Principal Software Developer

Job Requisition ID # 26WD100826 Principal Software Developer Position Overview We are looking for a Principal Software Developer to join the Autodesk Platform Services (APS) Developer Portal team at Autodesk. As a hands-on technical leader, you will solve complex and ambiguous engineering problems and shape the architecture and technical direction of the APS Developer Portal and Application Management platform, including developer app lifecycle, APIs, documentation, usage analytics, and AI/MCP-enabled developer workflows. You will partner across Engineering, Product, Design, and Architecture to translate customer and business needs into scalable, reliable solutions and help drive technical direction across teams. The ideal candidate brings deep engineering fundamentals, strong product and technical judgment, and the ability to create clarity across organizational boundaries.

Technical Leadership & Architecture • Provide technical leadership for complex, high-impact initiatives spanning multiple components, services, or teams. • Define and evolve architecture for scalable, reliable, secure, and maintainable systems; navigate ambiguity and make pragmatic tradeoffs between near-term delivery and long-term health. • Build alignment across organizational and system boundaries, communicating technical tradeoffs, risks, and recommendations clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders. • Identify cross-team risks and dependencies early, and establish reusable architectural patterns and guidance that benefit the broader engineering organization. Hands-on Engineering & End-to-End Ownership • Remain hands-on with architecture, design, prototyping, implementation, code reviews, debugging, and critical technical deliverables. • Own technically complex initiatives end to end, from exploration and design through implementation, production readiness, and ongoing operation. • Improve developer-facing workflows for app creation, API access, documentation, usage visibility, and platform self-service. • Lead resolution of complex production issues and ensure solutions address root causes and improve the long-term health of the system. Engineering Excellence & Developer Productivity • Raise engineering standards through architecture and design reviews, code reviews, testing, operational readiness, and continuous improvement. • Champion practices and tooling that improve software quality, developer productivity, reliability, and delivery effectiveness while balancing speed with sustainable technical investment. • Use production signals, customer feedback, and engineering data to continuously improve systems and development practices. • Use AI-assisted development tools effectively across the software development lifecycle to improve engineering productivity and quality, while applying sound judgment around correctness, security, maintainability, and accountability. Mentorship & Organizational Impact • Mentor and develop engineers through technical guidance, design discussions, code reviews, and thoughtful feedback. • Share knowledge and technical context broadly to help engineers and teams solve complex problems more effectively. • Foster a collaborative engineering culture and constructive technical decision-making. Minimum Qualifications • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience. • 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including leading technically complex initiatives. • Strong software engineering fundamentals and demonstrated experience designing, building, and operating production systems. • Demonstrated architecture and system-design experience with complex web applications, API platforms, distributed systems, or comparable production environments. • Hands-on programming experience with modern backend and/or frontend technologies, plus experience with cloud services, APIs, data