Most Loved Workplace® Certified Job

Principal Software Engineer, Core Sharing & Collaboration

Assessed by Most Loved Workplace®

92% of candidates apply because they are a Most Loved Workplace®

Remote - US: All locations

Eng - Teams and Collab (Sub Team)

This position may no longer be active.View all open positions at Dropbox

About the Role

At Dropbox, a Most Loved Workplace® certified employer in the Software space, Design a more enlightened way of working for everyone, everywhere.

<h2 class="p1">Role Description</h2>

As a Principal Engineer at Dropbox, you will own company critical, loosely defined technical problems with multi year impact, operating at the intersection of technology, product, business strategy, and applied AI. You will define long term technical direction for customer facing experiences used by millions, identifying where AI meaningfully improves customer value and translating evolving business context and industry advances into durable, multi area strategies and roadmaps that shape how Dropbox builds, scales, and innovates, while remaining hands on in software development where it provides the greatest leverage.

Your influence will span organizations, setting foundational architecture, driving execution standards, and aligning senior technical and product leaders across boundaries. You will lead the responsible introduction and adoption of AI across product capabilities and engineering workflows, bring clarity to the most complex decisions, institutionalize engineering excellence, and contribute directly through critical design, prototyping, and code reviews.

In return, you will operate as a trusted technical partner to senior leadership, shape systems and platforms including AI powered foundations that define Dropbox’s future, and act as a company level technical strategist, advancing Dropbox’s mission to create a more enlightened way of working.

Our Engineering Career Framework is <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu1v1w _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu1r31 _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _syaz13af _ect4ttxp _1a3b1r31 _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik1r31 _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm1r31 _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" href="https://Dropbox.github.io/dbx-career-framework/" data-renderer-mark="true">viewable by anyone outside Dropbox</a> and describes what’s expected for our engineers at each of our career levels. Check out our blog post on this topic and more <a class="_ymio1r31 _ypr0glyw _zcxs1o36 _mizu1v1w _1ah3dkaa _ra3xnqa1 _128mdkaa _1cvmnqa1 _4davt94y _4bfu1r31 _1hms8stv _ajmmnqa1 _vchhusvi _kqswh2mm _syaz13af _ect4ttxp _1a3b1r31 _4fpr8stv _5goinqa1 _f8pj13af _9oik1r31 _1bnxglyw _jf4cnqa1 _30l313af _1nrm1r31 _c2waglyw _1iohnqa1 _9h8h12zz _10531ra0 _1ien1ra0 _n0fx1ra0 _1vhv17z1" href="https://Dropbox.tech/culture/sharing-our-engineering-career-framework-with-the-world" data-renderer-mark="true">here</a>.

<h2 class="p1">Responsibilities</h2>

<ul>

<li>Own and drive technical outcomes across multiple teams and organizations, delivering company critical customer and business impact at scale.</li>

<li>Define long term technical strategy and partner with senior Product and Engineering leaders as the technical owner for the most important company objectives.</li>

<li>Tackle the most ambiguous and far reaching technical and product problems, shaping what Dropbox builds as much as how it builds it.</li>

<li>Remain deeply hands on in software development, owning and implementing the most critical, complex, and foundational parts of the system where leverage is highest.</li>

<li>Influence and align roadmaps across organizations, resolving structural bottlenecks and changing how Dropbox builds and operates.</li>

<li>Architect and evolve foundational systems (this may involve both frontend and backend systems) and platforms that enable new product capabilities and operate reliably at the scale of hundreds of millions of users.</li>

<li>Model exceptional technical judgment and execution rigor, setting and sustaining high engineering standards across a distributed, virtual environment</li>

<li>Drive AI adoption both to increase productivity and to produce AI based features.</li>

</ul>

<h2 class="p1">Requirements</h2>

<ul>

<li>Advanced degree in Computer Science or a related technical field involving substantial software development, or equivalent industry experience demonstrating deep technical mastery.</li>

<li>15+ years of experience designing, building, and evolving large scale software systems with sustained impact across multiple teams or organizations.</li>

<li>Demonstrated success operating at a Principal level, owning company critical technical problems and influencing long term technical direction.</li>

<li>Strong experience building consumer facing products at scale, with a deep understanding of user experience, performance, reliability, and operational excellence.</li>

<li>Broad and deep technical expertise across multiple domains, including several of frontend, mobile, search, databases, storage systems, concurrency, and distributed systems.</li>

<li>Practical experience applying modern ML, LLM based APIs, and agentic frameworks in production systems, with sound judgment around quality, cost, and risk.</li>

<li>Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly and persuasively to senior engineering, product, and executive audiences.</li>

</ul>

<h2>Preferred Qualifications</h2>

<ul>

<li>Experience defining and scaling company wide platforms or architectural standards that are adopted across multiple organizations.</li>

<li>Proven track record of leading the introduction of new technologies such as AI or ML into core products or engineering workflows with durable impact.</li>

<li>Experience operating in highly distributed, virtual first engineering organizations at global scale.</li>

</ul>

<h2>Durable Skills</h2>

AI fluency means using these tools to amplify human judgment, not replace it. We believe people with these skills will thrive as work and technology continue to evolve:

<li>Awareness: Understand yourself and others.</li>

<li>Judgment: Evaluate information and make decisions in complex situations.</li>

<li>Adaptability: Learn, adjust, and stay effective through change.</li>

<li>Connection: Communicate, collaborate, and build trust.</li>

</ul>

To learn more about why these skills matter and what the data shows about thriving through change, read this <a class="attrlink" href="https://www.Dropbox.jobs/en/our-blog/employee-stories/the-era-of-durable-skills-what-the-data-tells-us-about-thriving-in-change/" target="_blank" data-target-href="https://www.Dropbox.jobs/en/our-blog/employee-stories/the-era-of-durable-skills-what-the-data-tells-us-about-thriving-in-change/">blog post</a> from our Chief People Officer, Melanie Rosenwasser.

<h2 data-usually-unique-id="044234883370604133046166">Compensation</h2><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">US Zone 1</div><div class="pay-range">$284,800&mdash;$385,200 USD</div></div><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">US Zone 2</div><div class="pay-range">$256,300&mdash;$346,700 USD</div></div><div class="pay-input"><div class="title">US Zone 3</div><div class="pay-range">$227,800&mdash;$308,200 USD</div></div></div>

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Why This Is a Most Loved Workplace® Certified Job

What It's Like to Work Here

Users Connection Over Distance

Zap Frictionless Execution

Lightbulb Creative Problem-Solving

Heart Holistic Employee Care

Target Mission-Driven Work

Handshake Trust-Based Culture

Frequently Asked Questions About Working at Dropbox

Common questions candidates ask about this role and Dropbox's workplace

Dropbox is a cloud storage solution, equipped with features to help you save time, improve your productivity and collaborate with others.

This position is listed as remote based on the job location.

Salary information may vary by role and location. Please check the specific job listing or discuss compensation during the interview process.

Dropbox is an established organization in its industry. The company focuses on maintaining a supportive workplace culture for all employees.

Key benefit categories include: Health & Wellness, Financial & Retirement, Family Support, Time Off & Flexibility, Learning & Development. You can view more details on their CertCheck profile.

The day-to-day environment is guided by core values such as Connection Over Distance and Frictionless Execution and Creative Problem-Solving.

The company has committed to inclusive practices including: Empower Human-Centered Collaboration and Support Comprehensive Employee Wellbeing.

Dropbox has a supportive and collaborative culture, recognized as a loved place to work by its team members.

Dropbox currently has 51 open positions. They are hiring across departments like Direct Sales - AMER (Sub Team), Communications (Sub Team), CTO-Data Science, AI Platform & Eng (Sub Team). You can view all current openings at certcheck.mostlovedworkplace.com/companies/dropbox/jobs.

The interview process typically involves an initial recruiter screen followed by team interviews. Please contact Dropbox's recruiting team for specific details on this role's process.