Principal Data Platform Engineer — AI-Driven & Scalable

Starbucks; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Starbucks in Seattle is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the Data Platform and Services team, driving real-time data access, scalable architectures, and AI-enabled software engineering across the enterprise. You will mentor engineers, set standards, collaborate with architects, security, and business partners, and champion AI adoption to improve delivery speed, reliability, and business outcomes.

This role emphasizes securing data, observability, and modernization while delivering

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field.
• Minimum 10–15 years in software development and platform management.
• 5+ years leading teams of six or more software developers.
• 3+ years showing technical leadership across multiple platforms.

Responsibilities

• Communicates highly complex technical ideas to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Establishes cross-functional relationships to drive alignment and execution.
• Provides technical leadership and mentorship to engineering teams.
• Champions AI adoption across the software development lifecycle.

Skills

AI-driven software engineering

Leadership of teams

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Cloud-native engineering

Security practices

Observability telemetry

Data platform & services

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Java

Spring Boot

Kafka

Spark

Kubernetes

AWS/Azure

RESTful APIs

Job description

Starbucks in Seattle is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the Data Platform and Services team, driving real-time data access, scalable architectures, and AI-enabled software engineering across the enterprise. You will mentor engineers, set standards, collaborate with architects, security, and business partners, and champion AI adoption to improve delivery speed, reliability, and business outcomes.

This role emphasizes securing data, observability, and modernization while delivering