Principal Engineer

Pomona College; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 139,000 - 249,260; Full time

Job summary

Autodesk is looking for a Principal Engineer in San Francisco to lead web development efforts for a Design System. This role requires over 8 years of experience and proven delivery of commercial applications, with a strong focus on React UI components and AI-assisted development.

The position is hybrid, reporting to the Senior Software Development Manager in Portland. The ideal candidate will have strong Git practices, testing competence, and the ability to mentor teams in effective AI usage.

Compensation includes a base salary ranging from $139,000 to $249,260, along with bonuses and comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 8+ years professional web development experience with commercial applications.
• Experience with design systems and component libraries.
• Strong fundamentals in responsive UI and performance optimization.

Responsibilities

• Code as a Principal Engineer on a Scrum team.
• Build and debug React-based UI components.
• Lead technical decisions and enforce engineering standards.

Skills

Web development experience

Git workflow

Unit testing (Jest)

React proficiency

AI assistant skills

Mentorship abilities

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science or related discipline

Tools

React

Claude Console

Playwright

Job description

and the job listing Expires on September 22, 2026

As a global leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software, Autodesk helps people imagine, design, and make a better world. Autodesk accelerates better design through an unparalleled depth of experience and a broad portfolio of software to give customers the power to solve their design, business, and environmental challenges.

We are looking for a Principal Engineer specializing in web development for a Design System. You will be a member of the team that builds and maintains the software implementation of a Design System for all products at Autodesk. Organizationally, you will work in the Platform organization within Autodesk’s Product Design and Manufacturing Solutions (PDMS) division, making the software platform upon which the Fusion family of products are built. Help us fulfill our vision to allow developers across Autodesk to easily achieve a common look and feel for all of Autodesk’s portfolio.

You will report to the team’s Portland, Oregon-based Senior Software Development Manager, but your position is hybrid.

Responsibilities

• Deliver as a hands‑on Principal Engineer (~70% coding / 30% enablement) on a Scrum team, owning complex front‑end work end‑to‑end
• Build, troubleshoot, test, and debug React‑based UI components for the Design System in a production codebase
• Lead technical decisions and write high‑quality design docs; participate in design reviews within and across team
• Enforce engineering and architectural standards in implementation and review; raise gaps/risks early and work with an architect to propose changes to standards when needed
• Conduct thorough code reviews for your Scrum team and cross‑team contributions, with a consistent bar for correctness, security, performance, and maintainability
• Advocate for and teach AI‑assisted development best practices using Claude Console (preferred) or Cursor
• Create/maintain team playbooks for brownfield refactors, test generation, debugging, spec‑writing, and accessibility checks using AI tools
• Define “done” criteria and quality gates for AI‑generated code: required tests, review checklist, verification steps, and safe‑usage guidelines
• Partner with QA, design, and product across time zones, participate in Agile ceremonies and drive iterative deliver
• Engage with customers on complex issues, turning learnings into durable product improvements (fixes, guardrails, docs).

Minimum Qualifications

• 8+ years professional web development experience; proven delivery of commercial applications.
• Strong Git workflow and collaborative PR practices
• Testing competence: unit testing (Jest), functional, visual and e2e testing with Playwright
• Proven experience with design systems/component libraries and reuse at scale
• Solid fundamentals in responsive UI, accessibility, and performance optimization for React applications and libraries
• Deep hands‑on proficiency with AI assistants, such as Claude Console (preferred) or Cursor
• Demonstrated ability to use AI to accelerate delivery without sacrificing quality, especially for brownfield refactors, test generation, debugging, spec‑writing, and accessibility checks
• Experience leading spec‑driven workflows where clear, testable specs enable reliable human + AI‑assisted implementation
• Experience mentoring/enabling engineers in effective AI usage (training, pairing, playbooks, review coaching)
• Strong communication skills and proficient in written and verbal English
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in computer science or a related technical discipline

Preferred Qualifications

• Experienced building and evolving design systems and UI component libraries in large, multi‑team environments
• A high‑output senior engineer who can maintain production quality while moving fast: secure‑by‑default, stable, compliant, observable, and maintainable code
• An expert practitioner of AI‑assisted engineering who can enable others
• Deep proficiency with Claude Console (preferred) or Cursor
• Proven ability to teach a Scrum team best practices for AI usage that improves quality and speed (pairing, workshops, playbooks, office hours, PR coaching)
• Strong at brownfield work: refactoring and modernizing existing codebases with minimal risk (incremental migration plans, compatibility, deprecation strategy)
• Comfortable operating within established architecture/engineering standards
• A collaborative leader in Agile/Scrum who raises the bar through influence, mentorship, and crisp written design docs

Salary Transparency

Salary is one part of Autodesk’s competitive compensation package. For U.S.-based roles, we expect a starting base salary between $139,000 and $249,260. Offers are based on the candidate’s experience and geographic location, and may exceed this range. In addition to base salaries, our compensation package may include annual cash bonuses, commissions for sales roles, stock grants, and a comprehensive benefits package.

Autodesk is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and considers all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected characteristic. We also consider for employment all qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.