Principal, IT Software Engineer 1

The Principal, IT Software Engineer 1, is a technically seasoned individual contributor who serves as a lead engineer responsible for designing, developing, and delivering complex end-to-end software solutions. This role operates with a high degree of autonomy and plays a critical part in shaping technical direction, driving best practices, and enabling the success of cross-functional teams. The Principal Engineer is a trusted technical voice within the organization, balancing hands-on development with leadership responsibilities that include mentoring junior engineers, facilitating architectural decisions, and contributing to both short-term sprint execution and longer-term program increment planning. This role is ideal for an engineer who is ready to expand their influence beyond individual delivery and take ownership of broader team and organizational outcomes.

Here’s what you’ll do: 

Technical Design and Development

• Design, develop, and maintain end-to-end software solutions that address complex business and technical requirements.
• Lead architectural discussions and make informed technical decisions for assigned projects, ensuring scalability, reliability, and maintainability.
• Write clean, well-documented, and high-quality code while adhering to established engineering standards.
• Identify and manage technical dependencies across teams and systems, proactively communicating cross-team impacts.

Planning and Delivery

• Participate in sprint planning and backlog refinement, organizing work to ensure consistent delivery against sprint commitments.
• Contribute to Program Increment (PI) planning by helping define scope, identify risks, and align technical work to longer-term roadmap targets.
• Monitor progress against commitments and escalate risks or blockers to leadership in a timely manner to protect delivery timelines.
• Collaborate with product owners, architects, and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure technical solutions align with business objectives.

Leadership and Mentorship

• Serve as a mentor and technical guide for junior and mid-level engineers, providing consistent feedback on code quality, technical approach, and professional development.
• Lead peer code reviews and promote a culture of continuous improvement within the development team.
• Actively participate in and contribute to the broader IT development community by sharing knowledge, presenting best practices, and supporting peer education initiatives.

Risk and Collaboration

• Assist in identifying, assessing, and mitigating technical risks throughout the software development lifecycle.
• Collaborate extensively with cross-functional teams including product management, QA, infrastructure, and other engineering groups to deliver cohesive solutions.
• Communicate technical concepts clearly and effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.

What you’ll need to be successful: 

Experience

• 3 to 5 years of progressive software engineering experience with demonstrated growth in technical complexity and scope of responsibility.

Technical Skills

• Advanced proficiency in one or more programming languages relevant to the team's technology stack.
• Strong understanding of system design principles, software architecture patterns, and engineering best practices.
• Experience designing and developing solutions in distributed or enterprise-scale environments.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, version control systems, and modern software development tooling.

Leadership and Collaboration

• Demonstrated ability to lead technical discussions and influence decisions without formal authority.
• Experience mentoring or guiding less experienced team members in a professional setting.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration skills with the ability to work effectively across teams and organizational boundaries.

Methodology and Planning

• Hands-on experience working within Agile frameworks, including sprint planning, retrospectives, and backlog management.
• Exposure to Program Increment (PI) planning or SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) is a plus.

Communication

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for diverse audiences.
• Comfortable presenting technical recommendations and facilitating discussions with both engineering teams and business stakeholders.

This role handles complex assignments with significant autonomy and minimal oversight. The engineer in this position is expected to deliver solution-based outcomes for varied and challenging problems, lead portions of large initiatives, and have a measurable impact on team performance and cross-functional processes. Decisions made in this role carry real consequences for project timelines and team deliverables, making sound judgment and proactive communication essential competencies.

May require a background check due to job duties requiring routine access to DIRECTV and DIRECTV customer’s proprietary data. Qualified applicants with arrest and conviction will be considered for employment in accordance with local ordinances and state law.

This is a remote position that can be located anywhere in the contiguous United States. #LI-Remote 

A career with us comes with big rewards: 

DIRECTV's compensation structure is designed to be market-competitive and fully supports efforts to attract and retain employees. It is the company's policy to offer pay that is competitive with other employers in the local market. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. 

The Base Salary range displayed below reflects the minimum and maximum target salary for each of DIRECTV's 4 (four) US Labor Market Zones. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. 

DIRECTV WAGE ZONES: $134,363 - $244,036 

Low (N1): $134,363 - $201,595

Mid (N2): $141,435 - $212,205

High (N3): $155,579 - $233,426

Top (N4): $162,650 - $244,036

Click HERE to review information on some of the largest Designated Market Areas (DMAs). Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process.  

Please note that the salary ranges reflect base salary only and do not include bonus or benefits - when you consider all of these together, it represents a pretty impressive total compensation package. 

Apply today! 

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