Principal Software Engineer - Samsara

Samsara (NYSE: IOT) is the pioneer of the Connected Operations™ Cloud, which is a platform that enables organizations that depend on physical operations to harness Internet of Things (IoT) data to develop actionable insights and improve their operations. At Samsara, we are helping improve the safety, efficiency and sustainability of the physical operations that power our global economy. Representing more than 40% of global GDP, these industries are the infrastructure of our planet, including agriculture, construction, field services, transportation, and manufacturing — and we are excited to help digitally transform their operations at scale.

Working at Samsara means you’ll help define the future of physical operations and be on a team that’s shaping an exciting array of product solutions, including Video-Based Safety, Vehicle Telematics, Apps and Driver Workflows, Equipment Monitoring, and Site Visibility. As part of a recently public company, you’ll have the autonomy and support to make an impact as we build for the long term.

About the role:

Samsara’s Software Engineering organization is responsible for building and operating all of our products end-to-end, from our embedded Linux IOT devices, through our high-scale cloud stack, to our AI and Data Infrastructure, to all of our clients and API endpoints.This broad set of technologies is responsible for billions of API calls, trillions of data points ingested, and significant impact on the real world.

We are looking for a Principal Engineer to conceive, define, and drive key architectural initiatives across these complex areas. In this role, you will be responsible for shepherding our overall technology strategy while also tackling our hardest technical problems, leading design and even hands-on development. You will partner with our senior leadership team to define our multi-year technology strategy. As one of the senior-most engineers at Samsara, you will also help develop and grow our 600+ (and growing) tech practitioner community. You’ll help establish standards and drive Samsara’s technical architecture and engineering practices. 

This role can be fully remote in the US and Canada. 

You should apply if:

• You want to impact the industries that run our world: The software, firmware, and hardware you build will result in real-world impact—helping to keep the lights on, get food into grocery stores, and most importantly, ensure workers return home safely.

• You want to build for scale: With millions of IoT devices deployed to our global customers, you will work on a range of new and mature technologies, driving scalable innovation for customers across industries, driving the worlds physical operations.

• You are a life-long learner: We have ambitious goals. Every Samsarian has a growth mindset as we work with a wide range of technologies, challenges, and customers that push us to learn on the go.

• You believe customers are more than a number: Samsara engineers enjoy a rare closeness to the workers that are keeping our economy running - drivers, mechanics, service technicians - and you will have the opportunity to participate in customer interviews, collaborate with customer success and product managers, and use metrics to ensure our work is translating into better customer outcomes.

• You are a team player: Working on our Samsara Engineering teams requires a mix of independent effort and collaboration. Motivated by our mission, we’re all racing toward our connected operations vision, and we intend to win—together.

In this role, you will: 

• You understand not just the technical and product capabilities but also the nuances of the businesses they support. You help to understand and balance conflicting stakeholder objectives while simultaneously building trust and demonstrating empathy with their customers’ needs.

• You lead the definition, design, architecture quality, implementation, and delivery of the most advanced, most difficult, most cross-cutting, and/or most ambiguous challenges spanning across Samara. You may own one or more critical components.

• You ensure that the organizations with Samsara are aligned to a coherent technical vision and deliver systems that fit well together.

• You exert influence over multiple teams, increasing their productivity and effectiveness. You hold peers and teams to a high bar.

• You are considered an authority on technical issues by both the technical and business communities and are frequently consulted when making difficult trade-off decisions. You also drive awareness about the impact and consequences of technical decisions on the business.

• You demonstrate significant innovation, creativity, and judgment when solving challenging problems.

• You identify future skills needed across your organization and advocate for the development and/or acquisition of those skills to senior leaders. You scout top talent and recruit them to Samsara.

• You actively mentor staff level engineers. You develop and institutionalize best practices.

Minimum requirements for the role:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science/Engineering or equivalent practical experience

• 18+ years of experience in software design, development, and algorithm-related solutions, with at least 8 of those years in an architect or leadership role

• Stellar programming/coding fundamentals

• 6+ years of experience building large-scale distributed systems

• 6+ years of experience leading cross-organization projects

An ideal candidate also has:

• Proven track record leading the delivery of large-scale, high-quality systems across multiple layers, among customer-facing products, platform/infra, machine learning, and Embedded Devices

• Experience partnering with Machine Learning experts to drive optimizations using the latest techniques.

• Is an expert in writing high-quality, performant, and maintainable code in a modern programming language

• Experience in one or more of the following: AWS, Golang, React/React Native, Computer Vision, IoT

Samsara’s Compensation Philosophy: Samsara’s compensation program is designed to deliver Total Direct Compensation (based on role, level, and geography) that is at or above market. We do this through our base salary + bonus/variable + restricted stock unit awards (RSUs) for eligible roles.  For eligible roles, a new hire RSU award may be awarded at the time of hire, and additional RSU refresh grants may be awarded annually.