Principal Software Developer

Job Title

Principal Software Developer

Role Summary

Lead software design and implementation for automation of PDK generation and semiconductor manufacturing processes within the Platform Engineering team in Sofia. Responsible for delivering small-to-medium projects, defining requirements, enforcing software architecture and quality standards, and mentoring junior engineers.

Experience Level

Senior — a leadership role for an experienced engineer able to lead projects and small teams; see Education Requirements for typical years-of-experience guidance.

Responsibilities

Deliver project features and maintain technical ownership across the software lifecycle. Key responsibilities include:

• Decompose features into user stories and tasks with clear acceptance criteria; ensure traceability from epics to work items.
• Be accountable for delivered tasks, user stories, and bug fixes meeting quality and compliance standards.
• Architect and implement PDK automation software using Python, Tcl, and shell scripting following clean architecture patterns.
• Design and maintain DSLs, parsers, ASTs and transformation pipelines for rule-based systems (e.g., SVRF, PERC).
• Establish and enforce test strategies (unit, integration, smoke), CI/CD quality gates, and PR review policies.
• Lead timeboxed investigations (spikes) and resolve novel technical issues to inform architecture decisions.
• Author and refine user stories; participate in backlog refinement with product and management.
• Mentor and train junior engineers; conduct code reviews and guide architecture and domain modeling.
• Manage flow of work using Azure DevOps dashboards; identify bottlenecks and drive process improvements.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and experience:

• Proven technical leadership and ability to lead project execution with minimal guidance.
• Strong Python (including Pydantic, pytest, pandas, FastAPI) and scripting skills (Tcl or Bash/sh).
• Experience with Git, trunk-based development, CI/CD pipelines and test-driven development.
• Software architecture experience with clear separation of concerns and domain-driven design or layered architectures.
• Hands-on experience with Azure DevOps or equivalent agile platforms (work items, boards, pipelines).
• Ability to author requirements, define acceptance criteria, and ensure deliverables meet definition of done.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with PDK development, EDA tool flows (Calibre, SVRF, PEX), or process technology enablement.
• Experience building DSLs, parsers, grammars, ASTs or rule compilers.
• Experience with LLMs or AI-augmented development workflows, prompt engineering, or agentic tooling.
• Familiarity with Onion Architecture, Functional Core / Imperative Shell, and previous mentoring or DevOps improvement contributions.

Education Requirements

B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field. Employer guidance on experience: B.S. +4–5 years, M.S. +2–4 years, or Ph.D. +1–2 years of relevant software development experience.

About the Company

Company: GlobalFoundries

Headquarters: Saratoga Springs, New York, USA

GlobalFoundries is a leading contract manufacturer for the global semiconductor industry, with facilities in multiple countries, including the USA. The company develops a broad portfolio of semiconductor technologies and employs around 13,000 people worldwide. GlobalFoundries focuses on enhancing competitiveness in specialized application solutions and fostering innovation in mobile communications, consumer electronics, and automotive applications.