Principal Software Engineer

Snap Inc.

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Hybrid

Quick summary

Work type: Hybrid
Location: BellevueLos AngelesNew YorkPalo AltoSan FranciscoSeattle
Salary: $276,000–$414,000 / yr
Posted: 97 days ago
Freshness: Confirmed live today
Nearby: 99+ roles within 25 mi

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $195k

This role $345k

$110k $447k

below market most similar roles pay here above market

This role pays more than 99% of similar roles. Most pay $169,550–$220,800 — the blue band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $345k versus about $195k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About Snap Inc.

Snap Inc. is a technology and camera company, best known for Snapchat, offering visual communication, augmented reality, and advertising products.

Snap Inc. currently has 103 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $209,000–$313,000 across 93 roles with salary data.

Most-posted roles

View all roles at Snap Inc.

At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Software Engineer

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The Principal Software Engineer joins the Engineering team to design, implement, and scale critical engineering components and services supporting strategic initiatives. This role involves working across teams to evaluate trade-offs, provide technical direction, and deliver innovative products while advocating for best practices in availability, scalability, operational excellence, and cost management. The successful candidate will utilize AI tools and high-velocity engineering workflows to ship scalable services that maintain rigorous standards for security and code correctness. Key requirements include proficiency in software design, debugging, performance analysis, and test design, alongside experience architecting distributed systems. The role addresses the technical challenge of operating highly-available systems at scale, requiring the ability to solve ambiguous problems and mentor others while auditing AI-generated output for architectural integrity and performance bottlenecks.

What does a Software Engineer earn?

Median $197400 from 2576 postings across 150 companies.

See salary data

Skills

Distributed Systems AI Tools cross platform development Software Design Debugging Performance Analysis Test Design Scalable Services Security Operational Excellence

What you'll do

Design, implement, and scale critical engineering components and services for strategic initiatives.
Evaluate product requirements and trade-offs to deliver innovative technical solutions.
Apply best practices for system availability, scalability, operational excellence, and cost management.
Provide technical direction that influences the engineering standards of the entire company.
Use AI tools and high-velocity workflows to ship scalable, secure, and production-ready code.
Architect and develop complex distributed systems to support high-traffic products.
Audit AI-generated output for architectural integrity, performance bottlenecks, and security risks.

What we're looking for

Bachelor's in a technical field such as computer science, mathematics, or statistics.
10+ years of post-Bachelor’s software development experience.
9+ years of post-Master’s software development experience (if holding a Master's in a technical field).
6+ years of post-PhD software development experience (if holding a PhD in a related technical field).
2+ years of experience with technical leadership or acting as a domain expert.
Experience architecting, designing, and developing distributed systems.
Proficiency in leveraging AI tools to streamline development while auditing for architectural integrity and security.
Master’s degree in a technical field + 9+ year of post-grad software development.

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