Principal Software Engineer

Job Description

The Role:

As a Principal Software Engineer on the Technical Acceleration & Guidance team, you will operate as a force multiplier across GM’s Digital Products, Cloud, and AI organization — moving from problem to problem, driving the highest-ROI initiatives over the finish line, and turning strategy into working software. You will empower ICs by providing clear technical guidance, pragmatic direction, and hands-on collaboration, helping teams make better architectural decisions, de-risk complex deliveries, and raise the overall engineering bar at scale.

You will split your time between writing high-quality code, shaping architecture and technical strategy, and partnering with teams through design reviews, feedback, and brainstorming. You will also help educate and uplevel engineers across GM by sharing best practices, leading deep dives, and creating reusable guidance and examples.

What You'll Do:

• Deliver high-impact, high-ROI technical solutions by moving across problem spaces and driving critical initiatives to completion.
• Write production-quality code, prototypes, and reference implementations that unblock teams and demonstrate best practices.
• Shape and communicate architecture and technical strategy, including patterns, guardrails, and decision records.
• Partner with product, platform, and security teams through design reviews, feedback sessions, and brainstorming.
• Mentor and coach ICs, helping them navigate complex technical decisions and grow as senior engineers.
• Create and maintain reusable guidance, examples, and documentation that scale knowledge across GM’s engineering community.
  
  
  

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Your Skills & Abilities (Required Qualifications)

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a focus on building and operating production systems.
• Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or related field OR equivalent work experience.
• Proven experience leading complex, cross-team technical initiatives as a staff or principal-level engineer.
• Strong proficiency in at least one of Java, Go, or C++ and willingness to learn others as needed.
• Deep understanding of software architecture and design principles, including distributed systems, scalability, and reliability.
• Hands-on experience with cloud-native development (containers, Kubernetes, CI/CD, observability, etc.).
• Demonstrated ability to influence without authority, build strong partnerships, and communicate clearly with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Track record of mentoring and elevating other engineers through guidance, feedback, and knowledge sharing.
  
  
  

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What Will Give You A Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications)

• Hands-on experience evolving existing large-scale, distributed, or event-driven systems.
• Familiarity with security, reliability, and cost-optimization best practices in cloud-native environments.
• Experience facilitating technical design reviews, architecture forums, or engineering communities of practice.
• Demonstrated success driving cultural or process improvements (e.g., testing practices, observability, CI/CD, documentation).
• Prior experience developing and operating consumer facing, multinational services.
  
  
  

This role is categorized as remote. This means the selected candidate may be based anywhere in the country of work and is not expected to report to a GM worksite unless directed by their manager. This job may be eligible for relocation benefits.

About GM

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Our vision is a world with Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions and Zero Congestion and we embrace the responsibility to lead the change that will make our world better, safer and more equitable for all.

Why Join Us

We believe we all must make a choice every day – individually and collectively – to drive meaningful change through our words, our deeds and our culture. Every day, we want every employee to feel they belong to one General Motors team.

Benefits Overview

From day one, we're looking out for your well-being–at work and at home–so you can focus on realizing your ambitions. Learn how GM supports a rewarding career that rewards you personally by visiting Total Rewards resources.

Non-Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunities (U.S.)

General Motors is committed to being a workplace that is not only free of unlawful discrimination, but one that genuinely fosters inclusion and belonging. We strongly believe that providing an inclusive workplace creates an environment in which our employees can thrive and develop better products for our customers.

All employment decisions are made on a non-discriminatory basis without regard to sex, race, color, national origin, citizenship status, religion, age, disability, pregnancy or maternity status, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran or protected veteran, or any other similarly protected status in accordance with federal, state and local laws.

We encourage interested candidates to review the key responsibilities and qualifications for each role and apply for any positions that match their skills and capabilities. Applicants in the recruitment process may be required, where applicable, to successfully complete a role-related assessment(s) and/or a pre-employment screening prior to beginning employment. To learn more, visit How we Hire.

Accommodations

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