Principal Engineer, API Platform

Arlo Technologies•Milpitas, CA

1d•$215,000 - $295,000•Hybrid

About The Position

We are seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the design and development of a next-generation Platform API. This is a highly customer-facing technical role. You will work directly with internal teams and external partners to understand integration needs, identify friction, and shape a seamless developer experience. You view APIs as products - bringing strong attention to usability, consistency, and clarity in every interaction. This is a rare opportunity to define the foundational architecture of a platform from the ground up while working within the context of a mature, production-grade service with an established user base.

Requirements

10+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years in Staff/Principal or equivalent roles
Proven experience building API-first or API-as-a-product platforms
Strong focus on developer experience and API usability
Experience working directly with customers or external partners
Deep expertise in distributed systems, microservices, and API design patterns
Strong experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and modern infrastructure
Excellent communication skills across technical and non-technical stakeholders

Nice To Haves

Experience building white-label or partner platforms
Familiarity with API gateways (e.g., Kong, Apigee, AWS API Gateway)
Knowledge of domain-driven design (DDD)
Experience defining API standards or governance frameworks
Contributions to open-source, technical writing, or speaking engagements

Responsibilities

API Design & Developer Experience
Own the API as a product surface, ensuring consistency across endpoints, payloads, and error handling.
Engage directly with customers and integration partners to understand workflows and improve API usability.
Define and enforce API design standards focused on clarity, consistency, and discoverability.
Implement contract-first development using OpenAPI / AsyncAPI as the source of truth.
Design intuitive resource models and naming conventions aligned with consumer use cases.
Establish structured, actionable error handling standards.
Drive overall developer experience (DX), including SDKs, documentation, sandbox environments, and integration tooling.
Define versioning, deprecation, and backward compatibility strategies.
Architecture & Systems Design
Design scalable, secure Platform API architecture supporting multi-tenant and partner ecosystems.
Build configuration-driven customization for white-label and partner use cases.
Define onboarding, provisioning, and lifecycle management for partners.
Establish performance, scalability, and reliability standards (SLA, rate limiting, capacity planning).
Customer Engagement & Feedback
Act as a technical partner to key API consumers and stakeholders.
Lead API design reviews and validation sessions with internal and external users.
Establish feedback loops from usage data, support channels, and direct engagement.
Advocate for developers and partner needs in all architectural decisions.
Engineering Leadership
Provide technical leadership/mentorship across multiple engineering teams.
Drive architectural decisions, documentation, and design standards (ADRs, RFCs).
Lead design reviews and technical validation efforts.
Partner with leadership to align team structure and roadmap with platform strategy.