Principal Software Engineer

joinroot; United States; Remote; USD 224,000 - 259,000; Full time

Job summary

Root is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead engineering within a product domain, partnering with software engineers and stakeholders to plan, design and deploy valuable software while shaping the strategy and roadmap for the domain.

Root supports you working across the US; the position offers a competitive salary range and the potential for bonus and equity. You will drive end-to-end execution and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver scalable, impactful software.

Qualifications

• 10+ years as a software engineer.
• Proven leadership of projects involving multiple teams across functional domains.
• Excellent communication skills with engineering colleagues and senior business leaders.

Responsibilities

• Drive end-to-end execution of large-scale, strategic initiatives that materially improve business outcomes.
• Align leaders and teams around high-value initiatives, ensuring clarity on priorities, tradeoffs, and expected impact.
• Make and influence decisions on organizational structure, team topology, and resource allocation to enable successful execution.
• Set and guide priorities across multiple teams and domains, balancing short-term delivery with long-term scalability and resilience.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration with Product, Data Science, and business stakeholders to translate strategy into coordinated execution.
• Establish and evolve technical standards, architecture, and best practices that scale across the organization.
• Communicate complex technical and strategic concepts to drive decision-making and alignment at the executive level.
• Coach and influence engineering leaders and senior ICs, raising the organization’s ability to identify opportunities and deliver business impact at scale.
• Coordinate with Staff Engineers across the organization to establish and evangelize standards and best practices.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Cross-team collaboration

Job description

Root is on a mission to unbreak insurance by creating experiences people love at prices they can’t believe. We believe that investing in world-class technology will facilitate a new class of insurance products, driving a massive positive impact on the hundreds of millions of drivers who carry auto insurance in the US. Root’s Engineering team is committed to building a flexible platform on which our product designers and quantitative scientists can quickly test ideas, deploy them into production, and iterate, with the ultimate objective of a delightful customer experience coupled with effective risk management.

The Opportunity

We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join and lead engineering at Root. As a Principal Engineer, you will be the primary technical leader within a product domain. You’ll work very closely with the software engineers on your team(s) to plan, design and deploy valuable software as well as the broad set of stakeholders to define the strategy and overall roadmap for the domain.

Root is a “work where it works best” company. This means we will support you working in whatever location that works best for you across the US.

Salary Range: $223,552 - $259,000 (Eligible for Competitive Bonus & Equity Offering)

How You Will Make an Impact

• Drive end-to-end execution of large-scale, strategic initiatives that materially improve business outcomes (e.g., revenue, loss ratio, customer experience).
• Align leaders and teams around high‑value initiatives, ensuring clarity on priorities, tradeoffs, and expected impact.
• Make and influence decisions on organizational structure, team topology, and resource allocation to enable successful execution of critical initiatives.
• Set and guide priorities across multiple teams and domains, balancing short-term delivery with long‑term scalability and resilience.
• Lead cross‑functional collaboration with Product, Data Science, and business stakeholders to translate strategy into coordinated execution.
• Establish and evolve technical standards, architecture, and best practices that scale across the organization.
• Communicate complex technical and strategic concepts to drive decision‑making and alignment at the executive level.
• Coach and influence engineering leaders and senior ICs, raising the organization’s ability to identify opportunities and deliver business impact at scale.
• Coordinate with Staff Engineers across the organization to establish and evangelize standards and best practices.

What You Will Need to Succeed

• 10+ years as a software engineer
• Proven leadership of projects involving multiple teams across functional domains
• Excellent communication skills both with engineering colleagues and senior business leaders

As part of Root's interview process, we kindly ask that all candidates be on camera for virtual interviews. This helps us create a more personal and engaging experience for both you and our interviewers. Being on camera is a standard requirement for our process and part of how we assess fit and communication style, so we do require it to move forward with any applicant's candidacy. If you have any concerns, feel free to let us know once you are contacted. We’re happy to talk it through.

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Consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is the policy of Root to provide reasonable accommodation when requested by a qualified applicant or candidate with a disability, unless such accommodation would cause an undue hardship for Root. The policy regarding requests for reasonable accommodation applies to all aspects of the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact [e-mail]