DigitalOcean Logo

DigitalOcean

Principal Software Engineer (PaaS)

Reposted 3 Hours Ago
Be an Early Applicant
In-Office
Seattle, WA
227K-284K Annually
Expert/Leader
In-Office
Seattle, WA
227K-284K Annually
Expert/Leader
The Principal Software Engineer will architect and implement high-scale PaaS solutions, mentor engineers, and drive the technical direction at DigitalOcean.
The summary above was generated by AI

Dive in and do the best work of your career at DigitalOcean. Journey alongside a strong community of top talent who are relentless in their drive to build the simplest scalable cloud. If you have a growth mindset, naturally like to think big and bold, and are energized by the fast-paced environment of a true industry disruptor, you’ll find your place here.  We value winning together—while learning, having fun, and making a profound difference for the dreamers and builders in the world. 

We’re looking for a Principal Engineer to drive the technical direction and architecture of Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) at DigitalOcean. Our mission is to make deploying, scaling, and managing applications as simple and seamless as possible for developers around the world—from first deploy to internet scale.

As a Principal Engineer on the PaaS team, you’ll play a key role in designing and building the next generation of cloud-native services such as App Platform, Functions, and CI/CD. You’ll architect systems that power our global infrastructure, partner closely with engineering and product teams across the company, and mentor engineers to level up the entire organization. This is a unique opportunity to shape how developers build and ship software on a platform purpose-built for simplicity and scale.

We’re looking for someone who can span technical strategy and hands-on execution—someone who thrives on solving complex distributed problems and multiplying the impact of everyone around them.

What You’ll Do:
  • Architect and guide the implementation of high-scale, reliable, and secure systems that underpin our PaaS offerings.
  • Drive technical direction and make foundational decisions on system design, scalability, observability, and developer experience.
  • Partner with product managers and engineering leadership to define short- and long-term roadmap priorities.
  • Identify platform bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and future risks—and design solutions that proactively address them.
  • Collaborate across teams to ensure seamless integration between platform services, infrastructure, and developer tools.
  • Mentor engineers at all levels and contribute to a culture of technical excellence, inclusivity, and impact.
  • Stay ahead of emerging technologies, patterns, and best practices in the PaaS, serverless, and cloud-native ecosystem.
Key Metrics:
  • Platform availability and system performance
  • Developer adoption and satisfaction
  • Technical debt reduction and architectural clarity
  • Engineering velocity and cross-team alignment
What You’ll Add to DigitalOcean:
  • 11+ years of experience designing and building distributed systems at scale.
  • Expertise in one or more backend languages (e.g., Go, Python, C++, Java) and strong fundamentals in systems architecture and infrastructure.
  • Proven experience leading the design of large-scale services used by 1000s (or millions) of customers.
  • Passion for mentoring and elevating those around you—technical leadership is about multiplying impact.
Compensation Range:
  • $227,040 - $283,800

*This is a remote role

JR: 2025-7225

#LI-Remote

#LI-SK1 

Why You’ll Like Working for DigitalOcean
  • We innovate with purpose. You’ll be a part of a cutting-edge technology company with an upward trajectory, who are proud to simplify cloud and AI so builders can spend more time creating software that changes the world. As a member of the team, you will be a Shark who thinks big, bold, and scrappy, like an owner with a bias for action and a powerful sense of responsibility for customers, products, employees, and decisions.
  • We prioritize career development. At DO, you’ll do the best work of your career. You will work with some of the smartest and most interesting people in the industry. We are a high-performance organization that will always challenge you to think big. Our organizational development team will provide you with resources to ensure you keep growing. We provide employees with reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education. All employees have access to LinkedIn Learning's 10,000+ courses to support their continued growth and development.
  • We care about your well-being. Regardless of your location, we will provide you with a competitive array of benefits to support you from our Employee Assistance Program to Local Employee Meetups to flexible time off policy, to name a few. While the philosophy around our benefits is the same worldwide, specific benefits may vary based on local regulations and preferences.
  • We reward our employees. The salary range for this position is based on market data, relevant years of experience, and skills. You may qualify for a bonus in addition to base salary; bonus amounts are determined based on company and individual performance. We also provide equity compensation to eligible employees, including equity grants upon hire and the option to participate in our Employee Stock Purchase Program.
  • DigitalOcean is an equal-opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.

Application Limit: You may apply to a maximum of 3 positions within any 180-day period. This policy promotes better role-candidate matching and encourages thoughtful applications where your qualifications align most strongly.

Top Skills

C++
Go
Java
Python

Similar Jobs at DigitalOcean

3 Hours Ago
In-Office
Seattle, WA, USA
148K-185K Annually
Senior level
148K-185K Annually
Senior level
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • Software • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
As a Strategic Technical Account Manager, you'll manage relationships with high-value clients, provide technical guidance on AI/ML infrastructures, and drive customer success through strategic alignment and direct consultation.
Top Skills: Amd RocmAnsibleAWSAzureCudaDigitaloceanDockerGCPGitopsGoKubernetesLinuxNvidia TritonOnnxPythonPyTorchTensorFlowTensorrtTerraform
Yesterday
In-Office
Seattle, WA, USA
118K-147K Annually
Senior level
118K-147K Annually
Senior level
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • Software • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
The role involves leading technical engagements with channel partners in cloud and AI/ML, designing scalable architectures, and ensuring successful customer outcomes via cloud solutions.
Top Skills: AWSAzureCudaDockerGCPKubernetesNfsObject StoragePyTorchTensorFlowTensorrtTerraform
Yesterday
In-Office
Seattle, WA, USA
183K-229K Annually
Senior level
183K-229K Annually
Senior level
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • Software • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
The role involves designing and deploying security tooling, researching automated detection approaches, and collaborating with engineering teams to secure architectures. The engineer will measure service efficacy and enhance security practices.
Top Skills: AirflowBigQueryDbtDockerElasticsearchGithub ActionsGoGrpcJavaScriptKubernetesLookerPrometheusPythonRedshiftSnowflakeSQLVictoriametrics

What you need to know about the NYC Tech Scene

As the undisputed financial capital of the world, New York City is an epicenter of startup funding activity. The city has a thriving fintech scene and is a major player in verticals ranging from AI to biotech, cybersecurity and digital media. It also has universities like NYU, Columbia and Cornell Tech attracting students and researchers from across the globe, providing the ecosystem with a constant influx of world-class talent. And its East Coast location and three international airports make it a perfect spot for European companies establishing a foothold in the United States.

Key Facts About NYC Tech

  • Number of Tech Workers: 549,200; 6% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
  • Major Tech Employers: Capgemini, Bloomberg, IBM, Spotify
  • Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, Fintech
  • Funding Landscape: $25.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
  • Notable Investors: Greycroft, Thrive Capital, Union Square Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Tiger Global Management, Tribeca Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Two Sigma Ventures
  • Research Centers and Universities: Columbia University, New York University, Fordham University, CUNY, AI Now Institute, Flatiron Institute, C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

Sign up now Access later

Create Free Account

Please log in or sign up to report this job.

Create Free Account