Principal, Software Engineer

Nike Retail; Beaverton (OR); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Nike seeks a Principal Software Engineer to lead consumer mobile experiences at scale, shaping architecture across iOS and Android and mentoring engineers. You will own the most critical mobile stacks and drive cross‑functional collaboration with Directors, Architects, PMs, and designers.

As part of the Activity Apps group, you will guide the workout session stack, wearables partnerships, and platform roadmaps, delivering resilient, high‑quality experiences for athletes worldwide.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience leading consumer mobile apps at scale.
• Expert proficiency in Swift/SwiftUI or Kotlin/Compose and cross‑platform stacks.
• Strong architectural foundation across iOS/Android and wearables.

Responsibilities

• Design end‑to‑end architecture for NRC and NTC across iOS, Android, and wearables.
• Own the workout session stack including sensor capture and GPS pipelines.
• Lead companion‑device experiences on Apple Watch and Wear OS.
• Consolidate legacy code paths and define migration strategies.
• Establish traceability from athlete experience to production telemetry.
• Mentor senior engineers and influence multi‑team roadmaps.
• Champion mobile architecture practices and on‑device ML opportunities.

Skills

Swift/SwiftUI

Kotlin/Compose

cross‑platform stacks

Mobile architecture

watchOS / Wear OS

HealthKit / Google Fit

CI/CD tooling

Architecture reviews

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent

Tools

Xcode

Gradle

App Store Connect

Google Play

Job description

Become a Part Of the NIKE, Inc.Team

NIKE, Inc.does more than outfit the world’s best athletes. It’s a place where passionate individuals come together to create the future of sport. We are unapologetic about who we are and what we’re after - bringing innovation and inspiration to every athlete* in the world. We look for athletes who can push boundaries, elevate our potential and continue leading us to greatness. The next tastemakers, playmakers, risk takers and glue players. Are you game?

WHO YOU’LL WORK WITH

The Activity Apps team builds and operates Nike Run Club (NRC) and Nike Training Club (NTC) - the mobile experiences that move millions of Nike athletes through runs, workouts, training plans, and guided coaching every day. This role partners directly with Directors, Architects, Product Managers, Designers, Sport Science, and engineering squads across iOS, Android, wearables, and the backend services that power activity at Nike. This role reports to the Director of Engineering for Activity Apps and collaborates across mobile platform, athlete, coaching content, and developer experience functions globally.

WHO WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Nike is seeking a Principal Software Engineer who brings architectural depth, technical authority, and a passion for transforming how mobile activity experiences get built at consumer scale. The successful candidate has a proven track record of leading consumer mobile applications, influencing cross-functional technical strategy across iOS and Android, and mentoring senior engineers toward higher standards. This role requires someone who thinks in systems, drives modern mobile development practices, and can bridge long-term platform vision with day-to-day execution. The ideal candidate thrives in ambiguity, takes ownership of the hardest technical problems - the always‑on workout session, the sensor that disagrees with itself, the watch that has to keep working when the phone dies - and leaves the apps measurably better than they found them.

• 10+ years of software engineering experience; Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent combination of education, experience or training
• Expert-level proficiency in one or more of Swift/SwiftUI, Kotlin/Compose, or modern cross‑platform stacks (KMP), with a strong record of shipping consumer mobile applications at significant scale (10M+ MAU)
• Deep experience with the systems that make activity apps work: Core Location / FusedLocationProvider, Core Motion / SensorManager, background execution and lifecycle, audio session management, push and silent‑push pipelines, and durable offline session storage
• At least 5 years of hands‑on experience architecting companion‑device experiences on watchOS and/or Wear OS, including phone-to-watch sync, standalone workouts, and state reconciliation
• Working knowledge of health and fitness data platforms - HealthKit, Health Connect / Google Fit - and third‑party device integrations (Apple Watch, Garmin, Strava‑class partners)
• Deep experience with mobile CI/CD ecosystems, build and release tooling (Xcode, Gradle, Fastlane, App Store Connect, Google Play), experimentation infrastructure, and developer experience optimization for mobile teams
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical architecture reviews, establish engineering standards, and influence decisions across multiple teams and platforms

WHAT YOU’LL WORK ON

You’ll architect and own the most critical and complex pieces of Nike’s activity apps - products used daily by athletes across the globe. Your work shapes standards, tools, and technical culture at a scale few companies can offer.

• Design end‑to‑end architecture for NRC and NTC across iOS, Android, and companion wearables - ensuring session reliability, sensor accuracy, battery efficiency, security, and scale
• Own the long‑term shape of the workout session stack - sensor capture, GPS pipelines, background reliability, recovery from process death, and durable upload - so that every started workout is a saved workout
• Lead technical strategy for the companion-device experience on Apple Watch and Wear OS: standalone workouts, phone-to-watch sync, fallback behaviors, and the architectural seams that let watch features ship independently
• Drive consolidation of fragmented legacy code paths across NRC and NTC by evaluating existing systems, defining migration paths, and engineering their replacement with efficient, reusable solutions
• Establish traceability models that connect athlete experience through development workflows to production telemetry - session completion, accuracy, time‑to‑first‑mile, crash‑free rate - and measurable engineering outcomes
• Partner with Security, Privacy, and Platform teams to ensure activity data - location, health, biometric - meets Nike’s standards for resilience, compliance, and athlete trust
• Mentor and elevate senior and lead engineers through design reviews, architectural guidance, and direct technical engagement across multiple squads on both platforms
• Champion communities of practice in Mobile Architecture, Observability, Performance, AI/ML for coaching personalization, Wearables, and OpenSource - growing Nike’s mobile engineering culture to best‑in‑class industry standards
• Influence and contribute to Nike’s multi‑year activity platform roadmap by identifying emerging technology opportunities - on‑device ML, sensor fusion, adaptive coaching, new wearable surfaces - and building the case for strategic technical investments
• Champion AI native development practices, demonstrating the art of the possible for software teams while keeping up on the latest developments in AI native software development and systems

NIKE, Inc.is a growth company that looks for team members to grow with it. Nike offers a generous total rewards package, casual work environment, a diverse and inclusive culture, and an electric atmosphere for professional development. No matter the location, or the role, every Nike employee shares one galvanizing mission: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.

NIKE, Inc.is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or disability.

*If you have a body, you are an athlete.

We offer a number of accommodations to complete our interview process including screen readers, sign language interpreters, accessible and single location for in‑person interviews, closed captioning, and other reasonable modifications as needed. If you discover, as you navigate our application process, that you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please complete the Candidate Accommodation Request Form.