Principal Software Engineer, Yahoo Mail

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.
• 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.

Qualifications

• 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.