Software Engineer, Principal

Remote Work: Hybrid Overview: At Zebra, we are a community of innovators who come together to create new ways of working. United by curiosity and a culture of caring, we develop smart solutions that anticipate our customer’s and partner’s needs and solve their challenges.

Being a part of Zebra Nation means you are seen, heard, valued, and respected. Drawing from our unique perspectives, we collaborate to deliver on our purpose. Here you are a part of a team pushing boundaries today to redefine the work of tomorrow for organizations, their employees, and those they serve.

You'll have opportunities to learn and lead in a forward-thinking environment, defining your path to a fulfilling career while channeling your skills toward causes you care about – locally and globally.

Come make an impact every day at Zebra.

As a Principal Software Engineer at Zebra, you will act as a key technical leader and full-stack developer, shaping the future of our enterprise device and cloud solutions. Under consultative direction, you will be entrusted to determine and pursue courses of action essential to achieving our predetermined long-range targets.

This is a hands-on, full-stack software engineering leadership role, not a DevOps or IT infrastructure position. We are seeking a master-level engineer who will personally research, architect, design, and write production-grade code for our most complex and real-time cloud solutions. You will also maintain the critical software for our products and systems, acting as a technical leader who builds and delivers enterprise-grade platforms from the ground up.

A key aspect of your work will involve performing complex system integration of software and hardware to ensure program consistency and maintain system throughput. Beyond coding, you will develop, validate, and test system structures and user documentation to ensure we deliver robust, high-quality, and well-documented solutions.

Candidates whose experience is primarily in DevOps, SRE, or cloud administration will not be considered for this position.

Responsibilities: Key Responsibilities:

• Lead Hands-On, Full-Stack Development: Personally lead the architecture, design, and hands-on coding of software solutions for several highly complex and realtime technical projects. This is a primary function of the role, not a DevOps or infrastructure position.
• Own the Full Software Lifecycle: Analyze, develop, maintain, and support the critical software for the organization's products and systems, taking ownership from conception to deployment and beyond.
• Drive Technical Strategy and Roadmap: Act as a prime technical leader, leading the technology roadmap process and determining the courses of action essential to achieving the organization's long-range goals.
• Execute Complex System Integration: Perform hands-on integration of software and hardware components, writing the necessary code and validation tests to ensure program consistency and maintain system throughput.
• Champion Quality and Documentation: Uphold the highest standards of quality by developing, validating, and testing system structures and user documentation, ensuring the delivery of robust, reliable, and well-documented solutions.
• Innovate and Research: Actively research new technologies and maintain a keen awareness of competitor products to architect and develop next-generation solutions that keep Zebra ahead of the market.
• Mentor and Lead: Function as a technical leader and mentor within the organization. Champion new thinking, coach team members on best practices, and serve as an organization spokesperson on specialized technical projects.

Skills & Qualifications Required Qualifications:

• Mandatory Full-Stack & Architectural Expertise: Proven, expert-level hands-on experience across the full technology stack.

• Microservices: Deep, hands-on experience in microservice architecture , including design, development, and decomposition of monolithic applications.
• Backend: Strong proficiency in server-side languages like Java and JavaScript/Node.js .
• Cloud Platform: Deep expertise with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and its core services (GKE, Pub/Sub, Cloud Functions, etc.).
• Databases: Expertise in designing and managing scalable databases (e.g., Firestore, PostgreSQL, BigQuery, MongoDB).
• Frontend: Experience with modern frontend frameworks, specifically React.js .

• Cloud Security & Cost Management:

• Security: Proficient in designing and implementing cloud security best practices.
• Cost Optimization: Demonstrable experience in estimating and optimizing cloud costs , including resource planning, monitoring, and architectural adjustments for efficiency.

• Architectural Leadership: 10+ years of experience architecting, designing, and delivering multiple enterprise-grade cloud solutions from the ground up.
• Exclusion of DevOps-Only Experience: This is a software architecture and development role. Candidates with experience limited to only DevOps, SRE, or cloud administration are not eligible .

Preferred Skills:

• Certifications: Google Cloud certifications (e.g., Professional Cloud Architect, Professional Cloud Developer) is highly desirable.
• Mobile & Cloud Integration: Proven experience integrating mobile applications (especially Android) with cloud-based backend services, including handling real-time data and push notifications.
• Multi-Cloud Knowledge: Familiarity with other major cloud platforms, such as Microsoft Azure.
• Modern Practices: Hands-on experience with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes) and Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform).
• Android Development: Experience with native Android application development (Java/Kotlin) is a value add.

Qualifications:

• U.S. Only:

• Preferred Education: Bachelor's degree or Masters in an appropriate engineering discipline required. Preferred Work Experience (years): Bachelors degree and 10+ years experience or Masters degree and 7+ years experience

• All other Regions:
• Preferred Education: Bachelor's or Master’s degree
• Preferred Work Experience (years): 10+ years work experience

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