Principal Software Engineer

chrobinson; United States; On-site; USD 160,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

C. H Robinson is seeking a Principal Software Engineer for our Documents and Customs services, core capabilities of Global Forwarding. You will collaborate with Product Managers, UX designers, data scientists, and engineering teams to design and deliver high-impact, scalable solutions.

Lead architecture decisions, foster a culture of excellence, and embed AI into software processes. This role may be located only in Minnesota, Chicago or Kansas City; join a Lean AI culture focused on measurable

Qualifications

• 10+ years designing and implementing large-scale distributed software systems across platforms.
• 10+ years with modern development languages (C#, .NET).
• Experience with AI/ML-driven engineering and AI-assisted development tools.

Responsibilities

• Define and implement architecture patterns for reliable, scalable full-stack applications.
• Build efficient UI components, optimize API performance, and design backend services.
• Collaborate with Product, UX, Data Science, and Engineering to align technical direction with business goals.
• Mentor engineering teams to ensure best practices in development, testing, and deployment.

Skills

Distributed systems

C#/.NET

AI/ML in software

CI/CD

Cloud platforms

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Git

GitHub

Jenkins

Azure DevOps

Terraform

Job description

C. H Robinson is seeking a Principal Software Engineer for our Documents and Customs services, which are core capabilities and service lines of our Global Forwarding division. Our Lean AI culture focuses on outcomes and data driven methods to generate high value at an accelerated pace. We work alongside our business users and senior leadership to build better processes and technology solutions. You will collaborate with Product Managers, UX designers, data scientists, and other engineering teams to design, build, and deliver high-impact, scalable solutions. In this role, you will work across the stack to architect reliable, high-performance systems, ensuring long-term maintainability and adaptability to evolving business needs. As a Principal Software Engineer, you help foster a culture of excellence with your deep technical expertise, strategic thinking, and leadership to drive innovation, embed AI into software engineering process. If you are someone who is comfortable using modern AI development tools, and is genuinely curious about how to build reliable, production-grade applications in an enterprise environment, let's talk!

This role may be located only in Minnesota, Chicago or Kansas City

Duties &Responsibilities:

• Define and implement architecture patterns that ensure reliability, maintainability, and extensibility of full-stack applications.
• Build efficient and reusable UI components, optimize API performance, and architect backend services for scalability, security, and performance.
• Identify opportunities to integrate AI and automation in software development, such as code intelligence, predictive analytics, and operational efficiency improvements.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (Product, UX, Data Science, and Engineering) to align technical direction with business priorities and product vision.
• Encourage a culture of innovation by adopting a data-driven approach, conducting experiments, and iterating rapidly on features.
• Effectively communicate technical trade-offs, design decisions, and architectural vision to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, architectural diagrams, and design guidelines to drive consistency and knowledge sharing.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to engineering teams, ensuring best practices in development, testing, and deployment.
• Ensure high availability of systems, troubleshoot production incidents if needed, and drive permanent fixes through root cause analysis.
• Build strong, productive partnerships with multiple engineering teams and divisions, driving alignment and technical excellence across the organization.
• Research, evaluate, and adopt new engineering tools, technologies, and methodologies to enhance developer productivity and system efficiency.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience designing and implementing large-scale, distributed software systems that span multiple platforms.
• 10+ years of experience with modern development languages (e.g., .NET Core, C#).
• Strong expertise in relational (MS SQL, Oracle) and non-relational databases (MongoDB, Elastic, CosmosDB), with a focus on scalability and performance optimization.
• Deep understanding of microservices architecture, CQRS, event-driven design, and eventually consistent system patterns.
• Experience with data streaming architectures and frameworks (e.g., Kafka, ESB, Apache Flink).
• Familiarity with AI/ML-driven engineering practices, including leveraging AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, CodeWhisperer) and embedding AI/ML models into applications for automation and intelligence.
• Expertise in testing strategies, automated testing frameworks, acceptance criteria definition, and reviewing test automation for high-quality software delivery.
• Proficiency with version control systems (e.g., Git, GitHub, TFS) and best practices in branching strategies and collaboration.
• Strong knowledge of CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and infrastructure automation (e.g., GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, Terraform).
• Experience building and deploying cloud-native applications and services on Azure, AWS, or GCP.
• Hands-on experience in end-to-end feature development, including API design, backend services, and frontend integration.
• Experience in troubleshooting complex distributed systems, participating in on-call rotations, and leading post-mortems and root cause analysis for permanent fixes.
• Ability to explain complex technical concepts effectively to diverse audiences, including executives, engineers, and product managers.
• Proven track record of delivering results in fast-paced environments, managing multiple priorities, and driving technical excellence.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Software Engineering, or MIS

Preferred Qualifications:

• In-depth knowledge of JavaScript/TypeScript and modern JavaScript libraries and tooling (e.g., React)
• Robust design and UX/product sensibilities
• Experience with AI-powered observabili