Dropbox is seeking a Principal Engineer to define the long-term technical vision and execution strategy for Developer Productivity. This role will serve as the architectural and strategic leader for building a modern, AI-augmented internal developer experience platform serving Dropbox engineers across our multi-product stack.
In this high-impact, cross-cutting role, you’ll shape how development flows from idea to production—streamlining workflows, reducing friction, and introducing agentic workflows that enable faster, higher-quality software delivery. You’ll work across distributed systems, address the challenges of a complex monorepo, and introduce intelligent systems that empower developers through automation, guidance, and seamless tooling integration.
This is a career-defining opportunity to reimagine how software gets built at scale—and bring the promise of AI to everyday developer tasks.
Responsibilities- Define the long-term architecture for Dropbox’s developer productivity platform, including a unified internal developer portal (“Dropbox Console”), default workflows, and intelligent agents.
- Own platform-wide architectural patterns that streamline the entire SDLC: from local dev and CI to testing, debugging, and deployment.
- Build abstractions and systems that scale across monorepo, multi-platform (desktop/web/mobile), and hybrid cloud/on-prem environments.
- Lead the design and implementation of agentic workflows for core developer tasks—code reviews, test generation, flaky test triage, documentation, migrations, etc.
- Design systems that embed safe and assistive AI directly into development surfaces and tools, enabling faster iteration while preserving quality and auditability.
- Define best practices for integrating LLMs into engineering workflows, including supervision checkpoints, rollback strategies, and metrics.
- Partner with infrastructure, product, and engineering teams to identify bottlenecks and define metrics that matter for business outcomes.
- Drive migration from fragmented tools and tribal workflows to a unified platform that enables flow-state for developers.
- Set and enforce standards for quality, safety, and reliability of automation and AI workflows.
- Serve as a technical multiplier, mentoring teams across Dropbox and raising the bar on system design, platform thinking, and developer empathy.
- Collaborate deeply with PMs, DX researchers, SREs, and leadership to align priorities and deliver developer delight.
- Represent Dropbox in the external platform and AI productivity communities through talks, papers, and open-source contributions where appropriate.
- 12+ years of engineering experience with a deep background in distributed systems, internal developer platforms, or DevProd infrastructure.
- Deep understanding of monorepos, complex CI/CD setups, local development, multi-platform development, and developer journey mapping.
- Demonstrated experience building large-scale platforms with high reliability, composability, and extensibility.
- Passionate about AI, with hands-on experience (or deep exposure) to integrating LLMs, RAG systems, or intelligent assistants into engineering workflows.
- Strong product sense and empathy for developer pain—capable of translating data and feedback into high-leverage solutions.
- Experience leading or contributing to AI developer tooling, or developer experience
- Proven success operating as a principal+ level engineer across large orgs
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What We Do
We're a global community of bold visionaries and resourceful doers who are shaping the future of Dropbox—and with it the future of work. Our Virtual First model combines the flexibility of a distributed workplace with the power of human connection, making space for both meaningful work and meaningful relationships. With our start-up mindset and enterprise-level opportunities, you can be who you are and grow into who you’re meant to be. Here, you can own your impact to make work more intuitive, joyful, and human—for you as a Dropboxer and for hundreds of millions of people worldwide. If you're ready to push boundaries—and yourself—Dropbox is ready for you.
Why Work With Us
We believe people do their best work when empowered with autonomy and harmony, and we understand there’s no substitute for human connection. Our Virtual First model combines the flexibility of remote work with the power of in-person collaboration to create the best of both worlds: a distributed workplace, anchored in community.
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Employees work remotely.
While remote work is the primary experience for our employees, we also prioritize opportunities for quarterly in-person collaboration knowing that connection is vital to a thriving workforce. We focus on how we work, not where we work.
