How to hire a Senior Principal Engineer

Senior principal engineer hiring summary. Here are some key points about hiring senior principal engineers in the United States:

  • There are currently 30,164 senior principal engineers in the US, as well as 272,459 job openings.
  • Senior principal engineers are in the highest demand in San Diego, CA, with 52 current job openings.
  • The median cost to hire a senior principal engineer is $1,633.
  • It takes between 36 and 42 days to fill the average role in the US.
  • Human Resources use 15% of their expenses on recruitment on average.
  • On average, it takes around 12 weeks for a new senior principal engineer to become settled and show total productivity levels at work.

How to hire a senior principal engineer, step by step

To hire a senior principal engineer, you should create an ideal candidate profile, determine a budget, and post and promote your job. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to hire a senior principal engineer:

Here's a step-by-step senior principal engineer hiring guide:

  • Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
  • Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
  • Step 3: Make a budget
  • Step 4: Write a senior principal engineer job description
  • Step 5: Post your job
  • Step 6: Interview candidates
  • Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior principal engineer
  • Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a Senior Principal Engineer do?

A senior principal engineer is responsible for leading engineering tasks within an organization and reports project updates to senior management. Senior principal engineers develop strategic methods and principles to improve the technical stability and efficiency of the company's systems, creating business proposals according to clients' specifications, and negotiating contracts with suppliers and other service providers. They also train new staff and identify innovations and business opportunities that would generate more revenue resources for the company.

Learn more about the specifics of what a senior principal engineer does
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  1. Identify your hiring needs

    The senior principal engineer hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

    Determine Employee vs Contractor Status
    Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

    A senior principal engineer's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, senior principal engineers from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

    Here's a comparison of senior principal engineer salaries for various roles:

    Type Of Senior Principal EngineerDescriptionHourly Rate
    ascdesc
    Senior Principal EngineerMechanical engineering is one of the broadest engineering disciplines. Mechanical engineers design, develop, build, and test mechanical and thermal sensors and devices, including tools, engines, and machines.$44-87
    EngineerEngineers are highly trained professionals who determine the feasibility of various projects, usually related to the construction industry. They are considered experts in mathematics and science, two disciplines that they need to use in designing and coming up with plans for projects... Show More$31-62
    Team Lead EngineerA team leads engineer is in charge of spearheading and overseeing the efforts of an engineering team, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Although the duties may depend on one's industry of employment, it typically includes designing and developing systems according to project requirements, setting objectives and construction guidelines, delegating tasks, managing budgets and schedules, and monitoring the workflow, performing corrective measures as needed... Show More$40-75
  2. Create an ideal candidate profile

    Common Skills:
    • Python
    • Architecture
    • Java
    • Cloud
    • DOD
    • Software Development
    • Infrastructure
    • Product Development
    • RF
    • Debugging
    • Linux
    • MATLAB
    • Project Management
    • Windows
    Check All Skills
    Responsibilities:
    • Help hire temporary workers, manage hours and tasks relate to insurance claim data extraction.
    • Lead DoD clients in the achievement of business objectives through the implementation of software and business process solutions.
    • Lead technology teams charge with full life cycle development processes involving system requirements and system architecture.
    • Support software development of IR tools on UNIX base workstation environment.
    • Serve as backup SME for RCRA, CERCLA, CAA, and OSHA (HAZWOPER).
    • Assist coding & debugging of various external interface hardware blocks.
    More Senior Principal Engineer duties
  3. Make a budget

    Including a salary range in the senior principal engineer job description is a good way to get more applicants. A senior principal engineer salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

    For example, the average salary for a senior principal engineer in North Dakota may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level senior principal engineer. Additionally, a senior principal engineer with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

    Average senior principal engineer salary

    $130,642yearly

    $62.81 hourly rate

    Entry-level senior principal engineer salary
    $93,000 yearly salary
    Updated March 16, 2025

    Average senior principal engineer salary by state

    Rank
    ascdesc
    State
    ascdesc
    Avg. Salary
    ascdesc
    Hourly Rate
    ascdesc
    1California$155,322$75
    2District of Columbia$147,502$71
    3New York$138,105$66
    4Texas$136,270$66
    5Massachusetts$135,994$65
    6Virginia$130,310$63
    7Maryland$129,524$62
    8Arizona$129,277$62
    9Pennsylvania$125,675$60
    10Washington$122,799$59
    11North Carolina$116,082$56
    12Florida$115,732$56
    13Georgia$114,595$55
    14Illinois$113,536$55
    15Alabama$109,220$53
    16Colorado$105,335$51
    17Indiana$98,762$47
    18Minnesota$93,307$45
    19Utah$92,313$44
    20Nebraska$86,040$41

    Average senior principal engineer salary by company

    Rank
    ascdesc
    Company
    ascdesc
    Average Salary
    ascdesc
    Hourly Rate
    ascdesc
    Job Openings
    ascdesc
    1Airbnb$194,155$93.349
    2Citi$168,105$80.8228
    3McKinsey & Company Inc$167,699$80.62
    4F5$166,090$79.8532
    5Palo Alto Networks$161,225$77.51190
    6Fortinet$159,697$76.7866
    7Apache$158,690$76.29
    8BNY Mellon$157,850$75.894
    9Microsoft$157,364$75.66238
    10Genentech$156,972$75.4739
    11Amazon$156,690$75.332,371
    12Intuit$156,449$75.2272
    13Ampere$154,614$74.33
    14Convergent Science$152,478$73.31
    15Slalom$152,171$73.1642
    16Micron Technology$151,671$72.9296
    17Rambus$150,820$72.518
    18QLogic$150,353$72.29
    19Qualys$150,352$72.28
    20Velodyne Lidar$149,438$71.85
  4. Writing a Senior Principal Engineer Job Description

    A job description for a senior principal engineer role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a senior principal engineer job description:

    Senior Principal Engineer job description example

    Ensures proper implementation of required government policy (i.e., NISPOM, DCID 6/3, ICD, NIST) and others leading team to ensure compliance across all activities

    Required Skills:

    U.S. Citizenship

    Active Secret clearance. Must be able to obtain a TS/SCI clearance

    Must be able to obtain DHS Suitability

    4+ years management in SOC environments in both personnel and technology to include all aspects of personnel management including hiring, performance management, training/compliance, annual salary planning and all other dimensions.

    10+ years of directly relevant experience

    Minimum 3 years of professional experience working with AWS & Azure infrastructure and services in a security role.

    Advanced knowledge of AWS & Azure architectural concepts.

    Experience developing and implementing SIEM threat detection rules.

    Demonstrated experience administering Linux based systems.

    Excellent written and oral communication skills

    Desired Skills:

    Information Security and IT certifications: Cisco, Red Hat, AWS, etc.

    Experience administering cyber security tools such as Firewalls, SIEM, and PCAP

    Experience with security log analysis.

    Experience working on a Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT)

    Previous experience working in a Security Operations Center (SOC)

    Virtualization technologies, e.g. VMWare, HyperV, etc.

    Automation and IaC tooling, e.g. Ansible, Terraform, etc.

    Scripting in Python or Perl

    “Big Data” Analysis systems, e.g. Splunk, ELK, etc.

    Understanding of Project Management and SDLC methodologies, especially Agile.

    Experience with CNAPP

    Required Education

    - A bachelor’s degree in systems engineering, a related specialized area or field. Two years of related work experience may be substituted for each year of degree level education.

    Desired Certifications:

    GIAC, CISSP

    ATLAS Position: 2869

    Requires expert or mastery level knowledge of work area, typically obtained through advanced education combined with experience.

    May have deep knowledge of project management. Advanced knowledge of related disciplines within work area and

    ability to identify links and potential impact on projects, programs

    or systems.

    Typically requires:

    A University Degree or equivalent experience and minimum 10 years

    prior relevant experience, or An Advanced Degree in a related field and minimum 7 years experience Engineering/Other Technical Positions: Typically requires a degree

    in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics (STEM) and a minimum of 10 years of prior relevant experience unless prohibited

    by local laws/regulations.

    Employee Referral Award Eligibility: Only employees currently within RMD and RI&S have the potential to receive a Referral Award for submitting a referral to RMD and RI&S roles. ALL eligibility requirements must be met to receive the Referral Awarding.

    #RISCyber

    #RISCPSDulle

    #RISDOMINO

    Raytheon Technologies is An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class.

  5. Post your job

    To find senior principal engineers for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

    • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
    • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any senior principal engineers they would recommend.
    • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level senior principal engineers with the right educational background.
    • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.
    Post your job online:
    • Post your senior principal engineer job on Zippia to find and recruit senior principal engineer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
    • Use field-specific websites.
    • Post a job on free websites.
  6. Interview candidates

    Recruiting senior principal engineers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

    It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

    The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

  7. Send a job offer and onboard your new senior principal engineer

    Once you've decided on a perfect senior principal engineer candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

    You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

    After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new senior principal engineer. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

  8. Go through the hiring process checklist

    • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
    • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
    • Define job responsibilities and requirements
    • Establish budget and timeline
    • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
    • Write job description
    • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
    • Promote the job internally
    • Process applications through applicant tracking system
    • Review resumes and cover letters
    • Shortlist candidates for screening
    • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
    • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
    • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
    • Conduct background checks on top candidates
    • Check references of top candidates
    • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
    • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
    • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
    • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
    • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
    • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)
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How much does it cost to hire a senior principal engineer?

Before you start to hire senior principal engineers, it pays to consider both the one-off costs like recruitment, job promotion, and onboarding, as well as the ongoing costs of an employee's salary and benefits. While most companies that hire senior principal engineers pay close attention to the initial cost of hiring, ongoing costs are much more significant in the long run.

You can expect to pay around $130,642 per year for a senior principal engineer, as this is the median yearly salary nationally. This can vary depending on what state or city you're hiring in. If you're hiring for contract work or on a per-project basis, hourly rates for senior principal engineers in the US typically range between $44 and $87 an hour.

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