Principal Software Engineer - Parameters & Experimentation

Snowflake; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 240,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Snowflake in Menlo Park seeks a hands-on Principal Software Engineer I to shape the next generation of the AI Data Cloud. You will design and operate large‑scale distributed systems, build AI‑first platform capabilities, and lead cross‑team initiatives that accelerate development velocity with strong safety and observability.

You will mentor engineers, translate ambiguous needs into practical designs, and drive adoption of scalable, reliable software across the organization.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience with leadership across multiple teams.
• Deep experience designing and operating large-scale distributed systems.
• Strong CS fundamentals and backend language proficiency (Java/Go/C++).
• AI-first engineering practice and ability to drive adoption.
• Proven track record turning ambiguous problems into delivered systems.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build distributed infrastructure with low-latency, consistent behavior.
• Lead safety scales with automated validation and observable rollouts.
• Advance experimentation infrastructure for evidence-based decisions.
• Embed AI-powered capabilities across the platform and drive adoption.
• Mentor senior engineers and guide migrations from design to deployment.

Skills

Software architecture

Distributed systems

Mentoring engineers

Education

CS degree or equivalent

Tools

Java

Go

C++

AWS

Azure

Google Cloud

Job description

At Snowflake, we are powering the era of the agentic enterprise. To usher in this new era, we seek AI-native thinkers across every function who are energized by the opportunity to reinvent how they work. You don’t just use tools; you possess an innate curiosity, treating AI as a high-trust collaborator that is core to how you solve problems and accelerate your impact. We look for low-ego individuals who thrive in dynamic and fast-moving environments and move with an experimental mindset — who rapidly test emerging capabilities to discover simpler, more powerful ways to deliver results. At Snowflake, your role isn't just to execute a function, but to help redefine the future of how work gets done. Build the foundation for faster, safer innovation. Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud supports critical enterprise workloads across multiple clouds and regions. As AI accelerates software development, the volume and pace of change are outgrowing what engineers can manually review, coordinate, and monitor. Moving faster requires systems that make safe delivery and trustworthy experimentation an integral part of how engineering works. The Parameters & Experimentation team builds the configuration, feature-flagging, and experimentation infrastructure that enables Snowflake engineers to introduce capabilities, control exposure, and measure outcomes. We’re looking for a hands‑on Principal Software Engineer I to help build its next generation, combining deep distributed‑systems engineering with an AI‑first approach to developer productivity and operational intelligence. You will shape technical direction, solve challenging systems problems, and lead initiatives across engineering teams. The opportunity is to build the next-generation platform so that increasing development velocity translates into faster customer value without relying on ever‑increasing manual oversight.

AS A PRINCIPAL SOFTWARE ENGINEER AT SNOWFLAKE YOU WILL:

• Architect and build distributed infrastructure. Design scalable configuration and feature-flag services with low-latency evaluation, clear consistency guarantees, fault isolation, and predictable behavior during failures.
• Make a safety scale with change velocity. Build automated validation, targeted exposure, progressive rollouts, health‑based guardrails, and dependable rollback. Reduce manual coordination while making changes observable, auditable, and recoverable.
• Advance experimentation. Partner with engineering and data science teams to build reliable assignment, exposure tracking, and measurement infrastructure that helps teams evaluate changes and make evidence‑based decisions.
• Build and work AI‑first. Make AI integral to how you design, implement, test, and operate software. Embed AI‑powered capabilities into the platform for configuration discovery, risk assessment, rollout planning, and impact analysis. Establish rigorous evaluation, security, and reliability standards for these capabilities, and drive adoption of AI‑first practices across the team.
• Lead from architecture through adoption. Translate ambiguous needs into practical designs and milestones. Deliver intuitive APIs, libraries, and self‑service tools; guide incremental migrations and simplify the full lifecycle from flag creation to retirement.
• Raise the engineering bar. Write and review production code, diagnose complex failures, own operational outcomes, and mentor engineers. Influence across teams through technical depth, clear communication, and sound judgment.

OUR IDEAL PRINCIPAL SOFTWARE ENGINEER WILL HAVE:

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, including technical leadership of complex backend or infrastructure initiatives spanning multiple teams.
• Deep experience designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed systems, with strong understanding of concurrency, consistency, caching, failure recovery, and performance.
• Strong computer science fundamentals and hands‑on proficiency in Java, Go, C++, or a comparable backend language, plus experience with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
• An AI‑first engineering practice: you actively use AI throughout the software lifecycle and can demonstrate how it improves you **execution**, problem‑solving, and quality. You are ready to build AI‑powered platform capabilities and help others adopt this approach.
• A track record of turning ambiguous problems into delivered systems, balancing architectural investments with incremental progress, and driving adoption across engineering organizations.
• Clear written communication, low-ego collaboration, strong ownership, and experience mentoring senior engineers.
• A degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Especially relevant: Experience with feature‑flag or configuration platforms, distributed control planes, progressive delivery, experimentation infrastructure, or AI‑powered developer tools.

Help build the systems that let engineers innovate faster than manual processes can support, with the evidence and safeguards that critical workloads demand. Snowflake is growing fast, and we’re scaling our team to help enable and accelerate our growth. We are looking for people who share our values, challenge ordinary thinking, and push the pace of innovation while building a future for themselves and Snowflake. How do you want to make your impact?

For jobs located in the United States, please visit the job posting on the Snowflake Careers Site for salary and benefits information: careers.snowflake.com http://careers.snowflake.com