Principal Software Development Engineer

About the teamThe Product Communications team plays a crucial role as the homepage of Zillow for many customers. The team is responsible for delivering emails and push notifications that help customers discover the newest and most relevant homes on the market, receive urgent updates to help them take the next step in their shopping journey, and understand their current home's value, and learn deep insights about their market. The billions of customer communications we send each month are a key driver of engagement for Zillow and, unlike many companies, are a central part of the product experience. In addition, we partner closely with teams across Zillow’s service offerings to connect customers to the right products and services that will help them move with Zillow.
Established for several years, the team has a proven track record of success. They own, maintain, and enhance a communication delivery platform that handles billions of communications monthly, continuously experiment and iterate on conversion paths, and actively share insights with other teams. The team prioritizes innovation, regularly testing new features, products, and business strategies. Additionally, they emphasize work-life balance to foster a positive and enjoyable work environment.
The technologies we use as below:

About the role

The Principal Software Development Engineer will lead the high-functioning engineering team architecturally to design the system confidently. They will be responsible for bringing the best industry knowledge to build the right delivery platform and communication infrastructure, continuous engineering excellence, cultivating and maintaining our strong culture, and partnership across organizations and businesses.

Leadership

• Respected technical leader with deep expertise and a commitment to engineering excellence in your domain.

• Expert in the business domain, shaping technical investments to unlock long-term business capabilities.

• Capable of identifying, scoping, and leading complex, strategic projects with broad impact across the company.

• Promotes collaboration, listens to feedback, and mediates technical discussions effectively as a leader.

• Guides juniors in identifying effective solutions and inspects their estimates in significant projects.

Architecture

• Design systems to expand product suite, balancing speed-to-market and scalability for customer-facing features.

• Encapsulate complexity from dependent teams, separating architecture specifics from implementations.

• Prioritize testability across systems to facilitate integration and testing by others.

• Identify system gaps, propose solutions, and contribute to the execution of those solutions.

• Responsible for technology and architecture decisions within the organization and contribute to technical leadership company-wide.

Communication

• Proficient in verbal and written communication, engaging with engineers at all levels and senior leaders within the organization.

• Design documents exemplify reasoned decision-making, persuading readers through detailed problem specification, contextual presentation, and thorough trade-off analysis.

• Utilize data to provide clarity on contentious issues and support decision-making processes.

This role has been categorized as a Remote position. “Remote” employees do not have a permanent corporate office workplace and, instead, work from a physical location of their choice, which must be identified to the Company. U.S. employees may live in any of the 50 United States, with limited exceptions.

In California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Washington state, and Washington DC the standard base pay range for this role is $186,700.00 - $298,300.00 Annually. This base pay range is specific to California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Washington state, and Washington DC and may not be applicable to other locations.

In addition to a competitive base salary this position is also eligible for equity awards based on factors such as experience, performance and location. Actual amounts will vary depending on experience, performance and location.

Who you are

• Experienced in designing and working on in-house email/push delivery platforms.

• Passionate about solving challenging engineering and user experience problems elegantly and seamlessly.

• Advanced knowledge in cloud native architecture and development

• Collaborative working style with a focus on communication and execution.

• Over 5 years of experience in designing complex systems at scale.

• Over 7 years of software development experience.

• Holds a Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Get to know us

Zillow is reimagining real estate to make home a reality for more and more people.

As the most-visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow® and its affiliates help movers find and win their home through digital solutions, first class partners, and easier buying, selling, financing and renting experiences. Millions of people visit Zillow Group sites every month to start their home search, and now they can rely on Zillow to help make it easier to move. The work we do helps people get home and no matter what job you're in, you will play a critical role in making home a reality for more and more people.

Our efforts to streamline the real estate transaction are supported by a deep-rooted culture of innovation, our passion to redefine the employee experience, a fundamental commitment to Equity and Belonging, and world-class benefits. These benefits include comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life, and disability coverages as well as parental leave, family benefits, retirement contributions, and paid time off. We’re also setting the standard for work experiences of the future, where our employees are supported in doing their best work and living a flexible, well-balanced life. But don’t just take our word for it. Read recent reviews on Glassdoor and recent recognition from multiple organizations, including: the 100 Best Companies to Work For, Glassdoor Employees’ Choice Award, Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equity Index, and TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list.

Zillow Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with the best employees. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact your recruiter directly.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable state and local law.

Applicants who receive job offers from Zillow Group will be asked to sign a Proprietary Rights Agreement which includes confidentiality, intellectual property assignment, customer and employee non-solicitation, and non-competition provisions. If you are contacted for a role at Zillow Group and wish to review a copy of the Proprietary Rights Agreement prior to receiving an offer, you may request a copy from your Recruiter.