This listing pays about $320,145 a year. Across 105 open principal software engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $219,000 to $320,000 and the median is $276,000. That is 16% above the median, above the middle half of those listings.

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About the job

Every day, tens of millions of people come to Roblox to explore, create, play, learn, and connect with friends in 3D immersive digital experiences– all created by our global community of developers and creators.

At Roblox, we’re building the tools and platform that empower our community to bring any experience that they can imagine to life. Our vision is to reimagine the way people come together, from anywhere in the world, and on any device. We’re on a mission to connect a billion people with optimism and civility, and looking for amazing talent to help us get there.

A career at Roblox means you’ll be working to shape the future of human interaction, solving unique technical challenges at scale, and helping to create safer, more civil shared experiences for everyone.

The Ads User Experience team at Roblox is dedicated to developing cutting-edge software and integrations that facilitate ads on Roblox. Our focus lies in building a first-of-its-kind ads system in our Game Engine. We are developing different ad formats and integrations, starting with video.

We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer with an expertise in C++. This is a high-impact position. Ads at Roblox is at the beginning of our journey, presenting an amazing opportunity to get in at the ground floor and help build a multi-billion dollar business from scratch. We are approaching this challenge with a strong focus on performance and a deep respect for our community — ensuring everyone continues to have an exceptional experience on Roblox. As we move toward enabling cooperative experiences for an infinite number of players in infinitely scalable worlds, we are looking for a Senior Engineer who is both technically exceptional and capable of delivering meaningful, real-world impact.

You Will:

Help build a first-of-its-kind ads system within the Roblox Game Engine

Develop new ad formats and integrations, starting with video

Contribute to the design and performance of systems that scale across all Roblox experiences

Play a foundational role in shaping a multi-billion dollar Ads business

Build with an emphasis on user experience, performance, and platform integrity

Work closely with cross-functional teams to deliver thoughtful, community-respecting ad solutions

You Have:

Experience: 6+ years working in deep, complex C++ codebases on challenging technical problems

Analytical skills: Strong background with app metrics, analytics, or data science — with the ability to interpret and act on insights

Passion for data: High standards for accuracy and a deep understanding of reliable data systems

Responsibility: Proven ability to build and maintain robust, production-quality systems

Curiosity: Eagerness to learn and stay at the forefront of emerging technologies

For roles that are based at our headquarters in San Mateo, CA: The starting base pay for this position is as shown below. The actual base pay is dependent upon a variety of job-related factors such as professional background, training, work experience, location, business needs and market demand. Therefore, in some circumstances, the actual salary could fall outside of this expected range. This pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. All full-time employees are also eligible for equity compensation and for benefits as described on this page .

Annual Salary Range $295,250 — $345,040 USD

Roles that are based in an office are onsite Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with optional presence on Monday and Friday (unless otherwise noted).

Roblox provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Roblox also provides reasonable accommodations to candidates with qualifying disabilities or religious beliefs during the recruiting process.

For US based roles only, please note the Company may not be able to employ candidates for this role who have United States work authorization related to certain U.S. visa categories, or support future H-1B sponsorship at this time.