Principal software engineer with 16 years of experience shaping architecture across insurance, trading and telecom organizations of 150+ engineers. Led a cloud re-platforming that retired 2 data centers and saved $6.5M a year. Combines deep systems expertise with the ability to align executives, architects and delivery teams.
Experience
Principal Software Engineer, Veridian Claims Cloud (Boston, MA)
Nov 2020 – Present
Own the technical vision for a claims platform serving 45 insurance carriers and 180 engineers across 4 product lines
Led re-platforming from 2 data centers to AWS, saving $6.5M a year and improving availability to 99.99%
Established an architecture review board and decision-record practice now used for 120+ ADRs
Advise the CTO on build-versus-buy decisions, including a $2M document-AI vendor evaluation
Staff Software Engineer, Stonebridge Trading Systems (Chicago, IL)
Mar 2014 – Oct 2020
Designed a low-latency order router in C++ that cut median execution time from 180 to 35 microseconds
Led a market-data normalization layer supporting 14 exchanges and FIX 4.4 and 5.0
A strong Principal Software Engineer resume shows the systems you built, the scale they run at, and the measurable effect on speed, reliability or cost. Lead with scope and impact: the size of the systems, budgets or teams you influenced, and the decisions you owned.
Sections, in order
Summary
Experience
Projects
Skills
Education
Length: One page is ideal; two pages are fine with 10+ years of relevant experience.
Summary: Open with your specialty and years of experience, then one or two signature results.
Skills to feature
Programming languages
System design
Cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure)
CI/CD
Testing and code review
Databases and SQL
Observability
Security fundamentals
APIs and integrations
Technical documentation
Example bullet points
Rebuilt the checkout service in Go, cutting p95 latency from 900 ms to 180 ms for 2M monthly users
Introduced contract tests and staged rollouts, reducing production incidents by 45% in two quarters
Migrated 30 services to Kubernetes with Terraform, lowering cloud spend by $250k a year
Tips from recruiters
Group skills by category (for example "Languages: Go, TypeScript") so recruiters and ATS parsers find them quickly.
Link to a repository, demo or write-up for at least one project you can talk about in depth.
Name the stack inside each bullet; keyword matching happens at the bullet level, not only in the skills list.
Recommended templates
Classic (ATS-friendly): Jake's-style LaTeX classic: small caps and hairline rules
Tech (ATS-friendly): Developer style: mono headings and tags, sans body
Modern (ATS-friendly): Clean single column with accent headings and rules
Principal Software Engineer resume FAQ
What should a Principal Software Engineer resume include?
A Principal Software Engineer resume should show the systems you built, the scale they run at, and the measurable effect on speed, reliability or cost. Use these sections in this order: Summary, Experience, Projects, Skills and Education. Lead with scope and impact: the size of the systems, budgets or teams you influenced, and the decisions you owned.
What is the best resume template for a Principal Software Engineer?
Classic, Tech and Modern work well for Principal Software Engineer roles. They are single-column with standard headings, so applicant tracking systems (ATS) parse them reliably.
How long should a Principal Software Engineer resume be?
One page is ideal; two pages are fine with 10+ years of relevant experience.
Which skills should a Principal Software Engineer put on a resume?
Prioritize the skills named in the job posting. Common ones for Principal Software Engineer roles are Programming languages, System design, Cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure), CI/CD, Testing and code review and Databases and SQL.
How do I write strong Principal Software Engineer resume bullet points?
Start with an action verb, say what you did, and end with a measurable result such as latency, uptime and deploy frequency. For example: "Rebuilt the checkout service in Go, cutting p95 latency from 900 ms to 180 ms for 2M monthly users."