Principal Software Engineer

Zuora Community; Foster City (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Zuora in Foster City, CA seeks a Principal Software Engineer to lead architectural direction across teams and scale enterprise-grade systems.

You will mentor engineers, shape platform roadmaps, and collaborate with product, risk, compliance, and operations to deliver reliable, secure, and performant services.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and building large-scale distributed systems.
• Strong Java/Spring background and service-oriented architecture knowledge.
• Proven ability to shape architectural roadmaps and influence multiple teams across an organization.

Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture and technical direction for large-scale distributed systems and enterprise platforms.
• Design high-performance, scalable services using modern backend and cloud-native patterns, including microservices and APIs.
• Drive long-term architecture roadmaps and balance scalability, reliability, security, compliance, maintainability, and cost.
• Influence multiple engineering teams around a shared technical vision without direct authority.
• Partner with Product, Engineering, UX, Risk, Compliance, and other stakeholders to map decisions to customer and business outcomes.
• Raise the engineering bar by establishing standards for system design, code quality, observability, and operational excellence.
• Mentor senior engineers and emerging technical leaders through design reviews and coaching.
• Address technical debt strategically while enabling product innovation and delivery velocity.
• Own the performance, scalability, resilience, and security posture of critical systems in your domain.

Skills

Distributed systems design

Java/Spring

APIs & integration

Architecture roadmaps

Mentoring engineers

Job description

Company Overview

At Zuora, we build software that helps companies modernize how they monetize, operate, and grow recurring customer relationships. This role is intended for a senior technical leader who can shape platform direction, influence engineering across teams, and help scale enterprise-grade systems for long-term business impact.

Foster City, CA, United States

The Team & Role

The Principal Software Engineer operates as a senior individual contributor with broad technical scope across multiple teams, systems, or domains. This role is responsible for driving architectural direction, influencing engineering standards, mentoring senior engineers, and ensuring that critical systems remain scalable, secure, reliable, and aligned with business priorities.

What You'll Do

• Lead the architecture and technical direction for large-scale distributed systems and enterprise platforms.
• Design high-performance, scalable services using modern backend and cloud-native patterns, including microservices, APIs, and event-driven integrations where appropriate.
• Drive long-term architecture roadmaps and make technology decisions that balance scalability, reliability, security, compliance, maintainability, and cost.
• Influence multiple engineering teams without direct authority and align them around a shared technical vision.
• Partner closely with Product, Engineering, UX, Risk, Compliance, and other cross-functional stakeholders to ensure technical decisions map to customer and business outcomes.
• Raise the engineering bar by establishing standards for system design, code quality, observability, testability, and operational excellence.
• Mentor senior engineers and emerging technical leaders through design reviews, architecture guidance, and hands-on coaching.
• Identify and address technical debt strategically while continuing to enable product innovation and delivery velocity.
• Own the performance, scalability, resilience, and security posture of critical systems in your domain.

What You'll Bring

• Deep expertise in designing and building large-scale distributed systems and enterprise-grade software platforms.
• Strong experience with Java/Spring and modern service-oriented or microservices-based architectures.
• Strong understanding of APIs, platform design, data models, integration patterns, and system design trade-offs.
• Proven track record of shaping architecture roadmaps and influencing technical direction across teams or business units.
• Ability to work effectively in ambiguous environments and simplify complex technical problems into scalable, maintainable solutions.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to align engineers, product managers, and senior stakeholders around architectural decisions.
• Demonstrated experience mentoring engineers and developing technical talent across an organization.
• Strong judgment in balancing innovation with reliability, speed with quality, and near-term delivery with long-term platform health.

Nice to Have

• Experience in payments, billing, financial systems, or other high-scale transaction platforms.
• Experience designing systems with strong requirements around security, fraud prevention, compliance, fault tolerance, and disaster recovery.
• Familiarity with SDKs, API contracts, webhooks, and developer platform enablement.
• Working experience with both enterprise companies and startups is a plus.

Leadership Expectations

• Think beyond a single team and optimize for company-level technical outcomes.
• Bring conviction to architecture discussions while remaining pragmatic about business constraints and delivery needs.
• Serve as a multiplier by mentoring others, improving engineering culture, and setting a durable technical standard across teams.

Why Join Zuora

At Zuora, Principal Engineers have the opportunity to influence core platform architecture, improve engineering effectiveness at scale, and help shape the technical future of products that power complex recurring revenue businesses worldwide.