Principal Engineer - Web Application Development

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

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Financial benefits

Time away

Job summary

Autodesk is seeking a Principal Software Engineer in San Francisco, California to lead the development of our web platform. This role will shape the architecture and enhance developer experience as well as ensure performance and scalability.

The ideal candidate will have over 10 years of experience in software engineering, particularly in web technologies like JavaScript/TypeScript, and the ability to drive alignment across multiple teams. Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits are offered.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with web technologies.
• Proven experience designing and scaling web platforms.
• Strong expertise in modern JavaScript/TypeScript frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive long-term vision for web platform architecture.
• Lead cross-team initiatives to standardize frontend architecture.
• Act as technical advisor on platform investments and tradeoffs.

Skills

Web technologies

JavaScript/TypeScript

System design

Micro-frontend architectures

Tools

Webpack

Vite

Turborepo

Job description

Position Overview

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the evolution of our Web Platform Engineering capabilities. This role is responsible for shaping the architecture, performance, scalability, and developer experience of the foundational web platform that powers our applications.

As a technical leader, you will drive strategic initiatives across frontend infrastructure, platform services, and developer tooling, enabling product teams to build high-quality, performant, and reliable web experiences at scale.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the long-term vision for the web platform architecture
• Lead cross-team initiatives to standardize frontend architecture, frameworks, and best practices
• Act as a technical advisor to engineering leadership on platform investments and tradeoffs
• Influence roadmap decisions to improve scalability, performance, and maintainability

Platform Architecture & Development

• Design and evolve core platform components (e.g., design systems, shared libraries, build systems, CI/CD pipelines)
• Establish patterns for micro-frontends, modular architectures, and API integrations
• Ensure high standards for performance, accessibility, security, and reliability
• Lead critical system design discussions and provide architectural guidance

Developer Experience (DX)

• Champion improvements to developer productivity and onboarding
• Build and maintain tools, frameworks, and workflows that enable fast, consistent development
• Reduce friction in testing, debugging, deployment, and observability

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with product engineering, design, DevOps, and security teams
• Drive alignment across multiple teams and organizations
• Mentor senior and staff engineers; elevate engineering standards across the org

Quality, Performance & Observability

• Establish performance benchmarks and monitoring standards
• Lead initiatives around web performance (Core Web Vitals, load times, bundle size optimization)
• Ensure platform observability, reliability, and incident response readiness

Minimum Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with deep expertise in web technologies
• Proven experience designing and scaling large-scale web platforms or frontend infrastructure
• Strong expertise in modern JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystems (e.g., React, Angular, or similar frameworks)
• Experience with build systems, bundlers, and tooling (e.g., Webpack, Vite, Turborepo)
• Deep understanding of web performance, browser internals, and networking
• Demonstrated ability to influence architecture across multiple teams
• Strong system design and architectural decision-making skills

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with micro-frontend architectures or large monorepos
• Familiarity with backend systems and APIs (Node.js, GraphQL, REST)
• Experience building or maintaining design systems at scale
• Knowledge of cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and CI/CD pipelines
• Experience improving developer experience in large organizations

The Ideal Candidate

• Operates as a multiplier, enabling dozens of engineers through platform improvements
• Drives alignment across teams without direct authority
• Balances long-term architectural vision with pragmatic delivery
• Mentors and develops engineering talent across the organization
• Accelerates development velocity across all web teams
• Improves platform reliability, scalability, and performance
• Establishes a cohesive and modern web architecture
• Elevates engineering quality and consistency across the organization

Benefits

From health and financial benefits to time away and everyday wellness, we give Autodeskers the best, so they can do their best work. Learn more about our benefits in the U.S. by visiting https://benefits.autodesk.com/

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.

Equal Employment Opportunity

At Autodesk, we're building a diverse workplace and an inclusive culture to give more people the chance to imagine, design, and make a better world. 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.

Diversity & Belonging

We take pride in cultivating a culture of belonging where everyone can thrive. Learn more here: https://www.autodesk.com/company/diversity-and-belonging