Principal Software Development Engineer

F5 Networks, Inc.; United States; Hybrid; USD 207,000 - 310,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Incentive compensation

Bonus

RSUs (restricted stock units)

Benefits

Job summary

F5 Networks, Inc. is seeking a Principal Software Development Engineer to lead the design of low-latency services and scalable multi-tenant architectures in our AI Security team.

You will mentor engineers, drive architectural decisions, and push forward proxies, observability, and AI-enhanced development in a fast-paced, collaborative environment. This role requires strong leadership and communication skills.

Qualifications

• Proven Go development experience for low-latency services.
• Experience building multi-tenant B2B SaaS architectures and API design.
• Familiarity with Python and/or TypeScript.
• Experience with AI development tools and AI-assisted workflows.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of robust low-latency services and APIs for a scalable multi-tenant SaaS platform.
• Develop and refine forward and reverse proxies to optimize performance and security.
• Implement observability and monitoring to enable proactive performance management.
• Leverage AI development tools and agentic frameworks to accelerate coding and testing while ensuring quality and security.

Skills

Go

Python/TypeScript

Multi-tenant SaaS

API design

LLMs / AI integration

Leadership

Communication

Proxies (forward/reverse)

Tools

Observability tools

Networking concepts

Job description

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation. Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive.

As a Principal Software Development Engineer within the F5 AI Security team, you will play a pivotal role in developing low-latency, high-performance applications within our B2B SaaS multi-tenant architecture and our self-hosted platform. This role is crucial for enhancing our capabilities in areas such as forward and reverse proxy development, dynamic policy enforcement, and traffic interception and modification.

What you'll do

• Development and Architecture: Lead the design and implementation of robust low-latency services and APIs, focusing on scalable multi-tenant architectures.
• Performance Optimization: Build and refine forward and reverse proxies to ensure optimal performance and security for our clients.
• Instrumentation and Monitoring: Implement observability tools to provide insightful monitoring and alerting across our services, aiding in proactive performance management.
• AI-Enhanced Development: Leverage AI development tools and agentic frameworks to accelerate coding, testing, and problem-solving while maintaining code quality and security standards.
• Leadership and Collaboration: Guide and mentor junior developers, taking initiative in architectural decisions while remaining open to team inputs and fostering an inclusive and collaborative environment.
• Innovation and Analysis: Engage in the continuous evaluation of emerging technologies and methodologies that could enhance our system architectures or development practices.

Qualifications

• Experience: Proven track record as a Go developer with experience in developing low-latency applications and working with multi-tenant B2B SaaS architectures. Experience in developing both forward and reverse proxies is highly desirable.
• Technical Skills: Expertise in Go programming with proficiency in Python and/or TypeScript, understanding of network protocols and concepts, and experience with tools for monitoring and observability.
• AI Development Skills: Hands-on experience with AI development tools and integrating AI assistance into daily development workflows. Experience with agentic frameworks and context engineering for optimizing AI-assisted development is highly desirable.
• Additional Skills: Experience with public API design and engineering is beneficial. Familiarity with Large Language Models (LLMs) as a product domain—including embeddings, RAG architectures, and prompt engineering techniques is a plus.
• Leadership Skills: Ability to lead projects with minimal guidance, excellent problem-solving skills, and the capacity to take and integrate feedback constructively.
• Analytical Mindset: Strong interest in analyzing and deciphering complex systems, with a keen eye for improving system efficiency and performance.
• Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication abilities, capable of conveying complex technical ideas clearly and effectively.

The annual base pay for this position is: $206,800.00 - $310,200.00

You may also be offered incentive compensation, bonus, restricted stock units, and benefits.

More details about F5’s benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.f5.com/company/careers/benefits.

F5 reserves the right to change or terminate any benefit plan without notice.

Please note that F5 only contacts candidates through F5 email address (ending with @f5.com) or auto email notification from Workday (ending with f5.com or @myworkday.com).

Equal Employment Opportunity It is the policy of F5 to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, sensory, physical, or mental disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, discipline, and termination.

F5 offers a variety of reasonable accommodations for candidates. Requesting an accommodation is completely voluntary. F5 will assess the need for accommodations in the application process separately from those that may be needed to perform the job. Request by contacting [e-mail].

Hybrid: Employees within 30 commutable miles of an F5 office are required to work from the office a minimum of 30 business days per quarter. Remote: Primarily work from designated home location but can come into an F5 office to work or travel to an offsite location as needed.

Together, we're building a better digital world. Founded in 1996, F5 is a global leader in application delivery and security. Our premier platform helps customers secure and deliver every app, API, and piece of infrastructure across all environments. Backed by over three decades of expertise and 553 patents, our solutions protect against threats while ensuring fast, reliable digital experiences. With over 6,400 employees, we serve more than 23,000 customers in over 170 countries. To continue this work, we need people like you—the best minds in the industry. We're committed to a unique, human-first culture that encourages authenticity, prioritizes diversity and inclusion, and fosters the growth and success of our employees.