Role Overview
Autodesk is looking for a Principal Software Engineer to provide technical leadership for a new Electron and Chromium-based desktop platform for Autodesk web applications. In this hands-on individual contributor role, you will define the platform architecture, lead complex technical decisions, and guide engineers building the Electron runtime, Windows integrations, automated delivery systems, and shared platform capabilities. You will combine deep technical expertise with broad influence, helping the team deliver a secure, maintainable, and reusable desktop platform while remaining actively involved in design, implementation, debugging, and code review.
Responsibilities
- Platform architecture and technical direction: Define and evolve the architecture of the Electron desktop platform, including process boundaries, native capabilities, application interfaces, security controls, runtime configuration, and product integration patterns.
- Hands-on platform engineering: Design, prototype, implement, and review complex functionality across Electron, Chromium, Node.js, TypeScript, Windows APIs, and supporting native components.
- Technical leadership and mentoring: Guide engineers through design and implementation decisions, mentor team members, review complex changes, establish engineering standards, and help the team develop expertise in desktop platform engineering.
- Cross-team integration and platform adoption: Work with product teams and Autodesk platform teams responsible for security, identity, software distribution, telemetry, crash reporting, graphics, and other shared capabilities.
- Operational readiness and engineering quality: Partner with quality and release engineering to define release gates, runtime upgrade policies, observability, supportability, and production-readiness requirements.
- Own the overall technical architecture of the shared desktop platform and ensure clear boundaries between reusable platform capabilities and product-specific functionality.
- Define secure communication patterns between hosted web applications and privileged desktop functionality.
- Establish the strategy for using and upgrading Electron and Chromium.
- Lead the design of native Windows capabilities such as application lifecycle management, hardware and system-information access, GPU preference, and protocol handling.
- Work closely with Autodesk application-security specialists to develop threat models and apply Electron and Chromium security best practices.
- Diagnose the most difficult technical issues spanning Electron, Chromium, Node.js, Windows, application lifecycle, memory, security, installation, and hosted web applications.
About Autodesk
Welcome to Autodesk! Amazing things are created every day with our software – from the greenest buildings and cleanest cars to the smartest factories and biggest hit movies. We help innovators turn their ideas into reality, transforming not only how things are made, but what can be made. We take great pride in our culture here at Autodesk – it’s at the core of everything we do.
Salary is one part of Autodesk’s competitive compensation package. Offers are based on the candidate’s experience and geographic location. In addition to base salaries, our compensation package may include annual cash bonuses, commissions for sales roles, stock grants, and a comprehensive benefits package. We take pride in cultivating a culture of belonging where everyone can thrive. Learn more here: https://www.autodesk.com/company/global-belonging
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
- 8+ years of professional software engineering experience
- Strong software engineering experience with JavaScript or TypeScript and Node.js
- Significant experience designing and delivering complex software systems or platform capabilities
- Experience with Electron, Chromium-based applications, desktop application development, or comparable systems-level application platforms
- Strong understanding of application architecture, process boundaries, asynchronous systems, security, and software lifecycle management
- Experience leading technical design and implementation across multiple engineers
- Ability to take ambiguous or open-ended technical problems from investigation through architecture, implementation, and production delivery
- Strong debugging skills across multiple components, processes, or technology layers
- Experience with automated testing, continuous integration, source control, code review, and modern software delivery practices
- Experience communicating technical trade-offs and influencing decisions across engineering teams
- Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers and raise engineering quality through technical leadership
Preferred Qualifications
- Deep experience with Electron architecture, including main, renderer, and preload processes, context isolation, inter-process communication, and security configuration
- Strong understanding of Chromium architecture, runtime configuration, feature flags, release lifecycle, and developer tooling
- Experience with C++, native Node.js modules, or interoperability between JavaScript and native platform APIs
- Experience developing software using Windows APIs or other systems-level Windows technologies
- Experience diagnosing memory, process, performance, startup, or crash problems in Chromium-based or native desktop applications
- Familiarity with Electron or Chromium build tooling such as GN and Ninja
- Experience with Windows application packaging, installers, code signing, updating, and enterprise software deployment
- Experience designing shared APIs, SDKs, runtimes, or platform components consumed by multiple products or engineering teams
- Experience with desktop application threat modeling and secure application architecture
- Experience with software supply-chain security, dependency management, vulnerability response, and release provenance
- Experience defining operational standards for a customer-facing desktop application
