Principal Software Development Engineer

About the teamThe Copilot Experience team is responsible for creating AI‑powered user experiences that enable users to interact with Zillow’s agentic skills, providing them with a true copilot throughout their home-finding journey. We’re building application features that adapt to our users, with dynamic UIs, personalized content, and multimodal interaction through text, voice, and images. Our mission is to set the bar for how consumers collaborate with AI in real estate, from search and discovery through decision-making and action.

About the role

In this role, you will play a pivotal role in evolving our UX framework and architectural components to support multiple AI experiences at scale, on Zillow as well as with 3P integrations. You will balance architecture, project leadership, and hands-on development to help us deliver our most critical projects. Success requires deep modern web development expertise (e.g., React, TypeScript, CSS) and robust microservices experience across the middle tier, including backend‑for‑frontend (BFF) patterns. You will champion operational excellence, employ modern design patterns, and set high bars for performance, scalability, and resilience. You will also mentor and guide other engineers, establish best practices, and collaborate across teams so multiple product groups can contribute features and we can continuously integrate new agentic AI skills.

You Will Get To:

• Evolve the UX architecture for AI copilot experiences on Zillow’s web and mobile platforms, as well as 3P integrations, with a strong focus on performance, reliability, and scale.

• Lead and ship high‑impact, consumer‑facing features that showcase multimodal AI (text, voice, image/video) and dynamic, AI‑personalized interfaces.

• Build platform and BFF layers that enable multiple teams to contribute new capabilities and rapidly onboard additional agentic AI skills.

• Rapidly prototype experiences to validate concepts, inform design, and de‑risk complex initiatives while maintaining a path to production quality.

• Mentor engineers, drive technical writing quality, set engineering standards, and influence cross‑functional partners without formal authority.

• Own and improve operational excellence—observability, performance, CI/CD quality, and safe rollouts—across critical consumer experiences.

READ about our latest accomplishments!

This role has been categorized as a Remote position. “Remote” employees do not have a permanent corporate office workplace and, instead, work from a physical location of their choice, which must be identified to the Company. U.S. employees may live in any of the 50 United States, with limited exceptions.

In California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington state, and Washington DC the standard base pay range for this role is $191,300.00 - $305,700.00 annually. This base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations. In Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont the standard base pay range for this role is $181,800.00 - $290,400.00 annually. The base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations.

In addition to a competitive base salary this position is also eligible for equity awards based on factors such as experience, performance and location. Actual amounts will vary depending on experience, performance and location. Employees in this role will not be paid below the salary threshold for exempt employees in the state where they reside.

Who you are

• A builder with a proven track record of delivering rich, user‑facing applications to production at scale.

• A pragmatic technologist who leverages AI tools in development workflows to move faster and improve quality.

• A fast prototype practitioner who can demonstrate feasibility, clarify requirements, and surface risks early.

• An impeccable technical writer who communicates designs, tradeoffs, and decisions with clarity.

• An influencer who can lead without authority, align stakeholders, and drive outcomes across teams.

Qualifications

• Master’s in Computer Science/Computer Engineering, or equivalent industry experience.

• Proficiency in web development with React, TypeScript, and CSS building high‑quality, performant user experiences.

• Strong skills in modern programming languages (e.g., Java, C#, Golang) applied to production services.

• Experience designing and operating microservices and middle‑tier systems, including backend‑for‑frontend (BFF) patterns, databases, caching, and related.

• Demonstrated focus on operational excellence: performance, reliability, observability, testing strategy, and CI/CD.

• 6–10 years of experience delivering end‑user applications at scale.

Desired skills

• Experience building AI applications using LLMs and other generative tools; familiarity with prompt engineering techniques, tool integration and orchestration, and multimodal input/output is a plus.

• Familiarity with AI-coding assistants (e.g. Cursor) for rapid prototyping and feature development.

• Test automation experience using frameworks like Playwright or Cypress.

Transferable Skills

Here at Zillow - we value the experience and perspective of candidates with non-traditional backgrounds. We encourage you to apply if you have transferable skills or related experiences. 

Get to know us

At Zillow, we’re reimagining how people move—through the real estate market and through their careers. As the most-visited real estate platform in the U.S., we help customers navigate buying, selling, financing and renting with greater ease and confidence. Whether you're working in tech, sales, operations, or design, you’ll be part of a company that's reshaping an industry and helping more people make home a reality.

Zillow is honored to be recognized among the best workplaces in the country. Zillow was named one of FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For® in 2025, and included on the PEOPLE Companies That Care® 2025 list, reflecting our commitment to creating an innovative, inclusive, and engaging culture where employees are empowered to grow.

No matter where you sit in the organization, your work will help drive innovation, support our customers, and move the industry—and your career—forward, together.

Zillow Group is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive, innovative environment with the best employees. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please contact your recruiter directly.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable state and local law.

Los Angeles County applicants: Job duties for this position include: work safely and cooperatively with other employees, supervisors, and staff; adhere to standards of excellence despite stressful conditions; communicate effectively and respectfully with employees, supervisors, and staff to ensure exceptional customer service; and follow all federal, state, and local laws and Company policies. Criminal history may have a direct, adverse, and negative relationship with some of the material job duties of this position. These include the duties and responsibilities listed above, as well as the abilities to adhere to company policies, exercise sound judgment, effectively manage stress and work safely and respectfully with others, exhibit trustworthiness and professionalism, and safeguard business operations and the Company’s reputation. Pursuant to the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.