Principal Staff Software Engineer - Systems and Infrastructure

Principal Staff Software Engineer - Systems and Infrastructure

• Full-time
• Workplace Type: Hybrid

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, built to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Our products help people make powerful connections, discover exciting opportunities, build necessary skills, and gain valuable insights every day. We’re also committed to providing transformational opportunities for our own employees by investing in their growth. We aspire to create a culture that’s built on trust, care, inclusion, and fun – where everyone can succeed.

Join us to transform the way the world works.

This role will be based in Mountain View, CA, or Bellevue, WA.

At LinkedIn, our approach to flexible work is centered on trust and optimized for culture, connection, clarity, and the evolving needs of our business. The work location of this role is hybrid, meaning it will be performed both from home and from a LinkedIn office on select days, as determined by the business needs of the team.

Responsibilities

• Deliver impact by driving innovation while building and shipping software at scale
• Provide architectural guidance and mentorship to up-level the engineering organization
• Actively improve the level of craftsmanship at LinkedIn by developing best practices and defining best strategies
• Design products/services/tools and code that can be used by others while upholding operational impact of all decisions
• Functioning as the tech‑lead for multiple key initiatives, identify problems and opportunities and lead teams to architect, design, implement and operationalize systems
• Partner closely with teams within the org and customers to execute on the vision for long‑term success of our core infrastructure teams
• Working closely with the open‑source community to participate and influence cutting‑edge open‑source projects.
• Keep a platform‑first approach while designing products/service

Qualifications

Basic Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science or equivalent.
• 10+ years of industry experience in software design, development, and algorithm‑related solutions.
• 5+ years in experience as an architect, or technical leadership position.
• Experience in developing and scaling large‑scale databases or analytics systems
• Experience with coding in Java, C++, or Rust; knowledge of query execution, indexing, and concurrency.
• Hands‑on experience developing distributed systems, large‑scale systems, databases and/or Backend APIs

Preferred Qualifications

• MS/PhD in Computer Science or related field.
• Experience in architecting, building, and running large‑scale distributed systems.
• Experience with industry, open source, and/or academic research in technologies such as Hadoop, Spark, Kubernetes, Feather, GraphQL, GRPC, Apache Kafka, Pinot, Samza or Venice.
• Experience with open‑source project management and governance.
• Experience building interactive services or analytics APIs for large‑scale systems.
• Experience with communication and ability to influence cross‑functional teams.
• Background in industry thought leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to align technical decisions with business outcomes and drive customer‑centric innovation.

Suggested Skills

• Distributed Systems Design
• Real‑time analytics platforms
• Deep understanding of concurrency, distributed algorithms, and data structures.

Additional Information

You Will Benefit from our Culture

We strongly believe in the well‑being of our employees and their families. That is why we offer generous health and wellness programs and time away for employees of all levels.

LinkedIn is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices.

The pay range for this role is $226,000 to $369,000. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, certifications, and specific work location. This may be different in other locations due to differences in the cost of labor.

The total compensation package for this position may also include annual performance bonus, stock, benefits and/or other applicable incentive compensation plans. For more information, visit

Equal Opportunity Statement

We seek candidates with a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. LinkedIn considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.

LinkedIn is committed to offering an inclusive and accessible experience for all job seekers, including individuals with disabilities. Our goal is to foster an inclusive and accessible workplace where everyone has the opportunity to be successful.

Reasonable Accommodations

If you need a Reasonable Accommodation to search for a job opening, apply for a position, or participate in the interview process, connect with us and describe the specific Accommodation requested for a disability‑related limitation. Fill out an Accommodation request here:

Reasonable accommodations are modifications or adjustments to the application or hiring process that would enable you to fully participate in that process. Examples of reasonable accommodations include but are not limited to:

• Documents in alternate formats or read aloud to you
• Having interviews in an accessible location
• Being accompanied by a service dog
• Having a sign language interpreter present for the interview

A request for an accommodation will be responded to within three business days. However, non‑disability related requests, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.

Internal Policies

LinkedIn will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by LinkedIn, or (c) consistent with LinkedIn's legal duty to furnish information.

San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, LinkedIn will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Pay Transparency Policy Statement

As a federal contractor, LinkedIn follows the Pay Transparency and non‑discrimination provisions described at this link:

Global Data Privacy Notice for Job Candidates

Please follow this link to access the document that provides transparency around the way in which LinkedIn handles personal data of employees and job applicants: