What Principal Software Engineering Jobs Ask For
Across 5,283 open Principal Software Engineering postings that list skills, the ones mentioned most often are cloud, ai, python.
Updated September 18, 2026
5,854 open Principal Software Engineering postings. The percentages below are measured over the 5,283 of them that list skills at all.
| Skill | Mentioned in |
|---|---|
| cloud | 55% |
| ai | 48% |
| python | 36% |
| java | 33% |
| automation | 31% |
| api | 31% |
| ci-cd | 30% |
| distributed-systems | 29% |
| agile | 28% |
| aws | 26% |
| observability | 24% |
| cpp | 23% |
| azure | 21% |
| kubernetes | 21% |
| machine-learning | 18% |
| devops | 18% |
| microservices | 17% |
| cloud-native | 16% |
| sql | 15% |
| agentic-ai | 15% |
| typescript | 15% |
| docker | 14% |
| oracle | 14% |
| linux | 14% |
| llm | 14% |
| react | 13% |
| csharp | 13% |
| networking | 12% |
| javascript | 12% |
| gcp | 11% |
| analytics | 11% |
| github | 10% |
| infrastructure-as-code | 10% |
| rest | 10% |
| test-automation | 9% |
| event-driven-architecture | 9% |
| postgresql | 9% |
| git | 9% |
| saas | 8% |
| terraform | 8% |
"Mentioned in" counts postings that name the skill anywhere — including as a nice-to-have — so treat it as the ceiling, not the bar.
Browse 5,854 open Principal Software Engineering jobs →
Across all Software Engineering levels
Most Software Engineering postings never state a level. This wider list covers them too.
- cloud 58,448
- ai 52,426
- api 51,857
- java 49,333
- python 47,683
- ci-cd 39,816
- agile 37,605
- sql 34,692
- aws 33,689
- automation 32,096
- kubernetes 25,071
- azure 24,416