Senior Principal Software Engineer - Platform

Our world is transforming, and PTC is leading the way. Our software brings the physical and digital worlds together, enabling companies to improve operations, create better products, and empower people in all aspects of their business.

Our people make all the difference in our success. Today, we are a global team of nearly 7,000 and our main objective is to create opportunities for our team members to explore, learn, and grow – all while seeing their ideas come to life and celebrating the differences that make us who we are and the work we do possible.

Sr. Principal Software Engineer – Platform

Location: San Ramon, CA (Hybrid – 2–3 days onsite)

Role Overview

We are seeking an exceptional Sr. Principal Software Engineer – Platform Engineering to play a key role in evolving and scaling our platform ecosystem. In this role, you will work hands-on to design, build, and improve core platform services while contributing to the technical direction and modernization of our platform architecture.

You will partner closely with engineering teams to deliver high-impact platform capabilities, improve system performance and reliability, and enable broader platform adoption. While contributing to architecture decisions, this role is focused on execution, implementation, and technical depth, rather than pure architecture ownership.

This position requires a deeply hands-on engineer with strong Java and Groovy experience, solid exposure to data platforms (Snowflake, PostgreSQL), and a track record of building scalable distributed systems.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Engineering & Development

• Design and build scalable, high-performance platform services and shared components
• Contribute to the evolution of the platform architecture through hands-on development and system design
• Develop and maintain Java-based microservices, APIs, and backend systems
• Write high-quality, production-grade code with a focus on reliability, scalability, and maintainability
• Debug, troubleshoot, and resolve complex production issues

Platform Evolution & Modernization

• Assess existing systems and contribute to improvements in architecture, performance, and developer experience
• Help reduce technical debt and improve system health through incremental modernization efforts
• Implement best practices across service design, data modeling, and platform reliability

Data Platform Contributions

• Design and implement PostgreSQL data models optimized for transactional use cases
• Support development of Snowflake data models, schemas, and pipelines
• Apply best-practice data modeling techniques:
• Normalization and relational modeling
• Dimensional models (star schema concepts where applicable)

Platform Adoption & Enablement

• Build reusable services and frameworks that improve developer velocity and platform consistency
• Work with application teams to integrate and adopt platform capabilities
• Contribute to documentation, examples, and reference implementations that simplify adoption

Technical Leadership

• Provide technical guidance to engineers through code reviews and design discussions
• Mentor engineers and help elevate overall technical quality across teams
• Influence architecture through implementation and delivery, not just design artifacts

Required Qualifications

• 12+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Strong hands-on experience with:
• Java (core Java, concurrency, distributed systems)
• Groovy (or exposure via Gradle or similar ecosystems)

• Deep experience building:
• Microservices and distributed systems
• REST APIs and backend services

• Strong experience with Spring Framework and modern Java ecosystems
• Experience working with:
• PostgreSQL or similar relational databases
• Snowflake or modern data platform technologies (preferred, not exclusive)

• Strong understanding of:
• Cloud-native architectures (AWS preferred)
• Containerized systems and modern DevOps practices

• Experience designing and operating large-scale, production systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building or supporting data platforms, pipelines, or analytics systems
• Familiarity with event-driven systems and streaming architectures
• Experience with AI/ML or GenAI-enabled systems and workflows
• Exposure to graph databases (Neo4j, Neptune) or complex relationship modeling
• Experience improving engineering productivity through automation and developer tooling

What Success Looks Like

• You consistently deliver high-quality, scalable platform code
• You help improve platform reliability, performance, and usability
• You enable other teams to build faster through reusable, well-designed services
• You influence system direction through practical, effective engineering decisions

Key Traits

• Strong hands-on builder mindset
• Ability to operate at depth in complex systems
• Pragmatic and solutions-oriented
• Strong collaborator across engineering teams

PTC carefully considers a wide variety of factors when determining compensation. The anticipated annual salary range for this position is between $166,500 - 250,000. The salary range reflects a good-faith estimate of compensation at the time of posting. Actual compensation may vary based on a candidate's skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Additionally, candidates may be eligible for a performance-based bonus.  Employees also have the opportunity to become a PTC shareholder through our employee share purchase program (ESPP), which allows for the purchase of discounted PTC stock. Certain roles may also be eligible for participation in our equity programs. Employees may be eligible for medical, dental and vision insurance, paid time off and sick leave, tuition reimbursement, 401(k) contributions and employer match, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability coverage and, if you are an office-assigned employee, a generous commuter subsidy. All total rewards and benefits programs are subject to applicable plan eligibility and other terms and conditions.  
For more information about PTC’s comprehensive benefits, please visit our Careers Page.  
Applications will be accepted on an on-going basis.

At PTC, we believe in the power of diverse ideas and perspectives. As a global company that values and respects all identities, cultures, and perspectives, we strive to create an inclusive PTC for ALL through an environment where everyone feels like they belong and are empowered to bring their true, authentic selves to work. Proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and hire without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, ethnicity, ancestry, marital status, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations. It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

For more information about PTC’s comprehensive benefits and our AI usage, please visit our Careers Page (https://www.ptc.com/en/careers/united-states-careers). Applications will be accepted on an on-going basis until the opportunity is filled.

PTC endeavors to make ptc.com/careers accessible to all users. If you would like to contact us regarding the accessibility of our website or need assistance completing the application process, please contact PTC's Talent Acquisition team at [email protected]. This contact information is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.

Life at PTC is about more than working with today’s most cutting-edge technologies to transform the physical world. It’s about showing up as you are and working alongside some of today’s most talented industry leaders to transform the world around you.

If you share our passion for problem-solving through innovation, you’ll likely become just as passionate about the PTC experience as we are. Are you ready to explore your next career move with us?

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