Principal Software Engineer

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation. 
 

Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive.

We are seeking a highly skilled Principal Software Engineer to take a leading role in the design, development, and enhancement of GSLB on BIGIP-Next. This position is pivotal in driving innovation and ensuring the scalability, security, and efficiency of application traffic across a variety of environments, including on-premises, colocation facilities, cloud, and edge solutions. The Principal Engineer will have a blend of technical excellence, strategic vision, and leadership abilities to guide high-impact projects. Additionally, the role will require mentoring senior engineers and collaborating closely with product teams and executives to define and achieve long-term objectives.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Technical Leadership: Lead the technical vision and architecture for GSLB on BIGIP-Next, making key decisions on system design, performance optimization, and feature development. Ensure technical alignment with business goals.
• Strategic Oversight: Drive both short-term and long-term strategic initiatives, including setting the direction for evolving GSLB capabilities, and identifying opportunities for integrating advanced technologies such as Generative AI to improve system capabilities.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Product Management, Customer Support, and other key stakeholders to define product roadmaps, gather requirements, and deliver complex features and enhancements.
• Mentorship and Team Development: Lead by example in coding excellence, architecture design, and best practices. Mentor senior engineers and cultivate a culture of knowledge-sharing, professional growth, and technical excellence.
• Code Quality & Best Practices: Define and enforce software development standards, ensuring code is maintainable, scalable, and secure. Lead code reviews, establish quality metrics, and monitor adherence to software engineering best practices.
• Innovation & Research: Champion a culture of innovation, staying at the forefront of emerging technologies and industry trends. Drive research and experimentation on new tools and methodologies to advance product features and improve system architecture.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate with executives, product managers, and customer-facing teams to provide technical leadership, communicate project status, and influence product roadmaps. Act as the technical point of contact for key stakeholders.
• Risk Management & Problem Solving: Identify technical risks early in the development lifecycle and proactively implement mitigation strategies. Resolve complex technical challenges by developing solutions that balance innovation, performance, and scalability.
• Documentation & Knowledge Sharing: Lead the development of comprehensive documentation, including architectural design docs, technical specifications, and best practice guidelines to ensure system transparency and knowledge retention.
• Quality Assurance & Testing: Ensure the development of robust automated testing strategies, performance benchmarks, and security protocols that guarantee high availability, reliability, and security of GSLB systems.
• Compliance & Security: Ensure all software development practices comply with security policies, regulatory standards, and the company’s ethical guidelines.
• Customer Advocacy: Play an active role in directly engaging with customers and key partners to understand their needs and ensure the product roadmap aligns with customer priorities and expectations.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Technical Expertise: Deep expertise in designing and implementing complex, large-scale software systems with a focus on performance, scalability, and security.
• Cloud & Distributed Systems: Advanced knowledge of cloud technologies, container orchestration, microservices architecture, and distributed systems design.
• Advanced Networking Knowledge: Expertise in networking protocols, including L2-L4, DNS, and Global Traffic Management, as well as systems programming and performance tuning.
• Generative AI and Innovation: Proven ability to incorporate cutting-edge technologies like Generative AI into software architecture and product development.
• Leadership in Engineering: Ability to lead high-performing engineering teams, drive technical vision, and influence the product direction at both tactical and strategic levels.
• DevOps & CI/CD: Proficiency with continuous integration, continuous delivery, and automation tools to streamline development and operational processes.
• Problem-Solving at Scale: Ability to identify and solve problems at the highest technical level, particularly in large-scale systems.
• Collaboration & Communication: Excellent interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and align teams toward common goals.
• Agile Methodology: Deep understanding and experience in Agile software development, fostering iterative, collaborative, and flexible engineering processes.
• Security & Compliance: Strong background in ensuring software meets rigorous security standards and industry compliance requirements.

Qualifications:

• Experience: Minimum of 12+ years of software engineering experience with at least 5 years in a leadership or principal engineering role; or equivalent experience.
• Education: A degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field is required; a Master’s degree or PhD is a plus.
• Leadership Experience: Proven experience in leading technical teams, mentoring senior engineers, and influencing the strategic direction of product development.
• Industry Knowledge: In-depth knowledge of GSLB, application delivery, and networking technologies, with a strong track record in managing the end-to-end lifecycle of complex enterprise-grade solutions.
• Travel: Occasional travel may be required for project engagements, customer interactions, or team off-sites.

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The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

F5 maintains broad salary ranges for its roles in order to account for variations in knowledge, skills, experience, geographic locations, and market conditions, as well as to reflect F5’s differing products, industries, and lines of business. The pay range referenced is as of the time of the job posting and is subject to change.

You may also be offered incentive compensation, bonus, restricted stock units, and benefits. More details about F5’s benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.f5.com/company/careers/benefits. F5 reserves the right to change or terminate any benefit plan without notice. 

Please note that F5 only contacts candidates through F5 email address (ending with @f5.com) or auto email notification from Workday (ending with f5.com or @myworkday.com).

Equal Employment Opportunity

It is the policy of F5 to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, sensory, physical, or mental disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, discipline, and termination.  F5 offers a variety of reasonable accommodations for candidates. Requesting an accommodation is completely voluntary. F5 will assess the need for accommodations in the application process separately from those that may be needed to perform the job. Request by contacting accommodations@f5.com.