Principal Engineer (L5)

Twilio; United States; Remote; USD 37,000 - 63,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-first work culture

Ad-hoc in-person team gatherings

Job summary

Twilio Inc. is seeking a Principal Engineer for the Segment Data Pipelines team. You will design and guide data platforms that process massive data flows, shaping infrastructure for a leading CDP.

The role emphasizes cloud-native design, reliability, and performance, with a focus on integrating GenAI/LLMs into data processing. You will mentor engineers, collaborate with product teams, and drive architectural decisions across distributed systems.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 12+ years of programming experience with high-scale messaging/streaming systems and distributed processing engines.
• Mastery of high-level service design, modular and extensible architectures.
• Expert programming experience in Go or similar languages with attention to performance bottlenecks.
• Hands-on experience identifying, prototyping, deploying GenAI/LLM solutions for real-world challenges.
• Deep technical depth in distributed systems and cloud-native architecture.
• Strong communication and mentoring skills with operational excellence.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical north star for the core Data platform and pipelines at Twilio Segment.
• Design always-available, fault-tolerant distributed systems in cloud environments.
• Lead through technical influence and articulate trade-offs between cost, performance, and reliability.
• Translate complex strategies into clear blueprints for Product Managers and Engineers.
• Prototype and experiment to integrate emerging AI technologies into data processing.

Skills

Go programming

Distributed systems expertise

High-scale messaging/streaming

Service design mastery

AI story prototyping

Communication & mentorship

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science/Engineering

Tools

Docker/Kubernetes

CI/CD pipelines

Observability tools (Datadog, Grafana, Prometheus)

AWS cloud infra

AI/ML infrastructure basics

Job description

Who we are

At Twilio, we’re shaping the future of communications, all from the comfort of our homes. We deliver innovative solutions to hundreds of thousands of businesses and empower millions of developers worldwide to craft personalized customer experiences.

Our dedication to remote-first work, and strong culture of connection and global inclusion means that no matter your location, you’re part of a vibrant team with diverse experiences making a global impact each day. As we continue to revolutionize how the world interacts, we’re acquiring new skills and experiences that make work feel truly rewarding. Your career at Twilio is in your hands.

Hiring and how we work

We use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help make our hiring process efficient. That said, every hiring decision is made by real Twilions!

Also, while we are a remote-first company, you may be asked to report in person on an ad-hoc basis for team gatherings, functional off-sites or customer meetings.

See yourself at Twilio

Join the team as our next Principal engineer (L5) on Twilio’s Segment, Data Pipelines team.

About the job

As a Principal Engineer on the Twilio Segment Data platform/pipelines team, you won’t just design systems—you will be the design anchor for data platforms that processes hundreds of thousands of data points per second. We are looking for a visionary, deeply inquisitive engineer who has built 0-1 architectures, scaled them to global proportions, and collected the battle scars that come from pushing cloud-native systems to their absolute limits. You will guide our engineering organization through complex distributed design choices, ensuring reliability, performance, and cost-efficiency while querying petabytes of data for the world's leading Customer Data Platform (CDP). If you are naturally curious, obsessed with knowing exactly how systems break under intense load, and eager to pioneer the integration of AI into real-world data processing, this is your ultimate playground.

Responsibilities

In this role, you’ll:

• Own the technical north star and deliver robust, highly composable routing experiences for the core Data platform and pipelines at Twilio Segment.
• Design and pioneer always-available, fault-tolerant distributed systems in cloud environments, using past system failures to design out-of-the-box resilience.
• Lead through technical influence, masterfully guiding high-stakes design decisions and articulating the precise trade-offs between cost, performance, and reliability to both engineers and executives.
• Translate complex technical strategies into clear, elegant, and actionable blueprints that align diverse stakeholders, including Product Managers, Architects, and engineering teams.
• Actively prototype and experiment, bringing an inquisitive mindset to the platform by identifying where emerging AI technologies and LLMs can solve systemic data processing challenges.

Qualifications

Twilio values diverse experiences from all kinds of industries, and we encourage everyone who meets the required qualifications to apply. If your career is just starting or hasn't followed a traditional path, don't let that stop you from considering Twilio. We are always looking for people who will bring something new to the table!

*Required:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 12+ years of programming experience. Deep battle-tested experience with high-scale messaging/streaming systems and distributed processing engines (handling several thousand events/sec minimum).
• Mastery of high-level service design, with a proven ability to model complex interfaces and internals in a properly modular, composable, and extensible way.
• Expert programming experience in Go or similar concurrent, object-oriented languages, with a sharp eye for performance bottlenecks.
• An active "AI story"—demonstrated, hands-on experience identifying, prototyping, and deploying GenAI/LLM solutions to solve real-world engineering or data processing challenges.
• Profound technical depth in distributed systems, high-scale ingestion, and cutting-edge cloud-native architecture.
• Superb communication and problem-solving skills, with a natural inclination to mentor others and a relentless drive for operational excellence

Desired:

• Advanced proficiency with high-throughput datastores, distributed caching layers, and container orchestrators (Docker/Kubernetes).
• Experience with modern CI/CD pipelines and robust observability frameworks (Datadog, Grafana, Prometheus) to predict and diagnose failures.
• Deep familiarity with broader AI/ML infrastructure and data workflows.
• Hands-on experience managing, optimizing, and operating large-scale AWS cloud infrastructure.
• A proven track record of driving technical alignment and collaboration across a geographically distributed engineering team.

Location

This role will be based in any of the permitted 5 India states (Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana & TamilNadu)

Travel

We prioritize connection and opportunities to build relationships with our customers and each other. For this role, you may be required to travel occasionally to participate in project or team in-person meetings.

What We Offer

Working at Twilio offers many benefits, including competitive pay, generous time off, ample parental and wellness leave, healthcare, a retirement savings program, and much more. Offerings vary by location.

Twilio thinks big. Do you?

We like to solve problems, take initiative, pitch in when needed, and are always up for trying new things. That's why we seek out colleagues who embody our values — something we call Twilio Magic. Additionally, we empower employees to build positive change in their communities by supporting their volunteering and donation efforts.

So, if you're ready to unleash your full potential, do your best work, and be the best version of yourself.

Stay alert to recruitment fraud

We care about your safety. Scammers sometimes impersonate Twilio recruiters through fake job postings, emails, websites, or messages. Please ensure you are engaging with an official @twilio.com email address. We will never ask for payment, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or banking information during the recruiting process. We do not make job offers without a formal interview process or conduct interviews exclusively through text-based messaging apps.

Twilio is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, reproductive health decisions, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, genetic information, political views or activity, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Additionally, Twilio participates in the E-Verify program in certain locations, as required by law.