Principal Software Engineer, Yahoo Mail

Yahoo is a company that makes the world's daily habits inspiring and entertaining. They are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the development of high-performing backend systems for Yahoo Mail, focusing on technical strategy, AI-driven efficiencies, and collaboration with cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities:

• Architect, design, and guide the development of high-performing, scalable, and highly available backend systems for Yahoo Mail using Java and C++ on Unix/Linux platforms
• Drive technical strategy and establish unified architectural standards across multiple engineering squads for mail APIs, low-latency metadata systems, and elastic storage solutions
• Identify and implement AI-driven efficiencies in backend engineering, leveraging approved AI-assisted tools (e.g., CodeWhisperer Professional / Amazon Q Developer) to replace manual, repetitive coding and unit testing tasks with optimized workflows
• Act as a technical validator, establishing the standards for reviewing, refining, and testing AI-generated architectural proposals and code outputs to ensure strict security, performance, and style compliance
• Mentor senior engineering staff, conducting rigorous design and system reviews while fostering a culture of continuous learning, technical curiosity, and experimentation
• Collaborate actively with cross-functional stakeholders—including Product Management, Design, Security, and Cloud Infrastructure teams—to translate product visions into scalable technical architectures
• Diagnose and resolve complex, multifaceted system anomalies, establishing automated logging, telemetry, and debugging workflows to ensure world-class platform reliability

Requirements:

• BS in Computer Science (or equivalent practical experience) with a minimum of 8 years of professional software engineering experience
• Specialized expertise in high-concurrency backend development using Java, C++, and Unix/Linux systems
• Deep conceptual and practical understanding of computer science fundamentals (data structures, multi-threading, memory management, and advanced algorithms)
• Solid experience with search algorithms, as well as the design and query optimization of both Relational and NoSQL database architectures
• Demonstrated experience utilizing developer-facing AI productivity tools (such as CodeWhisperer or Copilot) to accelerate code output, optimize design patterns, and streamline testing
• Strong understanding of HTTP and TCP/IP protocols, with experience troubleshooting network-level performance and latency constraints
• Proven track record of technically leading complex engineering initiatives with minimal guidance and guiding teams through ambiguous technical challenges
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with an ability to articulate complex technical ideas to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Experience designing, deploying, and operating highly distributed, large-scale mail applications and standard communication protocols
• Familiarity with leveraging secure LLM endpoints and frameworks (e.g., AWS Bedrock / SageMaker) for metadata tagging, intelligent search, or backend telemetry analysis
• Comprehensive experience with continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and modern test automation frameworks
• Deep practical experience with GCP or AWS cloud architectures, particularly in managing hybrid cloud migrations and optimizing cloud resource efficiency
• Commitment to agile engineering practices (such as SCRUM or Kanban), actively driving workflow improvements and retrospective alignment