Dropbox · 6 hours ago
Principal Software Engineer, Corporate AI
United States
Full-time
Remote
Lead/Staff
$256K/yr - $347K/yr
12+ years expDropbox is a Virtual First company, and they are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to shape and execute the organization’s intelligence vision. The role involves leading the design and deployment of AI solutions, providing mentorship, and ensuring technical efforts align with strategic objectives.
Enterprise SoftwareCloud ComputingCollaborationFile SharingPrivate CloudWeb Hosting
Responsibilities
Define, drive, and communicate the technical vision for intelligence, AI, and data initiatives, ensuring alignment with CIT strategy, EPD goals, and broader organizational objectives
Take a holistic view of CIT systems and architecture to ensure they are scalable, reliable, secure, and maintainable over multiple years
Lead the design, development, and deployment of high performance AI systems, data pipelines, and intelligent services from conception through production
Make strategic architectural decisions to address complex AI, data, and platform challenges, balancing short term delivery with long term resilience and scalability
Identify opportunities to simplify systems, reduce operational and security risk, and improve developer productivity
Contribute directly to prototyping, proof of concepts, and implementation of technical components when needed to validate strategy, de risk decisions, or accelerate progress
Architect, evolve, and scale AI, automation, and intelligence platforms that enable advanced analytics, personalization, search, and intelligent decision making
Drive innovation in intelligence models, distributed training, optimization techniques, and data engineering to maximize performance, quality, and business impact
Enhance search and discovery capabilities using intelligent algorithms, natural language processing, and modern data systems
Evaluate, select, and integrate emerging technologies in AI, ML, and automation to maintain a competitive and forward looking technical posture
Partner across engineering, product, design, infrastructure, and other stakeholders to ensure intelligence initiatives directly support strategic objectives
Translate technical capabilities and advancements into clear business outcomes that improve productivity, efficiency, and growth
Resolve conflicting requirements and priorities with sound technical judgment that favors long term organizational outcomes over local optimization
Advocate for intelligence driven solutions across the organization and influence company wide technical priorities
Act as a trusted technical advisor to senior engineering leadership, with IC6 scope extending to org wide and EPD level strategy
Provide mentorship and technical guidance to engineers and data scientists from mid level through senior, fostering continuous learning and technical excellence
Serve as a technical multiplier by raising the effectiveness of surrounding teams through design reviews, code reviews, architectural guidance, and pragmatic execution
Facilitate knowledge sharing across teams through documentation, design writeups, technical discussions, and mentorship programs
Act as a voice for engineers by synthesizing feedback, surfacing gaps and risks, and communicating them clearly to leadership
Contribute to multi year technical vision and roadmap planning, anticipating future scale, complexity, and organizational needs
Identify architectural, operational, and security risks early and mobilize proactive mitigation plans across org boundaries
Partner closely with managers, product leaders, and senior engineers to ensure ambitious initiatives remain feasible, sustainable, and well aligned
For IC6 scope, influence technical direction beyond CIT and partner directly with senior EPD leadership on company wide strategy
Lead and support critical, high impact initiatives by defining technical direction, clarifying requirements, gathering estimates, and ensuring delivery against milestones
Drive execution on complex projects with significant ambiguity or high cost of failure
Improve engineering effectiveness by championing best practices such as CI, automated testing, reliability reviews, and clear ownership models
Promote a bias toward action, thoughtful experimentation, and continuous learning
Model excellence in engineering craft, collaboration, accountability, and inclusive behavior
Lead by example in living Dropbox values, including integrity, ownership, simplicity, and inclusivity
Support hiring by interviewing, calibrating candidates against a high technical bar, and representing Dropbox authentically to candidates and partners
Qualification
Required
12+ years of professional experience in software engineering, with depth in areas such as intelligent workflows, enterprise scale AI adoption, automation, or data engineering
Proven track record of leading large scale, multi team technical initiatives from conception to production, including solving ambiguous problems, setting technical vision, and driving impact without direct authority
Strong architectural judgment and systems thinking, with the ability to balance short term delivery with long term sustainability, scalability, and operational excellence
Demonstrated ability to influence across teams and disciplines through technical leadership, collaboration, and sound decision making rather than formal authority
Experience mentoring engineers and raising the technical bar of an organization through design reviews, code reviews, and technical guidance
Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly explain complex technical concepts, translate technical strategy to diverse audiences, and influence stakeholders at all levels
Preferred
Strong coding ability in at least one language commonly used in AI and data systems such as Python, Java, Go, or Scala, with hands on experience building models, data pipelines, or scalable production services
Experience operating in platform, infrastructure, or internal tooling organizations, including leading or significantly influencing org wide technical initiatives
Proven ability to navigate ambiguity and competing priorities, drive clarity, and make sound technical and product tradeoffs in partnership with product managers
Experience collaborating cross functionally with product, design, infrastructure, and legal or privacy stakeholders to deliver AI powered or data intensive products responsibly
Familiarity with AI assisted development practices in large codebases, along with experience representing engineering externally through talks, blogs, or industry events when applicable
Benefits
Corporate bonus program
Sales incentive
Stock in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)
Company
Dropbox
Dropbox is a smart workspace company that provides secure file sharing, collaboration, and storage solutions.
1001-5000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Dropbox has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (127)
2024 (105)
2023 (103)
2022 (166)
2021 (197)
2020 (157)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$2.41BKey Investors
JP Morgan ChaseJPMorgan PartnersBlackRock
2025-09-09Post Ipo Debt· $700M
2018-03-23IPO
2017-03-30Debt Financing· $600M
Leadership Team
Drew Houston
Founder & CEO
Arash Ferdowsi
Co-Founder
Recent News
2025-12-19
Business Standard India
2025-12-19
2025-12-16
Company data provided by crunchbase