Principal Embedded Engineer — Player API & Performance

Sonos Inc; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 238,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical/Dental/Vision Insurance

401(k) with company matching

Open Time Off policy

Sick time & Holidays

Disability, Life & AD&D Insurance

Voluntary benefits

Mental health benefits

Employee discount & Sonos Radio HD

Job summary

Sonos is seeking a Principal Embedded Software Engineer for the Player API & Control team in a hybrid role. You will lead performance-critical initiatives across the Sonos player stack, working with App, Cloud, Security, Data, and QA to reduce latency and improve reliability.

The role requires 8+ years in embedded software, deep C++ expertise, and experience with REST/WebSocket APIs. You must reside within commuting distance of Seattle or Boston and be willing to be in-office at least 3

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of experience in embedded or systems-level software engineering.
• Strong proficiency in C++.
• Experience working with REST and/or WebSocket-based APIs.
• Experience debugging complex, multi-threaded systems.
• Experience working with telemetry, instrumentation, or performance measurement frameworks.
• Deep understanding of networking fundamentals (TLS/mTLS, WebSocket, HTTP, LAN communication).
• This role requires commuting distance to our main engineering office in Seattle or Boston.

Responsibilities

• Lead performance and reliability initiatives across the Sonos APIs.
• Work on Player Control components and develop software for enabling new products.
• Mentor local junior peers and facilitate internal development and testing.
• Participate in all aspects of the software development life cycle including planning, requirements, development, and testing.
• Act as a customer advocate by participating in the product definition and planning process.
• Support service initiatives that adhere to best practices for security, scalability, cost, and overall performance.
• Identify and eliminate latency bottlenecks in player-to-app and player-to-cloud communication.
• Design and implement architectural improvements (e.g., async command execution, protocol optimizations, reduced handshake overhead).
• Use telemetry and customer data to correlate code changes to real-world impact.
• Partner cross-functionally with App, UX, PM, and Data teams to improve end-to-end user experience.
• Mentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews, architecture discussions, and root cause investigations.
• Proactively investigate system-level issues before they escalate into customer-impacting problems.
• Present performance findings and architectural proposals to engineering leadership and broader forums.

Skills

C++

REST/WebSocket APIs

Multi-threaded debugging

Telemetry & performance

Networking fundamentals

Commuting to Seattle/Boston

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or equivalent

Job description

Sonos is seeking a Principal Embedded Software Engineer for the Player API & Control team in a hybrid role. You will lead performance-critical initiatives across the Sonos player stack, working with App, Cloud, Security, Data, and QA to reduce latency and improve reliability.

The role requires 8+ years in embedded software, deep C++ expertise, and experience with REST/WebSocket APIs. You must reside within commuting distance of Seattle or Boston and be willing to be in-office at least 3