Principal Software Engineer - Fleet Orchestration

Symbotic; Wilmington (MA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 248,000; Full time

Job summary

Symbotic in Wilmington, MA seeks a Principal Software Engineer to lead the design and delivery of large-scale distributed systems within the Fleet Orchestration team. You will own major components, drive architectural decisions, and mentor engineers while remaining hands-on.

You will collaborate with robotics, controls, infrastructure, and product teams to deliver integrated solutions and contribute to the technical strategy and roadmap.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field.
• 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.

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.
• 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.

Skills

Distributed systems

System design

Concurrency

Performance optimization

Event-driven architectures

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Kafka

RabbitMQ

Job description

Who We Are

With its A.I.-powered robotic technology platform, Symbotic is changing the way consumer goods move through the supply chain. Intelligent software orchestrates advanced robots in a high-density, end-to-end system – reinventing warehouse automation for increased efficiency, speed and flexibility.

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.

About Symbotic

Symbotic is an automation technology leader reimagining the supply chain with its end-to-end, AI-powered robotic and software platform. Symbotic reinvents the warehouse as a strategic asset for the world’s largest retail, wholesale, and food & beverage companies. Applying next‑gen technology, high‑density storage and machine learning to solve today's complex distribution challenges, Symbotic enables companies to move goods with unmatched speed, agility, accuracy and efficiency. As the backbone of commerce the Symbotic platform transforms the flow of goods and the economics of supply chain for its customers. For more information, visit www.symbotic.com.

We are a community of innovators, collaborators and pioneers who embrace our differences, because we know unique perspectives make us stronger and smarter. Every perspective matters. We depend on the collective voices of our employees, customers and community to help guide us as we build a better place to work – for you and the world. That’s why we’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or genetic information.

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.