Principal Engineer ( AI + Dev Tooling)

Scribd; United States; Remote; USD 167,000 - 301,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Scribd Flex

Comprehensive health coverage

Equity and 401(k)

Generous PTO

Learning & development

Job summary

Scribd, Inc. is seeking a Principal Engineer to define how Scribd builds software as AI reshapes the work. You’ll own the technical vision for agentic engineering and decide where we invest, collaborating with the CTO and engineering leaders to shape daily work of hundreds of engineers.

You care about developer experience, balance stability with speed, and have shipped agentic tooling in production. This role requires leading architecture, mentoring engineers, and driving cross‑org initiatives

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering, including Staff/Principal level responsibilities.
• Hands-on experience applying AI to real software tooling.
• Expertise in agent runtimes, harnesses, and tool-context management.
• Proven ability to define direction that outlasts individual projects.
• Experience improving developer experience, platforms, or infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Decide architecture, patterns, and guardrails for engineers and coding agents across codebase, CI/CD, and infra.
• Set direction for internal tools, libraries, and platforms used company-wide.
• Collaborate with engineering leaders to turn ambiguous problems into initiatives and own delivery.
• Mentor staff and senior engineers; expand capabilities of agents in workflows.

Skills

Senior staff engineer leadership

AI in software tooling

Agentic systems

Technical architecture

Developer experience

Job description

Scribd, Inc. is on a mission to advance human understanding. Our four products — Scribd®, Slideshare®, Everand™, and Fable — help billions of people across the globe move beyond access and into insight, application, and expertise.

Culture at Scribd, Inc.

We support a culture where our employees can be real and be bold; where we debate and commit as we embrace plot twists; and where every employee is empowered to take action as we prioritize the customer.

We believe the best work happens when individual flexibility is balanced with meaningful community connection. Scribd Flex empowers employees to choose the workstyle and location that support their best performance, while committing to intentional in-person moments that strengthen collaboration and culture. Occasional in-person attendance is required for all Scribd, Inc. employees, regardless of location.

So what are we looking for in new team members? At Scribd, Inc., we hire for “GRIT.” Traditionally defined as the intersection of passion and perseverance toward long-term goals, GRIT reflects the mindset we expect from every employee. For us, it also serves as a practical framework for how we work: setting and achieving Goals, delivering Results within your role, contributing Innovative ideas and solutions, and strengthening the broader Team through collaboration and attitude.

This posting reflects an approved, open position within the organization.

About the team

The Developer Tooling team empowers Scribd engineers across the entire software development lifecycle. We build and evolve the tools, frameworks, and platforms that power engineering workflows — from modernizing infrastructure and optimizing build and deployment processes to pioneering agentic engineering capabilities that let AI agents execute alongside our developers. Our work delivers broad, measurable impact by boosting productivity and elevating the developer experience company-wide.

About the role

This is a Principal Engineer role, and it comes with a clear mandate: define how Scribd builds software as AI changes the work.

You’ll own the technical vision for agentic engineering at Scribd: how hundreds of engineers work alongside coding agents to write, review, and ship code across our stack. The roadmap here isn't handed to you. You decide where we invest, set the direction, and carry it through to what engineers actually use every day. You’ll work directly with the CTO and engineering leadership to make agentic engineering a lasting advantage for the company, and the standards you set will shape how every team works.

About you

You care about developer experience, and you get real satisfaction from taking friction out of how engineers work. You think in platforms and systems, and you know when to protect stability and when to move fast. You've used coding agents seriously enough to have strong opinions about where they work, where they struggle, and what that means for how codebases and workflows need to change to get the most out of them.

You’re comfortable with a wide remit and a lot of ambiguity. Hand you a hard, loosely defined problem and the room to solve it, and that’s a good day.

What you will do

• Decide the architecture, patterns, and guardrails that let engineers and coding agents work together across our codebase, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure, and set the direction for where it goes next.

• Set the direction for Scribd's internal tools, libraries, and platforms, setting standards that engineers across the company rely on.

• Partner with engineering leaders to turn ambiguous, cross-org problems into initiatives, and own them from framing through delivery.

• Raise the bar across the org. Mentor staff and senior engineers, coach teams to get more out of agents in their day-to-day workflows, and roll out new capabilities throughout engineering.

We're looking for

• 10+ years in software engineering, including time operating at the Staff or Principal level

• Hands-on experience applying AI to real software problems. You've shipped, measured, or meaningfully moved agentic developer tooling in production, and you keep up as the field moves.

• Depth in the mechanics of agentic systems: agent runtimes and harnesses, tool use and context management, and the evals that tell you whether a change actually helped

• A track record of organization-wide technical impact: setting direction that outlasts any single project, mentoring senior and staff engineers, and making complex technical ideas clear to both leadership and the engineers you work with

• Significant time in developer experience, platform engineering, or infrastructure engineering

At Scribd, Inc. your base pay is one part of your total compensation package and is determined within a range. Our pay ranges are based on the local cost of labor benchmarks for each specific role, level, and geographic location. San Francisco is our highest geographic market in the United States. In the state of California, the reasonably expected salary range is between 203,000 [minimum salary in our lowest geographic market within California] to 316,500 [maximum salary in our highest geographic market within California].

In the United States, outside of California, the reasonably expected salary range is between 167,000 [minimum salary in our lowest US geographic market outside of California] to 300,500 [maximum salary in our highest US geographic market outside of California].

In Canada, the reasonably expected salary range is between 214,000 CAD[minimum salary in our lowest geographic market] to 283,500 CAD[maximum salary in our highest geographic market].

We carefully consider a wide range of factors when determining compensation, including but not limited to experience; job-related skill sets; relevant education or training; and other business and organizational needs. The salary range listed is for the level at which this job has been scoped. In the event that you are considered for a different level, a higher or lower pay range would apply. This position is also eligible for a competitive equity ownership, and a comprehensive and generous benefits package.

Working at Scribd, Inc.

Are you currently based in a location where Scribd, Inc. can employ you?
Employees must have their primary residence in or near one of the following cities. This includes surrounding metro areas or locations within a typical commuting distance:

United States:

Atlanta | Austin | Boston | Dallas | Denver | Chicago | Houston | Jacksonville | Los Angeles | Miami | New York City | Phoenix | Portland | Sacramento | Salt Lake City | San Diego | San Francisco | Seattle | Washington D.C.

Canada:

Ottawa | Toronto | Vancouver

Mexico:

Mexico City

Benefits at Scribd, Inc.

• Scribd Flex (flexible work model)

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage

• Mental health support and disability coverage

• Generous paid time off, including vacation, sick time, holidays, winter break, volunteer time, and sabbaticals

• Paid parental leave and family support benefits

• Retirement matching and employee equity

• Learning and development programs and professional growth opportunities

• Wellness and home office stipends

• Complimentary access to the Scribd, Inc. suite of products

• Enterprise access to leading AI tools

Get to Know Scribd, Inc.
About Scribd, Inc.
Life at Scribd, Inc.

We want our interview process to be accessible to everyone. You can inform us of any reasonable adjustments we can make to better accommodate your needs by emailing [e-mail] about the need for adjustments at any point in the interview process.

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Scribd, Inc. is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply, and believe that a diversity of perspectives and experiences create a foundation for the best ideas. Come join us in building something meaningful.