Principal Engineer
About the role
See yourself at Twilio
Join the team as Twilio’s next Principal Engineer.
About the job
The Compliance Experiences team sits at the heart of the Twilio platform, owning two critical domains: Phone Numbers and Compliance (KYC). In 2026, "getting a phone number" is no longer a simple API call; it requires sophisticated orchestration across global phone number inventory, real-time identity verification, regulatory compliance, and operational tooling at massive scale. Twilio’s KYC Platform, the gateway to accessing all of Twilio’s communication APIs, enables customers to securely provision and operate communication services globally while navigating complex, constantly evolving regulatory requirements.
As a Principal Engineer (P5), you will own the technical strategy for a platform that processes millions of requests. You will be expected to pioneer AI-driven development workflows using LLMs and agentic agents to accelerate code generation, automate architectural reviews, and synthesize complex global telecommunications regulations into executable logic. Your mission is to collapse the distance between a great idea and a production ready feature.
Responsibilities
In this role, you’ll:
- DRAW THE OWL: Lead the architecture and long-term technical roadmap, transitioning legacy systems into a modern, distributed microservices architecture that supports global scale.
- ACCELERATE WITH AI: Lead by example in using AI coding assistants (GitHub Copilot, Anthropic Claude, or internal LLMs) to automate boilerplate, generate exhaustive test suites, and perform rapid prototyping. You will be measured on your ability to amplify your own output and the team's velocity through AI augmentation.
- BE AN OWNER: Drive technical excellence across multiple teams, making critical architectural decisions that balance rapid feature innovation with world-class reliability and security.
- WEAR THE CUSTOMER’S SHOES: Partner with Product Managers to translate complex global telecommunications regulations and customer needs into elegant, developer-first APIs and application workflows.
- EMPOWER OTHERS: Mentor and uplift senior and staff engineers. Foster a culture of technical curiosity, ownership, and continuous learning. Teach the team how to move from "writing code" to "reviewing and orchestrating AI-generated logic" without sacrificing security or quality.
- RUTHLESSLY PRIORITIZE: Identify and mitigate technical risks early, ranging from scalability bottlenecks to security vulnerabilities and lead the team through complex production incidents with a focus on long-term remediation.