Principal Software Engineer

### Who you are
- We're looking for someone with deep expertise in building and operating large-scale distributed systems—someone who thrives on solving hard problems around reliability, availability, and performance at massive scale
- You have a proven track record of tackling complex technical challenges with creativity and pragmatism, and you excel in highly collaborative, cross-functional environments
- 11+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python,
- OR Associate’s Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Math, Physics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 10+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python,
- OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field AND 9+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python,
- OR Master's Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Math, Physics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 7+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python,
- OR PhD Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Math, Physics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python,
- OR equivalent experience
- Experience with cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services
- Understanding of production system monitoring and observability
- Ability to think critically about both system design and software engineering concepts and blend those perspectives pragmatically based on project needs
- Demonstrated experience with large-scale system architecture and design, particularly in cloud-based environments, with a strong understanding of distributed systems and microservices
- Experience working closely with product management, design, and other engineering teams to drive cross-functional projects and deliver high-quality product

### What the job involves
- GitHub is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to help shape the future of our core platform infrastructure
- In this critical leadership position, you'll drive system architecture for our most critical services, inspire and coach engineering teams, and deliver solutions that keep GitHub running for millions of developers worldwide
- Our team focuses on the systems that power GitHub at scale, ensuring our platforms remain stable, secure, and performant under extreme load
- As a Principal Software Engineer, you'll work alongside a globally distributed team of talented engineers and managers to enhance and scale our most critical infrastructure, delivering an exceptional experience to our diverse and growing customer base
- You'll lead by example—both through your own technical contributions and by mentoring others
- You'll guide technical strategy, influence architectural decisions, and drive performance optimization across teams
- Our culture is built on developer empathy, transparency, and inclusive collaboration
- Here, curiosity and a drive for impact are at the heart of everything we do
- Lead and influence system architecture design for complex products and solutions, ensuring they meet security, compliance, and performance requirements
- Establish and mentor best practices for testing, performance tuning, and code quality, defining success metrics and ensuring maintainability across dependencies
- Provide technical leadership during code reviews to ensure reliability, scalability, and alignment with product goals
- Partner with product managers and technical leads to define service requirements and incorporate feedback into future designs
- Act as an expert in debugging tools and methods, leading proactive and reactive development to resolve issues across teams
- Optimize deployments and runtime performance to meet business objectives, ensuring safe rollouts aligned with GitHub's standards
- Drive improvements in development quality and team performance through tooling, automation, and knowledge sharing
- Lead product refinement through telemetry analysis, performance metrics, and experimentation frameworks to inform engineering decisions
- Develop strategies to identify and mitigate technical risks, including frameworks for risk assessment and contingency planning
- Shape the strategic vision for technology and product development, identifying opportunities for innovation and leading initiatives aligned with GitHub's long-term goals

### Benefits
- Flexible time away to support balance in your work and life
- Clear diversity, inclusion, and anti-discrimination policies backed by business practices and company culture
- 100% of medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums covered by GitHub for you + your dependents. (Includes gender-affirming benefits)
- Five months of paid family leave to all new parents with the option to use it all at once or throughout the child’s first year
- Family forming benefits that cover fertility, infertility, adoption, and surrogacy costs and support
- Mental health benefits that offer resources and support and cover therapy and coaching sessions for you and your dependents
- Generous 401(k) matching with 50% match up to the IRS 402(g) limit (US; competitive non-US pension options internationally)
- Employee stock purchase plan that lets you purchase Microsoft stock at a discount. (Microsoft is our parent company.)