Principal Systems Engineer

Important: This role is based at our Westlake Village, CA corporate offices on a hybrid schedule (2–3 days per week onsite). 

About The Role:

We’re looking for a Principal Infrastructure Systems Engineer who thrives in solving complex technical problems and building scalable, resilient systems. You’ll take the lead in modernizing our distributed data center infrastructure and driving our cloud adoption strategy, with a focus on automation, observability, and standardization. 

This is a highly hands-on role. You’ll design and implement technical solutions, work directly with engineering teams, and set standards for how we deliver infrastructure and platforms. Your work will eliminate technical debt, improve developer experience, and make our environments faster, more reliable, and easier to operate. 

What You’Ll Do:

• Design and implement multi-cloud infrastructure strategies (AWS, Azure, OCI), ensuring resiliency and flexibility 
• Lead cloud migrations from legacy environments, focusing on performance, scalability, and cost efficiency 
• Automate everything: infrastructure provisioning (Terraform, Helm), configuration management (Ansible), CI/CD pipelines, and environment deployments 
• Build and support modern containerized platforms (Kubernetes, Rancher, etc.) with strong observability practices
• Maintain and improve CI/CD pipelines (GitLab CI/CD, Harness, homegrown solutions) with secure software supply chains and release automation
• Standardize infrastructure-as-code (IaC) patterns, environment blueprints, and operational runbooks across sites
• Identify and fix technical debt in distributed data center deployments and inconsistent environments
• Collaborate with security and compliance to ensure infrastructure meets governance and risk requirements
• Conduct technical design reviews and serve as a trusted expert on distributed systems and cloud-native architecture
• Share knowledge through documentation, tooling improvements, and mentoring other engineers

Qualifications

What You'Ll Need:

• 10+ years in infrastructure engineering with a strong focus on cloud platforms and automation
• Proven experience leading cloud migrations or hybrid-to-cloud transformations at scale
• Deep expertise in AWS, Azure, or GCP plus related services (IAM, VPC, Kubernetes, Terraform, Helm) 
• Strong experience with CI/CD ecosystems and GitOps practices
• Proficiency in at least one programming/scripting language (Python, Go, Bash, etc.) for automation
• Knowledge of distributed systems, HA, and fault-tolerant design
• Ability to collaborate across teams and communicate technical decisions clearly

Nice To Have:

• Retail or other distributed enterprise environment experience 
• Cloud certifications (AWS, Azure, GCP, OCI)
• Experience with service mesh, observability stacks (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, etc.), and cloud cost optimization
• Exposure to Agile development environments

Pay: $160,000 - $200,000/yr. dependent on background and experience. This position is not eligible to participate in the Guitar Center Company bonus program based on the Company's performance. The job posting is not necessarily reflective of actual compensation that may be earned, nor a promise of any specific pay for any particular employee, which is always dependent on experience, education, and other factors. The pay range(s) listed are provided in compliance with state-specific laws. Pay ranges may be different in other locations.

Why Join Guitar Center Company? 

For our employees who are musicians, we offer the unique opportunity of gig leave, take time off to share your music with the world, and return to your job after your tour! Guitar Center offers robust benefits and perks, including Medical, Dental, Vision, 401K plus company match, mental health support, paid sick/holiday/vacation time, employee discount program, and tuition reimbursement options.   

Inclusive workplace: We are an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to diversity and fair hiring practices. If you need accommodation to apply due to disability, please email recruiting@guitarcenter.com.