Principal Software Engineer - Backend
Company websitedragos.com (Dragos, opens in new tab)
Base salary From $225K
Employer-published annual base salary, USD. Advertised base range in United States
You apply on the employer's own site. Six Figure Work does not handle applications.
- LocationUnited States
- WorkplaceWorkplace not stated
- Status at last checkSource accepting applications when checked
- Last checked (39 min ago) · observed since
About this job
At Dragos, the mission is personal. The systems we protect deliver the water you drink, power your home, and keep the hospitals your community depends on running. Those critical infrastructure systems that power our civilization around the world are under attack every day by adversaries. When those systems fail, people are immediately at risk. We are the global leader in xOT cybersecurity, combining technology, threat intelligence, and expert services. The people here chose this work because they understand what is at stake. Here, you will find a remote-first mission-driven team across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and APAC built on authenticity, transparency, and trust. If safeguarding the systems that protect your family, friends, and community is the kind of work that matters to you, you are in the right place.
About The Role:
Dragos is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to join our team in building the leading xOT Security Platform. We work in a matrix style engineering organization which means in this role, you will be part of our Backend Community. To be successful at Dragos you will need to:
- Be passionate about your craft, minding the details while working quickly.
- Have a strong product sense and care deeply about the customers and problems we are solving.
- Be self-directed with a strong work ethic and ability to operate autonomously.
- Have excellent communication skills for remote collaboration, working well across engineering disciplines.
At Dragos, we don’t hire engineers whose only mission in life is to write code. We are looking for backend engineers who yearn to contribute to more than just a code base and who are willing to stretch themselves to accomplish the mission.
Responsibilities:
Our backend community is the heartbeat of the Dragos Platform, playing a pivotal role in the success of our customers’ ability to secure their OT environments.
As a backend engineer you will:
- Design and implement robust, testable, high-performance systems and tools in Rust.
- Optimize existing software architectures to enhance speed and efficiency.
- Actively participate in all phases of the development lifecycle, including debugging and optimization, ensuring and elevating software quality.
- Stay informed about the latest advancements in Rust programming, security, and software design principles, helping to foster an environment of continuous learning and improvement.
- Give and receive peer feedback on a normal cadence as part of our review cycle
Minimum Qualifications:
- 10+ years of experience developing backend systems at scale in high-performance team environments
- 5+ years of experience in relational databases such as Postgres
- 5+ years of experience with NoSQL databases such as Elasticsearch
- 5+ years of experience working in a microservices architecture
- Rust proficiency – or the willingness and demonstrated ability to become proficient quickly
- Experience integrating with third party devices and data providers
- Experience incorporating AI tools, models, or services into development workflows
- Proven track record of mentoring and developing senior engineers
- Demonstrated ability to lead architectural decisions and influence technical strategy across multiple teams
- Experience working in cybersecurity, OT, or ICS environments
Additional Qualifications that Will Help You Succeed:
- Experience building and operating distributed systems at scale with a focus on reliability
- Familiarity with Kubernetes and cloud‑native architectures
- Experience with containerization (Docker)
- Strong understanding of observability tooling (Prometheus, Grafana)
- Experience building CI/CD pipelines and working with IaC tools (Terraform)
- Experience building information security–focused products or applying secure coding practices
- Experience with Kotlin, Go, or Python in production environments
- Experience mentoring team members or leading technical initiatives
Compensation:
- Salary: $225,000
- Competitive Equity Package
- Comprehensive Benefits Plan
#LI-LF1 #LI-REMOTE
Dragos is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetics, or any other basis forbidden under federal, state, or local laws. All new hires must pass a background check as a condition of employment.
Source: Dragos on Greenhouse · View original posting (opens in new tab)
Pay in context
This role's base floor ($225,000) is above 89% of the 10,199 Software Engineering roles nationwide listed on this site; 39 others list the same floor. Their median floor is $161,637; the middle half runs from $140,000 to $191,000.
Only jobs on this site count, and each one publishes a base salary of $100,000 or more, so this compares six-figure jobs with each other, not with the whole market. Computed Nov 6, 2026.
This listingPrincipal Software Engineer - BackendFrom $225K
Principal Data EngineerFrom $225K
Backend Engineering ManagerFrom $220K
Cloud Operations Engineering ManagerFrom $220K
Director, Strategic Partnerships & Sponsorship ActivationFrom $235K
Director, Product ManagementFrom $245K
Staff SDE, NetworkingFrom $192K
Chart as a table
| Role | Published base |
|---|---|
| Principal Software Engineer - Backend (this listing) | From $225K |
| Principal Data Engineer | From $225K |
| Backend Engineering Manager | From $220K |
| Cloud Operations Engineering Manager | From $220K |
| Director, Strategic Partnerships & Sponsorship Activation | From $235K |
| Director, Product Management | From $245K |
| Staff SDE, Networking | From $192K |
Observed changes
- First observed on the employer's board
- Began meeting the published-salary criteria
- Observed since
- Employer-stated posting date
- 2026-07-21
Where this pay comes from
Location as the employer wrote it: United States
- Salary: $225,000
- Method
- Employer text, read with fixed rules and re-verified
- Checked
- Rule set
- us-base-v2
The pay passage appears in the employer's own job text. Fixed, deterministic rules located it, and the passage below was checked against the stored copy of the posting.
What we verified
- The pay figures come from the employer's own listing, quoted exactly above.
- The pay is an annual base salary in US dollars with a minimum of at least $100,000.
- The role was publicly listed on the employer's job board when last checked.
We do not verify what the employer will actually offer, whether the employer is still recruiting for the role, or anything beyond what the employer published. Full methodology.
