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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Principal Software Engineer - **Company:** COWORKER - **Location:** San Francisco, CA, United States - **Experience:** Expert - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Clean Code Principles, Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Systems, Python (Programming Language), TypeScript, Information Technology, Machine Learning Operations, Front End Software Development, Data Pipelines, Golang - **Published:** September 4, 2026 - **Apply:** https://startup.jobs/principal-software-engineer-coworkerai-8987147 ## About the Role We need a talented, ambitious, hard-working principal software engineer with 10+ years of experience who can help us build the foundation for the next era of work. We need someone who wants to change how the world works, one company at a time. You are that person. You are a deeply technical full stack software developer who ships high-quality code as the strong majority of your time, while also providing thought leadership and mentorship to the team. You are obsessed with making customers happy, and will do whatever it takes to make it happen. You are autonomous and happy to take on big, ambiguous problems at a fast-growing startup. You know when to push and when to rest; you model sustainable high performance for the team. But you (like us!) are more than your code and your hard work! You love building a culture where people love to work but believe in putting people first while having a huge amount of fun while you do your job., * Bachelor's and/or master's degree (Computer Science preferred) * 10+ years of professional development experience * Experience and desire to own new products from zero to one, from system design to implementation to deployment * Strong communication and collaboration skills * Experience and comfort using AI aggressively to improve velocity with looping, reinforcement * Any languages are fine, we primarily use GoLang, Typescript, and Python * Deep expertise in at least two of: distributed systems, data pipelines, AI/ML infrastructure, security, or frontend architecture at scale * Proven ability to lead without direct authority; influenced technical direction across team boundaries * Experience defining SLAs, SLOs, and running production systems at scale with strong operational discipline ## Description * Ship code daily. Hands-on development is the strong majority of your time * Own the architecture and technical roadmap for a core domain; dive deep into the hardest problems when needed * Mentor senior and staff engineers; be the technical escalation point for the toughest challenges in your domain * Be a thought leader in the enterprise AI space * Represent Coworker externally through talks, blog posts, or open-source contributions * Guide early Coworker technical architecture decisions that will resonate throughout the global economy for years to come * Establish the Coworker engineering culture - live the mission and set a standard * Help the product team craft the team vision, strategy, and roadmap while proposing innovative solutions, as well as understanding technical limitations * Drive cross-org technical initiatives with measurable business impact * Drive incident response and post-mortems for company-critical issues; ensure we learn systemically from failures * Hire and interview for senior+ roles; raise the bar for engineering talent across the org * Have an inordinate amount of fun * Push the frontier of what's possible with Enterprise AI ## Related Videos - [Go with the Flow: Stop the Leaks Before Your Memory's a Waterfall!](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100073-go-with-the-flow-stop-the-leaks-before-your-memory-s-a-waterfall) - [Do TypeScript without TypeScript](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/327-do-typescript-without-typescript) - [Why and when should we consider Stream Processing frameworks in our solutions](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1085-why-and-when-should-we-consider-stream-processing-frameworks-in-our-solutions) - [Are We All Prompt Engineers? How AI Changed What It Means to Build Software](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1980-are-we-all-prompt-engineers-how-ai-changed-what-it-means-to-build-software) - [Scoring 2000 Products per Request: Performance Pitfalls in Golang](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/2073-scoring-2000-products-per-request-performance-pitfalls-in-golang) - [How we will build the software of tomorrow](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/522-how-we-will-build-the-software-of-tomorrow) ## Related Articles - [Navigating the AI Shift](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/629-navigating-the-ai-shift) - [What is Agentic Programming and Why Should Developers Care?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/625-what-is-agentic-programming-and-why-should-developers-care) - [What is Software Engineering in the Age of AI?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/640-what-is-software-engineering-in-the-age-of-ai) - [How we Build The Software of Tomorrow](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/120-how-we-build-the-software-of-tomorrow) - [How to Answer the Interview Question: “Why Do You Want to Be a Software Engineer?”](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/392-how-to-answer-the-interview-question-why-do-you-want-to-be-a-software-engineer) - [Highest Paying Tech Companies for Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/220-highest-paying-tech-companies-for-developers)