Principal Software Engineer
NVIDIA is hiring a Principal Software Engineer in Santa Clara, United States. It pays $248k-$391k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on NVIDIA.
Level's read on this job
- Builds AI ●●●● is how Level rates this software engineer role: the job is building AI systems.
- Pay on this posting starts 48% higher than the typical software engineer posting on Level.
- The posting mentions LangChain and RAG among its tools and skills.
- NVIDIA has 2,700+ other open roles on Level.
- Posted in the last few days.
AI in this role
NVIDIA has been transforming computer graphics, PC gaming, and accelerated computing for more than 25 years. It’s a unique legacy of innovation that’s fueled by great technology—and amazing people. Today, we’re tapping into the unlimited potential of AI to define the next era of computing. An era in which our GPU acts as the brains of computers, robots, and self-driving cars that can understand the world. Doing what’s never been done before takes vision, innovation, and the world’s best talent. As an NVIDIAN, you’ll be immersed in an inclusive, supportive environment where everyone is inspired to do their best work. Come join the team and see how you can make a lasting impact on the world.
We are looking to hire a deeply technical, creative, and hands-on Senior full-stack developer to build the next generation AI platforms and products that improve business efficiency and productivity. This engineer is expected to be familiar with concepts of RAG, agentic AI to be able to build AI products using SOTA agentic paradigms, third party platforms and open-source repos. As a key leader in our technology team, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the architecture, development, and scaling of our software systems. This role will give an opportunity to collaborate with Cloud, AI/ML & Generative AI workforce in a multifaceted and agile working environment, while meeting the immediate and evolving needs of our business.
What you’ll be doing:
- Hands-on experience with test automation, production testing, and automation frameworks
- Solid understanding of Linux, embedded systems, firmware, and hardware/software integration
- Integrate agents with enterprise data sources, APIs, and internal microservices to enable real-world actions. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver end-to-end intelligent experiences across applications
- Ensure reliability, safety, and performance of autonomous systems operating at scale
- Architect and build agentic AI systems that leverage LLMs for reasoning, planning, and tool orchestration across enterprise workflows. Design and implement multi-agent frameworks enabling coordination, delegation, and dynamic task execution
- Develop scalable platforms for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), long-term memory, and contextual reasoning
- Build reusable infrastructure for agent orchestration, tool integration, evaluation, and observability
- Establish best practices for agent evaluation, guardrails, and human-in-the-loop workflows
- Mentor engineers and provide technical leadership in designing complex distributed AI systems
- Stay at the forefront of advancements in LLMs, agent frameworks, tool use, reasoning architectures, and open-source ecosystems
What we need to see:
- BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering or related field (or equivalent experience)
- 15+ years of experience building large-scale distributed systems and cloud-native applications (Python preferred)
- Strong experience designing and deploying LLM-powered systems, including RAG, tool use, and agent-based architectures
- Deep understanding of agentic AI paradigms (planning, memory, tool invocation, multi-step reasoning)
- Experience with agent frameworks and orchestration tools (e.g., LangChain or similar)
- Proven ability to design systems with high reliability, scalability, and performance
- Hands-on experience deploying applications in Kubernetes environments. Experience building systems in cloud and hybrid environments
- Strong programming skills across multiple languages and modern software stacks
- Proven track record leading complex technical initiatives and mentoring high-performing teams
- Excellent problem-solving, communication, and system design skills
Ways to stand out from the crowd:
- Experience enhancing enterprise efficiency and employee experience through the effective use of Generative AI based solutions.
- Fascinated by unique and difficult problems - resilient and persistent in the pursuit of solutions.
- Experience with Cloud Platforms, experience with Kubernetes and Docker.
- Self-motivation and a drive to get things to “done”.
- Excellent programming, debugging, performance analysis, and test design skills using python is a plus.
NVIDIA is widely considered to be one of the technology world’s most desirable employers. We have some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people in the world working for us. If you're creative and autonomous, we want to hear from you!
Your base salary will be determined based on your location, experience, and the pay of employees in similar positions. The base salary range is 248,000 USD - 391,000 USD.You will also be eligible for equity and benefits.
Applications for this job will be accepted at least until October 27, 2026.This posting is for an existing vacancy.
NVIDIA uses AI tools in its recruiting processes.
NVIDIA is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.How we rate this
Principal Software Engineer at NVIDIA rates 97 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Also common in software engineer jobs at this level
Pay
- This job starts at
- $248k
- Typical software engineer job
- $168k
This posting starts 48% above the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- How would you design a retrieval step so the model answers from real data instead of guessing?
- Walk me through how you've used LangChain in your day-to-day work.
- How would you decide a model or AI system is ready to ship?
- Tell me about a time a model underperformed in production. How did you find out, and what did you change?
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: RAG and LangChain. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
- Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.
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