Principal Engineer, Software (R5285) at Shield AI
San Diego, CA
$220,000–$330,000
Jun 30, 2026
San Diego, CA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior full-stack engineering role embedded in a small, cross-cutting team that reports to the CTO's office. The work centers on designing and prototyping generative AI experiences to accelerate autonomy development, leading UX design for AI-driven tools, and collaborating with product teams across a defense autonomy software platform. The ideal candidate brings deep React/TypeScript front-end expertise alongside broad software engineering experience and comfort working in ambiguous, fast-moving contexts.
Principal level · 15+ years · Remote · Full-time
Pay in the description: $220,000–$330,000
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 1,600 people nationally plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 960–2,400
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $138,970 (middle half $107,524–$175,762). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
The title carries no seniority label, but the role sits within an elite 'Special Projects' team explicitly described as L5–L8 (very senior), requires 15+ years of experience, and demands org-wide technical influence alongside the CTO's office — scope consistent with Principal-level.
The 5-year React/Node/TypeScript/JavaScript requirement is stated as a single combined line; TypeScript and JavaScript are treated as interchangeable alternatives on one skill, while React and Node.js are emitted separately as distinct technologies.
Client-side LLM Context Management is listed as a required qualification; 'LLMs' is emitted as the canonical skill name for this capability.
The cloud platform requirement names Azure, GCP, and AWS as interchangeable options; AWS is used as the primary name with the others in alternatives.
WebGL, Playwright, Electron, C++, Python, and Go all appear under the 'Preferred qualifications' section.
The role requires travel to a Shield AI location 1–3 times per quarter; it is not fully remote by the posting's own terms, but the caller has declared it remote for pool-sizing purposes.
Compensation is listed as $220,000–$330,000/year for full-time regular employees, plus bonus, equity, and benefits.
Caller marked this a fully-remote role — scored against the national candidate pool.
Read the full posting
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