Senior Principal Software Engineer (IC5) - Kubernetes & OKE

Oracle • Austin, TX

69d

About The Position

Are you ready to define and drive what's possible in the world of cloud-native technologies? At Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), we're on a mission to empower the largest enterprises and disruptors alike with infrastructure that combines the elasticity of public cloud and the security, reliability, and granular control demanded by mission-critical workloads. The Kubernetes teams are at the forefront of this transformation-designing and delivering enterprise-grade Kubernetes that powers thousands of customer workloads globally. As a Senior Principal Software Engineer (IC5), you will be the technical force behind OKE's next wave of innovation. Your expertise in distributed systems, containers, and Kubernetes will directly shape architectural direction, guide best practices, and influence major product strategy. This isn't just about delivering features-it's about fundamentally raising the bar for engineering within OCI. You'll lead large-scale, high-impact projects; collaborate across engineering, product, and operations; and mentor engineers at all levels, setting a vision for what exceptional cloud infrastructure can be.

Requirements

• A veteran software engineer (10+ years) with deep expertise in distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and the Kubernetes ecosystem.
• Proficient in Go, Java, Python, or similar programming languages, with an automation-first mindset.
• Expert in architecting, deploying, and managing highly available container platforms at scale, ideally in public cloud environments.
• Known for your technical vision-you've set direction, influenced org-wide practices, and led multiple teams through substantial technical transformations.
• A collaborative leader: you thrive in cross-functional environments, relish mentoring others, and enjoy elevating the entire organization's technical excellence.
• Passionate about customer outcomes and always looking for ways to innovate and improve the developer/operator experience.

Responsibilities

• Design, architect, and build core components for OKE and OCI's Kubernetes ecosystem, addressing reliability, security, performance, and scale.
• Set and uphold engineering standards, best practices, and automation requirements for your team and the broader organization.
• Lead deep architecture reviews, identify technical risks and trade-offs, and guide teams across boundaries to deliver on ambitious roadmaps.
• Drive operational excellence through automation, observability, and continuous improvement-ensuring services are robust, reliable, and ready for 24x7 scale.
• Collaborate extensively with peer teams-security, networking, product, operations-to solve unique challenges and support critical customer needs.
• Contribute to the open source community, advocate for cloud-native technologies inside and outside the company, and help Oracle build strong industry partnerships.

Benefits

• Flexible medical, life insurance, and retirement options.
• Opportunities for community involvement through volunteer programs.
• Work-life balance.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Publishing Industries
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees