Principal Software Engineer – Fleet Orchestration

Symbotic; Wilmington (MA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 247,500; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Travel up to 10%

Competitive benefits package

Job summary

Symbotic in Wilmington, MA, is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the Fleet Orchestration team. You will own end-to-end delivery of major features, shape architecture for scalable systems, and mentor engineers while remaining hands-on.

You will drive event-driven processing and real-time capabilities, collaborating with robotics and infrastructure teams to deliver integrated solutions. Strong system design and debugging skills are required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field.
• Minimum of 12 years of professional software development experience.
• Strong experience designing distributed systems at scale.
• Deep knowledge of system design, concurrency, and performance optimization.
• Experience with event-driven architectures and messaging systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ, etc.).
• Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and influence system design.
• Strong debugging skills across complex, multi‑service environments.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of large-scale distributed systems and services.
• Own end-to-end delivery of major features or subsystems from design through production.
• Drive architectural decisions around scalability, resiliency, and system correctness.
• Develop and evolve event-driven, real-time processing systems.
• Analyze and improve system behavior using metrics, observability, and performance profiling.
• Mentor engineers, provide technical guidance, and elevate engineering quality across the team.

Skills

Distributed systems

Event-driven architectures

System design

Concurrency

Performance optimization

Leadership

Mentoring

Debugging complex systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

Kafka

RabbitMQ

Job description

Principal Software Engineer - Fleet Orchestration

USA Wilmington, MA - HQ

Time type: full time

Posted on: June 08, 2026

Job requisition id: R7269

What we need

We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join our Fleet Orchestration team. In this role, you will lead the design and delivery of complex, high-impact systems that are critical to the performance and reliability of our platform.

You will operate as a technical leader within your team, owning major components, driving architectural decisions, and mentoring other engineers while remaining hands‑on.

What we do

Our teams build the core platform that powers real‑time orchestration, robotics coordination, system intelligence, and operational visibility across our automation solutions.

We solve problems that span distributed systems, physical automation, large‑scale data processing, and real‑world system behavior—where software directly impacts throughput, safety, and customer operations.

What you’ll do

• Lead design and implementation of large-scale distributed systems and services.
• Own end-to-end delivery of major features or subsystems from design through production.
• Drive architectural decisions around scalability, resiliency, and system correctness.
• Develop and evolve event-driven, real-time processing systems.
• Analyze and improve system behavior using metrics, observability, and performance profiling.
• Diagnose and resolve complex, cross-system production issues.
• Mentor engineers, provide technical guidance, and elevate engineering quality across the team.
• Partner with cross‑functional teams (robotics, controls, infrastructure, product) to deliver integrated solutions.
• Contribute to technical strategy and roadmap planning.

What you’ll need

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field.
• Minimum of 12 years of professional software development experience.
• Strong experience designing and building distributed systems at scale.
• Deep knowledge of system design, concurrency, and performance optimization.
• Experience with event-driven architectures and messaging systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ, etc.).
• Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and influence system design.
• Strong debugging skills across complex, multi‑service environments.

Nice to have

• Experience with robotics, warehouse automation, or hardware‑adjacent systems.
• Background in real‑time control systems or orchestration platforms.
• Experience with simulation, optimization, or algorithm‑heavy systems.
• Familiarity with cloud‑native architectures and reliability engineering practices.

Our environment

• Up to 10% of travel may be required. Employees must have a valid driver’s license and the ability to drive and/or fly to client and other customer locations.
• The employee is responsible for owning a credit card and managing expenses personally to be reimbursed on a bi‑weekly basis.

The base range for this position in the posted location is $180,000.00 - $247,500.00; however, base pay offered may vary depending on job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. The compensation package includes medical, dental, vision, disability, 401K, PTO and/or other benefits.