live today High trust

Quick summary

Work type
On-site
Location
Santa Clara, CA
Salary
$248,000–$391,000 / yr
Employment
Full-time
Posted
4 days ago
Freshness
Confirmed live today

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $195k
This role $320k
$113k $421k
below market most similar roles pay here above market

This role pays more than 98% of similar roles. Most pay $169,550–$220,800 — the blue band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $320k versus about $195k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About Nvidia

Nvidia is a leading designer of graphics processing units (GPUs) and system-on-chip units, powering gaming, professional visualization, data centers, and artificial intelligence workloads. Industry: Semiconductors & AI Computing

Nvidia currently has 1623 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $184,000–$287,500 across 1110 roles with salary data.

Most-posted roles

View all roles at Nvidia

At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Software Engineer

The Principal Software Engineer joins the technology team to build next-generation AI platforms and products designed to improve business efficiency and productivity. This role involves architecting and building agentic AI systems that leverage LLMs for reasoning, planning, and tool orchestration across enterprise workflows. Key responsibilities include designing multi-agent frameworks, developing scalable platforms for retrieval-augmented generation, and integrating agents with enterprise data sources, APIs, and internal microservices. The engineer will ensure the reliability and performance of autonomous systems while mentoring other engineers. Required technical skills include Python, Linux, embedded systems, firmware, and hardware/software integration. Candidates must demonstrate expertise in Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud-native applications, alongside experience with agentic AI paradigms, LangChain, and open-source ecosystems to solve complex distributed system challenges.

What does a Software Engineer earn in California?

Median $214500 from 1193 postings across 76 companies.

See salary data

What you'll do

  • Architect and build agentic AI systems that leverage LLMs for reasoning, planning, and tool orchestration across enterprise workflows.
  • Design and implement multi-agent frameworks enabling coordination, delegation, and dynamic task execution.
  • Build scalable platforms for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), long-term memory, and contextual reasoning.
  • Integrate agents with enterprise data sources, APIs, and internal microservices to enable real-world actions.
  • Develop reusable infrastructure for agent orchestration, tool integration, evaluation, and observability.
  • Establish best practices for agent evaluation, guardrails, and human-in-the-loop workflows.
  • Ensure reliability, safety, and performance of autonomous systems operating at scale.
  • Mentor engineers and provide technical leadership in designing complex distributed AI systems.

What we're looking for

  • BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience).
  • 15+ years of experience building large-scale distributed systems and cloud-native applications.
  • Strong experience designing and deploying LLM-powered systems, including RAG, tool use, and agent-based architectures.
  • Deep understanding of agentic AI paradigms including planning, memory, tool invocation, and multi-step reasoning.
  • Experience with agent frameworks and orchestration tools such as LangChain.
  • Hands-on experience deploying applications in Kubernetes environments.
  • Strong programming skills across multiple languages and modern software stacks (Python preferred).
  • Proven track record leading complex technical initiatives and mentoring high-performing teams.

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