Principal Software Engineer

eBayAmsterdamHybridFull-time1 Oct 2026

eBay is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the architecture and technical direction of its Ads platform in Amsterdam. The role involves designing large-scale distributed systems, driving technical strategy across teams, and mentoring engineers. Requires 10+ years of experience with distributed systems, APIs, and JVM-based technologies.

What you'll do

Lead the design and evolution of large-scale, low-latency distributed systems
Drive technical strategy and architecture across multiple engineering teams
Build scalable services supporting ad serving, targeting, ranking, and reporting
Partner closely with product, data science, ML, and analytics teams
Improve system reliability, scalability, and operational efficiency
Mentor engineers and influence engineering best practices across the organization
Drive modernization initiatives and adoption of new technologies

What you need

Must-have

JavaScalaJVM-based technologiesDistributed systemsAPIsSystem designCloud technologiesMessaging systems

Nice-to-have

Ads platformsML-driven products

Soft skills

CommunicationCollaborationMentorshipTechnical leadership

Principal Software EngineereBay AdsBackendPlatform EngineeringDistributed SystemsJavaScalaCloudAmsterdamHybrid

/What you'll do

/What you need

Must-have

Nice-to-have

Soft skills

What you'll do

What you need