Remote Principal Engineer, Identity & Engagement

Role Description


Dropbox is hiring a Principal Software Engineer, Identity & Engagement to drive the technical direction and execution of the core services that power Dropbox’s product ecosystem. This includes mission-critical infrastructure across identity and access, engagement and insights platforms, foundational APIs, and the core cross-product services that underpin everything from user onboarding to advanced AI-powered workflows.


In this role, you’ll serve as a senior technical leader—setting architecture, raising the engineering bar, and shipping high-impact platform capabilities used across Dropbox. You’ll partner closely with engineering leaders, product, design, security, and infrastructure teams to modernize systems, improve reliability and developer velocity, and unlock smarter user experiences.


The future of work is being built on strong Identity & Engagement, and Dropbox is doubling down on platform investments to accelerate AI-driven innovation and deeper customer value. As a Principal Engineer, you’ll lead the architectural evolution of these systems, mentor engineers across the org, and deliver foundational improvements that help Dropbox move faster and smarter.


Responsibilities



  • Technical leadership and architecture: Define and drive the technical roadmap for identity and engagement platform services, including APIs, service boundaries, data models, and reliability goals.

  • Modernization and platform evolution: Lead multi-quarter modernization efforts (e.g., reducing legacy dependencies, improving scalability, simplifying integrations) with a focus on cohesion, observability, and operational excellence.

  • Identity and access systems: Design and improve authentication, authorization, account integrity, and identity lifecycle services with strong security and privacy posture.

  • Engagement and insights foundations: Build and evolve the systems that power engagement signals, experimentation hooks, telemetry/analytics pipelines, and usage insights to support product iteration and growth.

  • Developer velocity and platform enablement: Create reusable platform primitives, reference architectures, and best practices that make it easier for product teams to build safely and quickly.

  • Cross-functional collaboration: Partner with Product, Design, Security, Infrastructure, and AI/ML teams to align technical decisions with customer outcomes and organizational priorities.

  • Execution and quality: Own delivery of complex initiatives end-to-end—breaking down ambiguous problems, driving alignment, and ensuring high-quality implementation, testing, rollout, and oncall readiness.

  • Mentorship and influence: Mentor senior engineers, review critical designs, elevate engineering standards, and influence technical direction across teams beyond your immediate scope.


Requirements



  • 10+ years of software engineering experience, including significant experience designing and operating large-scale backend or platform systems.

  • Proven ability to lead architecture for distributed systems with high reliability, performance, and security requirements.

  • Strong expertise in at least two of the following areas: identity/authn/authz, service API design, analytics/telemetry infrastructure, search/retrieval foundations, experimentation platforms, or engagement systems.

  • Track record of driving modernization efforts in complex environments (e.g., migrating legacy systems, improving data quality and observability, simplifying architecture).

  • Excellent technical judgment and ability to balance speed, stability, and long-term maintainability.

  • Strong communication skills: able to write clear design docs, align stakeholders, and lead technical decision-making across teams.


Preferred Qualifications



  • Experience with cloud-scale identity platforms (SSO, session management, risk signals, account security, privacy controls).

  • Familiarity with AI enablement infrastructure, especially data pipelines, engagement signals, retrieval/search systems, and feedback loops.

  • Experience building or operating multi-tenant SaaS platforms with strong compliance and security requirements.

  • Demonstrated ability to influence org-wide standards and technical strategy (beyond a single team), including mentorship of other tech leads and principals.


Compensation

US Zone 1


This role is not available in Zone 1

US Zone 2

$256,300 - $346,700 USD

US Zone 3

$227,800 - $308,200 USD

Back to blog

Other Jobs To Apply

Oracle Cloud Technical Architect

Legal Assistant/Paralegal Virtual Support Position

Director Outside Sales (8416)

Senior Creative, Social

External Contractor – Mentor, Software Architect Track

Editorial Client Lead Remote

Video Tutor, Various Subjects at Pearson: 100% Remote (US)

Have KDP accept my pdf. Everything else is done. Some kid of embed problem

Global Accounts Manager -Fraud Prevention – Santa Monica, California

Senior Production Engineer - Multi-Cloud & On-Prem

Billing Operations Associate

Franchise Fitness Consultant - Orangetheory Fitness

Contract Recruiter, High Volume (Remote)

Inside Sales Pro — Remote, Commission, Career Growth

Software Engineer, C++, Level 4

In-House Digital Content Producer

Manager, Direct Tax, B2B

Sr Customer Success Manager Jobs

Senior Digital Sculptor

Human Capital Co-op/Talent Acquisition (January - June 2027)

Remote Strategic Digital Ads Sales Director

Remote Listing Partner - Real Estate Negotiator (GA)

Quality Assurance/Process Improvement, Sr Specialist

Principal Relationship Manager

Middle Market Sales Leader

CRM & Lifecycle Marketing Specialist – Growth Marketing

Internal Audits - Operational Auditor

Morningstar Development Program - Equity Research (Partner Link)

Software Engineering Manager – Developer Productivity

Sales Coordinator

Fitness Brand Ambassador

Seasonal Truck Unloader (6 a.m. start)

Technical Support Engineer (Remote/West Coast)

Campaign Manager, Brand

Blue Yonder/ JDA WMS Consultant - Remote With Travel

Supply Chain Emerging Leader

Intern - Power Generation - Instrument Technician (Virginia City Hybrid Center)

Senior Buyer, Controls and Vehicle Systems

Analytics & Private Capital Solutions Sales Specialist

Remote Technical Alarm Specialist

Data & AI Solutions Analyst

Senior Brand Art Director — Remote

Technical Jewelry Designer — Hybrid/Remote, Precision

Auth0 Account Executive- New Business

Customer Support Specialist, Global Payroll

Remote Ghostwriter (Home Based) (Blogging)

Assistant A&R Manager

Remote Sports Events Coordinator

Remote Commercial Tire Sales Manager, Northern & Central CA

Senior Product Line Manager - Automotive Software