Principal Software Engineer, Product

Sarah Smith Fund; Palo Alto, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Significant equity

Comprehensive health benefits

Monthly stipends

Company retreats

Collaborative office culture

Job summary

Pika is hiring a Principal Product Engineer to steer the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for user-facing systems. You will lead the engineering direction for features serving millions of creators—from intuitive UIs and collaboration tools to real-time interactions and advanced generative AI.

You’ll partner with product and design to deliver scalable, delightful experiences. In this senior role you’ll shape architectural standards, mentor engineers, and drive end-to-end delivery from

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with senior/principal roles.
• Experience designing high-impact web/mobile products (React, TS, Node.js, Go, or similar).
• Proven track record building user-centric features for creative apps.
• Distributed systems and cloud infrastructure expertise (AWS/GCP).
• Experience across stack including ML/AI infrastructure (Python, GPU workflows).
• Strong product intuition and strategic mindset—driven by user and business needs.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills.

Responsibilities

• Own architecture and technical strategy for web and multi-platform products.
• Spearhead real-time collaboration capabilities and live multi-user interactions.
• Drive features from ideation through scoping, development, launch, and iteration.
• Integrate complex generative AI workflows into creative tooling.
• Partner with product and design leadership to deliver accessible creative workflows.
• Mentor engineers and lead architecture reviews to elevate code quality.
• Oversee cross-service metrics, tracing, and observability for critical features.

Skills

React experience

TypeScript

System design

Cross-functional leadership

ML/AI infrastructure

Tools

React

Node.js

Go

Python

AWS/GCP

Job description

About Pika

At Pika, we’re building the next generation of AI creative tools to empower human creativity. Our mission is to make video creation seamless, intuitive, and accessible to everyone, leveraging the power of advanced AI. We believe that AI should amplify creative expression—enabling everyone to create, collaborate, and communicate across media. Our team includes engineers, artists, and product thinkers, all passionate about building tools that unlock new creative possibilities.

Pika has raised significant funding and is backed by leading investors, with a collaborative culture based in Palo Alto, CA. We prefer hybrid in-office, sharing ideas and launching products together.

About the Role

We’re seeking a Principal Product Engineer to lead the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for user-facing systems at Pika. In this high-impact, senior leadership role, you’ll guide the engineering direction for features that serve millions of creative users—from intuitive UIs and collaboration tools to real-time interactions and advanced generative AI experiences.

You’ll work closely with product, design, and engineering leadership to deliver features that are robust, scalable, and delightful to use. You’ll influence both the immediate user experience and long-term product vision, taking ideas from strategic conception to launch and ongoing iteration.

What You’ll Do

• Own and define the architecture and technical strategy for Pika’s web and multi-platform products

• Spearhead the development of real-time collaboration capabilities, messaging, and live multi-user interactions

• Drive product features from ideation through scoping, development, launch, and continuous improvement

• Integrate complex generative AI workflows (LLMs, models, agentic tools) into creative tooling

• Partner deeply with product and design leaders to deliver groundbreaking, accessible creative workflows

• Champion technical excellence through high standards, architecture reviews, mentorship, and proposals

• Oversee and improve cross-service metrics, tracing, and observability for critical product features

What We’re Looking For

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with substantial time in senior/principal engineering and product-focused roles

• Distinguished track record leading the design, execution, and scaling of high-impact web or mobile products (React, TypeScript, Node.js, Go, or similar)

• Demonstrated strategy and execution in building robust, user-centric features for creative applications

• Comprehensive expertise in systems design: distributed systems, scalable APIs, and cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP)

• Experience working across the stack, including ML/AI infrastructure (Python, GPU-backed workflows) as required

• Exceptional product intuition and a strategic mindset—driven by deep understanding of user and business needs

• Excellent communication and leadership skills; able to influence across disciplines and build consensus

• Strong sense of ownership and passion for delivering delightful creative experiences at scale

Nice to Have

• Experience building or integrating generative AI, agentic workflows, or ML inference platforms (Python/PyTorch)

• Creative background (design, art, architecture, or similar)

• Expertise in media-rich and real-time collaboration applications

• Startup experience and proven ability to thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous environments

Our Stack

React, TypeScript, Python, Go, Postgres, Redis, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS/GCP

What We Offer

• Competitive salary in the AI industry

• Significant equity in a rapidly growing startup shaping the future of AI and creativity

• Comprehensive health benefits, monthly stipends, and company retreats

• Supportive, collaborative office culture—we’re building and launching together