Principal Software Engineer
Role Description
We’re looking for a Principal Software Engineer to shape the future of Dropbox through bold new ideas and technical leadership. You’ll help define the vision, architecture, and execution for our most forward-looking products — building the foundation for what comes next at Dropbox.
This role sits at the heart of innovation, blending hands-on engineering with strategic thinking. You’ll explore new product spaces, prototype ideas that don’t yet have a home, and guide how we integrate new technologies — whether we build them or bring them in. Along the way, you’ll help foster a strong, collaborative engineering culture and partner closely with product, design, and strategy to turn high-potential ideas into real impact.
Responsibilities
Build and foster a strong engineering culture focused on excellence, velocity, and innovation
Define the architecture and integration strategy for new initiatives, including both internally developed and acquired products
Conduct technical due diligence on potential M&A targets to assess scalability, quality, and strategic fit
Rapidly prototype new product ideas and validate emerging opportunities that fall outside existing teams
Partner cross-functionally with product, design, and strategy teams to translate vision into technical execution
Maintain a high technical bar and guide the team through complex architectural decisions
Contribute to shaping Dropbox’s long-term innovation roadmap through technical insight and experimentation
Requirements
10+ years of full-stack engineering experience, including 3+ years in a technical leadership role
Proven success operating at both startup and enterprise scale—building early MVPs and scaling to millions of users
Deep understanding of product architecture evolution and trade-offs between speed and scalability
Experience with technical diligence and evaluating software systems for integration or acquisition
Some experience in engineering management preferred
Strong bias toward experimentation and comfort navigating high-ambiguity problem spaces
Preferred Qualifications
Experience leading 0→1 product development or founding early-stage startup teams
Demonstrated success incubating and scaling new technologies or products within a larger organization
Strong background in distributed systems design, data-intensive applications, or cloud infrastructure
Familiarity with modern AI/ML technologies, developer platforms, or productivity tools
Compensation
US Zone 1
This role is not available in Zone 1
US Zone 2
$248,600—$336,400 USD
US Zone 3
$221,000—$299,000 USD
About the job
Apply for this position
Principal Software Engineer
Role Description
We’re looking for a Principal Software Engineer to shape the future of Dropbox through bold new ideas and technical leadership. You’ll help define the vision, architecture, and execution for our most forward-looking products — building the foundation for what comes next at Dropbox.
This role sits at the heart of innovation, blending hands-on engineering with strategic thinking. You’ll explore new product spaces, prototype ideas that don’t yet have a home, and guide how we integrate new technologies — whether we build them or bring them in. Along the way, you’ll help foster a strong, collaborative engineering culture and partner closely with product, design, and strategy to turn high-potential ideas into real impact.
Responsibilities
Build and foster a strong engineering culture focused on excellence, velocity, and innovation
Define the architecture and integration strategy for new initiatives, including both internally developed and acquired products
Conduct technical due diligence on potential M&A targets to assess scalability, quality, and strategic fit
Rapidly prototype new product ideas and validate emerging opportunities that fall outside existing teams
Partner cross-functionally with product, design, and strategy teams to translate vision into technical execution
Maintain a high technical bar and guide the team through complex architectural decisions
Contribute to shaping Dropbox’s long-term innovation roadmap through technical insight and experimentation
Requirements
10+ years of full-stack engineering experience, including 3+ years in a technical leadership role
Proven success operating at both startup and enterprise scale—building early MVPs and scaling to millions of users
Deep understanding of product architecture evolution and trade-offs between speed and scalability
Experience with technical diligence and evaluating software systems for integration or acquisition
Some experience in engineering management preferred
Strong bias toward experimentation and comfort navigating high-ambiguity problem spaces
Preferred Qualifications
Experience leading 0→1 product development or founding early-stage startup teams
Demonstrated success incubating and scaling new technologies or products within a larger organization
Strong background in distributed systems design, data-intensive applications, or cloud infrastructure
Familiarity with modern AI/ML technologies, developer platforms, or productivity tools
Compensation
US Zone 1
This role is not available in Zone 1
US Zone 2
$248,600—$336,400 USD
US Zone 3
$221,000—$299,000 USD