Principal Software Development Engineer, Full Stack
About The Position
The Data Engineering & Enterprise Tools team powers Zillow Rentals by delivering mission-critical analytics tools, AI enablement solutions, and high fidelity data products. We partner closely with Product, Senior Leadership, Data Science, Sales, Operations, and other business groups to turn complex workflows and data into scalable, intuitive, and reliable capabilities. Our work connects the systems and experiences that enable teams across Zillow Rentals to make effective daily decisions. We are evolving a durable internal-tooling ecosystem: reducing fragmentation, strengthening shared foundations, and enabling new business capabilities through thoughtful architecture and technical leadership. As a Principal Software Development Engineer, you will be the technical leader for a critical area of Zillow Rentals' internal tooling and data-product ecosystem. You will deliver high-impact business value by identifying and solving complex problems that span teams, systems, and stakeholder groups. This is a leadership-first individual contributor role. You will set technical direction, shape cross-team architecture, and influence how teams build, operate, and evolve internal products. You will partner with engineering and business leaders to translate ambiguous opportunities into durable strategies, foundational capabilities, and sequenced investments that advance Zillow Rentals' longer-term goals through world class internal tools.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
- 10+ years of professional software engineering experience building and operating production web applications, with significant experience across both front-end and back-end components.
- Demonstrated track record leading the technical design and delivery of complex, high-scale systems or platforms involving multiple teams and services.
- Experience mentoring senior engineers and influencing engineering practices and standards across teams in an agile, product-focused environment.
- Or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Responsibilities
- Architect and drive the end-to-end design of complex, high-scale web applications and services, spanning modern user interfaces, APIs, data stores, and cloud infrastructure.
- Lead technical direction and decision-making for multi-team initiatives, establishing engineering standards and best practices for full-stack development, testing, and operations.
- Collaborate with product management, UX, and cross-functional partners to translate business objectives into actionable engineering plans and technical roadmaps.
- Mentor and coach senior and staff engineers, fostering a culture of learning, inclusion, and technical excellence across teams.
- Guide technical reviews and design forums, providing clear feedback on architecture, implementation approaches, and risk mitigation for critical projects.
- Anticipate and resolve systemic technical challenges, making high-impact decisions on service boundaries, data models, and integration strategies.
- Champion engineering excellence in code quality, automated testing, CI/CD, observability, and incident response.
- Evaluate and introduce new technologies, frameworks, and architectures that improve developer experience, scalability, and operational excellence.
Benefits
- equity awards
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Principal
