Principal Engineer

As a Principal Engineer at Glean, your key responsibilities include collaborating with cross-functional teams to build and support software, driving the architectural vision, and defining the technical strategy aligned with our business goals. You'll lead complex projects, mentor engineers, and champion innovative solutions that make a significant impact on Glean's products.

To excel as a Principal Engineer at Glean, you will need extensive experience in object-oriented or functional programming and be proficient in HTML5, CSS, and frameworks like TypeScript and React. Additionally, a strong background in Kotlin for server-side development and proficiency in the Flutter framework for mobile applications is essential.

At Glean, we prioritize continuous learning and development. As a Principal Engineer, you will have access to a generous individual learning and training allowance, which you can utilize to enhance your skills. Furthermore, we encourage engineers to lead by example, guiding less experienced team members to foster a culture of growth and knowledge sharing.

Glean’s engineering team utilizes a mix of front-end (TypeScript, React), back-end (JVM/Kotlin), and mobile (Flutter) technologies, along with an automated build pipeline featuring Kubernetes, Terraform, and Helm. This diverse technology stack allows us to build high-quality software that meets our users' needs.

In the Principal Engineer role at Glean, you'll be part of a cross-functional technology team comprising Engineering, Product, User Experience, and Customer Experience personnel. You’ll work in one of our four aligned squads, collaborating with passionate professionals to create innovative software solutions.

When answering this question, start by detailing your projects that utilized TypeScript and React. Highlight specific features you developed and any challenges you faced in the process, while discussing how you contributed to the team's success.

Discuss your approach to code reviews, automated testing, and best practices in continuous integration and deployment. Provide examples of how you've implemented these practices in past projects to improve overall code quality.

Choose a well-defined technical challenge and explain the steps you took to analyze and resolve it. Emphasize your troubleshooting skills and how you collaborated with team members to find a solution.

Talk about your mentoring philosophy, emphasizing the importance of fostering a supportive environment. Share specific examples where you've guided developers through challenges and helped them improve their skills.

Share your experience with Kotlin, detailing specific projects where you used it for server-side development. Highlight any performance optimizations or architectural decisions you made to enhance the application's functionality.

Provide a relevant example where your expertise shaped a decision on technology or architecture. Explain the context, your recommendations, and the impact it had on the team or project.

Discuss your strategies for keeping current with industry developments, such as following tech blogs, attending meetups, or participating in online courses. Highlight any specific skills or technologies you've recently learned.

Mention specific tools you’ve used (like JIRA, Trello, or Git) and discuss your experience with agile methodologies. Highlight how these practices facilitate teamwork and project success.

Explain your thought process on designing scalable systems, including considerations for architecture, database management, and load balancing. Provide examples that illustrate your understanding of scalability.

Express your enthusiasm for Glean's mission and technology, linking it to your professional goals and values. Share what excites you about the opportunity to contribute to impactful software that enhances learning.