Principal .NET Software Engineer

Principal.NET Software Engineer

Newport Beach, California 610 Newport Center Drive, 92660

Cultivate a better world

Food served fast does not have to be a typical fast-food experience. Chipotle has always done things differently, both in and out of our restaurants. We are changing the face of fast food, starting conversations, and directly supporting efforts to shift the future of farming and food. We hope you will join us as we continue to learn, evolve, and shape what comes next on our mission to make better food accessible to everyone.

The Opportunity

We are seeking a Principal Engineer to provide technical leadership across our .NET engineering vertical, with a focus on architecture, solution design, and hands-on implementation across cloud-native platforms and product teams. This role will help shape the technical direction of services and applications running in Azure and Kubernetes, with deep involvement in distributed systems, APIs, event-driven patterns, platform libraries, Helm and Terraform release pipelines, and data architectures spanning both SQL and document databases.

As a senior technical leader, you will work closely with engineering teams, product managers, architects, and platform partners to define and scale design patterns that enable high-quality delivery of features and stories. You will guide teams through complex technical decisions, establish reusable approaches for common engineering problems, and raise the bar for craftsmanship, reliability, security, and maintainability across the organization.

This is a highly hands-on role for an engineer who enjoys balancing strategic architecture with pragmatic delivery. You will be a core contributor to shared platform and library code, influence engineering standards and reference implementations, and mentor teams through system decomposition, service design, observability, resiliency, and modernization efforts. You will also help ensure solutions align to enterprise objectives while remaining practical, scalable, and developer-friendly.

Location

This position will be based in our Newport Beach, CA office 4 days per week (with work from home on Friday). Remote work is not available for this role.

What You'll Do

• Lead architecture and technical design for software solutions across the.NET vertical, ensuring alignment with enterprise standards and business priorities.
• Create next-generation proof of concept implementations that can be explored by other teams within the organization.
• Partner closely with engineering teams to design patterns and reference approaches that help solve product features, technical stories, and platform capabilities in a scalable and supportable way.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership in the design and implementation of services, APIs, libraries, and cloud-native applications using.NET, Azure, and Kubernetes.
• Review designs, code, and technical decisions for critical initiatives; provide coaching and direction that improves engineering quality without slowing delivery.
• Act as a core contributor to platform and shared library code, building reusable components and frameworks that improve consistency, speed, quality, and maintainability across teams.
• Influence backlog priorities and technical roadmaps by identifying foundational investments, modernization opportunities, and platform improvements that unlock future velocity.
• Drive technical alignment across teams by facilitating design discussions, documenting patterns, and resolving cross-cutting engineering challenges.
• Continuously identify and implement improvements to engineering speed, reliability, scalability, and developer experience through automation, reusable components, and standardization.
• Partner with other departments to decide the best in breed implementations for large technology initiatives.

What You'll Bring to the Table

• B.S. degree in computer science or related field preferred.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience creating highly available, scalable, fault tolerant systems.
• Deep expertise in.NET / C# application architecture, service development, infrastructure-as-code deployment, cloud/AI computing, and modern software design practices.
• Strong knowledge of software quality practices including code review, automated testing, CI/CD, observability, resiliency, and secure development.
• An incredible ability to identify an audience to be able to understand business problems and communicate how technology solutions can help solve the issues.
• The ability to train, teach, and educate others on the technology you understand and are responsible for to create the next generation of engineers.

Pay Transparency

A reasonable estimate of the current base pay range for this position is $182,000.00–$264,500.00. You are also eligible for annual cash bonuses and equity awards based upon performance and other factors. Actual compensation offered may vary depending on skill level, experience, and/or education. Chipotle offers a competitive total rewards package, which includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401k, sick leave, vacation time, and much more. Visit for more details.

Who We Are

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is cultivating a better world by serving responsibly sourced, classically cooked, real food with wholesome ingredients without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Chipotle has restaurants in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany and is the only restaurant company of its size that owns and operates all its restaurants in North America and Europe. With employees passionate about providing a great guest experience, Chipotle is a longtime leader and innovator in the food industry. Chipotle is committed to making its food more accessible to everyone while continuing to be a brand with a demonstrated purpose as it leads the way in digital, technology and sustainable business practices. For more information or to place an order online, visit

Chipotle Mexican Grill is an equal opportunity employer that values diversity at all levels. As a people-first company rooted in values, our purpose extends beyond serving nutritious food using real ingredients. It means hiring world-class individuals and fostering a culture that champions diversity, ensures equity, and celebrates inclusion. All qualified applicants, regardless of personal characteristics, are encouraged to apply.

Qualified applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or certain state or local laws. Please contact View email address on click.appcast.io if you need an accommodation due to a disability to complete an application, job interview, and/or to otherwise participate in the hiring process. This email does not respond to non-accommodations related requests.