Principal Software Engineer, Core Sharing & Collaboration

Responsibilities

• ▹Own and drive technical outcomes across multiple teams and organizations, delivering company-critical impact at scale
• ▹Define long-term technical strategy and partner with senior Product and Engineering leaders
• ▹Tackle the most ambiguous and far-reaching technical and product problems
• ▹Remain deeply hands-on in software development, owning the most critical and foundational parts of the system
• ▹Influence and align roadmaps across organizations, resolving structural bottlenecks
• ▹Architect and evolve foundational systems and platforms (frontend and backend) at the scale of hundreds of millions of users
• ▹Model exceptional technical judgment and execution rigor across a distributed, virtual environment
• ▹Drive AI adoption to increase productivity and produce AI-based features

Requirements

• ▹Advanced degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent industry experience demonstrating deep technical mastery
• ▹15+ years of experience designing, building, and evolving large-scale software systems with sustained impact across multiple teams
• ▹Demonstrated success operating at a Principal level, owning company-critical technical problems
• ▹Strong experience building consumer-facing products at scale, with deep understanding of UX, performance, and reliability
• ▹Broad and deep technical expertise across multiple domains: frontend, mobile, search, databases, storage systems, concurrency, distributed systems
• ▹Practical experience applying modern ML, LLM-based APIs, and agentic frameworks in production systems
• ▹Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to senior engineering, product, and executive audiences

Nice to have

• ▹Experience defining and scaling company-wide platforms or architectural standards adopted across multiple organizations
• ▹Proven track record leading the introduction of new technologies such as AI/ML into core products or workflows
• ▹Experience operating in highly distributed, virtual-first engineering organizations at global scale

Soft skills

What we offer

• ▹Annual base salary range: US Zone 1 $284,800-$385,200; Zone 2 $256,300-$346,700; Zone 3 $227,800-$308,200

About the company

Dropbox is a cloud content collaboration platform on a mission to create a more enlightened way of working, serving customer-facing experiences used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide.