Principal Systems Engineer
The Home Depot
Location – Little Rock, AR
Job ID – Req155509
Category – Technology
Apply By – 10/17/2025
Bonus Eligible
401(k) Company Matching
Employee Stock Purchase Program
Company Overview
What’s the best place we’ve ever built? The place where we work. At Home Depot, our goal is to provide the highest level of service, the broadest selection of products, and the most competitive prices. As the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer, we operate more than 2,200 retail stores across North America. And each of our associates are focused one thing — helping our customers build and improve their homes, businesses, and ultimately their lives.
Pay Range
The pay range for this position is between $130,000.00 – $240,000.00.
Starting wage may vary based on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the position being offered, location, education, training, and/or experience. The Home Depot offers additional competitive and non-financial benefits, which may include a performance-based bonus program or a profit sharing program depending on position.
Position Purpose:
- Lead the design and architecture of next-generation wireless communication networks across Wi-Fi, cellular, and satellite technologies.
- Develop and optimize network architectures to ensure reliability, scalability, performance, and security.
- Assist with spectrum planning, interference analysis, and performance optimization for wireless deployments.
- Evaluate and integrate emerging technologies to support enterprise, industrial, and remote connectivity use cases.
- Provide technical leadership to cross-functional engineering teams, mentoring junior engineers and influencing long-term wireless strategy.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to align wireless network solutions with business needs and regulatory compliance.
- Define best practices, reference architectures, and technology roadmaps for wireless communications.
- Troubleshoot complex issues across multiple layers of the wireless stack and guide resolution.
Key Responsibilities:
40% Strategy & Planning:
- Researches and analyzes business trends and behavioral data to identify opportunities for improvements and new initiatives
- Leads the evaluation, development, and recommendation of specific technology products and platforms to provide cost-effective solutions that meet business and technology requirements
- Researches and designs best fit infrastructure, network, database, and security architectures for products
- Guides the proactive creation and maintenance of tools for monitoring and support
- Leads project budgeting, planning, and management across multiple efforts and teams
- Develops and delivers formal training courses
- Visits with operational units (e.g., warehouses, stores, data centers) to understand needs and build relationships
20% Delivery & Execution:
- Guides configuration, debugging, and support for infrastructure
- Documents, reviews and ensures that all quality and change control standards are met
- Guides field and corporate roll-outs of technology
- Guides the stand up of necessary system software, hardware, and equipment (physical or virtual) to meet changing infrastructure needs
- Creates and optimizes specifications for complex technology solutions
- Produces and manages purchase requests for hardware and software
- Creates technical white papers and thought leadership
- Creates and enforces process standards
- Leads disaster recovery planning and engineering efforts
- Collaborates with other leaders to drive build versus buy decisions with regard to technology
30% Support & Enablement:
- Collaborates with product and project teams to understand needs and enable them with infrastructure
- Guides technology architecture design review efforts for project and product teams
- Leverages tooling and custom applications to monitor the operational status of applications, infrastructure, networks, databases and security; optimizes and tunes performance as appropriate
- Guides root cause analysis, debugging, support, and post-mortem analysis for security incidents and service interruptions
- Guides maintenance, upgrades, and support for existing systems and infrastructure to ensure operational stability
- Acts as a vendor relationship manager
- Guides the production of in-house documentation around solutions
- Monitors tools and proactively helps teams struggling with systems issues
- Provides application support for software running in production
- Guides the creation of scripts and tools that drive automation and enable product teams and end users to move towards self service
- Acts as a mentor to more junior Systems Engineers
10% Learning:
- Keeps abreast of innovations and industry trends as well as changes to internal systems and determines how they impacts tools, training, and support necessary to keep systems up, running, and secure
- Participates in and contributes to learning activities around modern systems engineering core practices (communities of practice)
- Leads learning efforts inside the organization focused on systems engineering
- Proactively views articles, tutorials, and videos to learn about new technologies and best practices being used within other technology organizations
Direct Manager/Direct Reports:
- Typically reports to the Systems Engineer Manager or Sr. Manager, Technology Director or Sr. Director.
Travel Requirements:
- Typically requires overnight travel less than 10% of the time.
Physical Requirements:
- Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. On rare occasions there may be a need to move or lift light articles.
Working Conditions:
- Located in a comfortable indoor area. Any unpleasant conditions would be infrequent and not objectionable.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Must be eighteen years of age or older.
- Must be legally permitted to work in the United States.
- Must be legally permitted to work in the United States
Preferred Qualifications:
- 6-8 years of relevant work experience
- Professional experience in all areas of Systems Engineering – Infrastructure, Network , Database, and Security; proficiency in at least 2 areas and mastery of at least 1
- Mastery of working as part of a collaborative, cross-functional, modern engineering team
- Proficiency in infrastructure, network, database, or security troubleshooting and remediation; experience with at least one other
- Proficiency in installing and upgrading applications or databases and performing system maintenance
- Proficiency in networking, system and hardware design and architecture, DBMS concepts, SQL programming, and client server concepts
- Mastery of debuggers, runtime analysis, library systems, compiled programming, and software update tools
- Mastery of complex system and environment analysis, design, and optimization
- Experience with system and software deployment automation
- Proficiency in object oriented programming languages (preferably Java), distributed computing environments, and code reviews
- Experience with middleware design and development
- Proficiency in system security design and management
- Proficiency in disaster recovery planning and engineering
- Proficiency in monitoring the operational status and performance of, and configuring as well as tuning, systems, networks, or databases
- Proficiency in operating system commands and utilities as well as scripting
- Proficiency in working with cloud platforms such as GCP and Azure
- Proficiency in supporting a 24×7 retail operation
Minimum Education:
- The knowledge, skills and abilities typically acquired through the completion of a bachelor's degree program or equivalent degree in a field of study related to the job.
Preferred Education:
- No additional education
Minimum Years of Work Experience:
- 6
Preferred Years of Work Experience:
- No additional years of experience
Minimum Leadership Experience:
- None
Preferred Leadership Experience:
- None
Certifications:
- None
Competencies:
- Action Oriented: Taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and enthusiasm
- Business Insight: Applying knowledge of business and the marketplace to advance the organization's goals
- Collaborates: Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives
- Communicates Effectively: Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences
- Cultivates Innovation: Creating new and better ways for the organization to be successful
- Drives Results: Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances
- Global Perspective: Taking a broad view when approaching issues; using a global lens
- Interpersonal Savvy: Relating openly and comfortably with diverse groups of people
- Manages Ambiguity: Operating effectively, even when things are not certain or the way forward is not clear
- Manages Complexity: Making sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems
- Nimble Learning: Actively learning through experimentation when tackling new problems, using both successes and failures as learning fodder.
- Optimizes Work Processes: Knowing the most effective and efficient processes to get things done, with a focus on continuous improvement
- Self-Development: Actively seeing new ways to grow and be challenged using both formal and informal development channels
- Situational Adaptability: Adapting approach and demeanor in real time to match the shifting demands of different situations
Apply By:
10/17/2025
Paid Time Off Benefits
Salaried associates are eligible for 2 weeks of vacation in their first year; FT hourly will be eligible for 40 hours of paid vacation time after 6 months of continuous service; (for positions in Washington State, Spokane, and Tacoma only) – Salary and Temporary associates will earn 1 hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked; FT associates will earn 1 hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked or 4 hours per month, whichever is greater; (for positions in Seattle only) – Salary and Temporary associates will earn 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked; FT associates will earn 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked or 4 hours per month, whichever is greater.
Location – Little Rock, AR
Job ID – Req155509
Category – Technology
Apply By – 10/17/2025
Role Overview
Position Purpose:
- Lead the design and architecture of next-generation wireless communication networks across Wi-Fi, cellular, and satellite technologies.
- Develop and optimize network architectures to ensure reliability, scalability, performance, and security.
- Assist with spectrum planning, interference analysis, and performance optimization for wireless deployments.
- Evaluate and integrate emerging technologies to support enterprise, industrial, and remote connectivity use cases.
- Provide technical leadership to cross-functional engineering teams, mentoring junior engineers and influencing long-term wireless strategy.
- Collaborate with stakeholders to align wireless network solutions with business needs and regulatory compliance.
- Define best practices, reference architectures, and technology roadmaps for wireless communications.
- Troubleshoot complex issues across multiple layers of the wireless stack and guide resolution.
Key Responsibilities:
40% Strategy & Planning:
- Researches and analyzes business trends and behavioral data to identify opportunities for improvements and new initiatives
- Leads the evaluation, development, and recommendation of specific technology products and platforms to provide cost-effective solutions that meet business and technology requirements
- Researches and designs best fit infrastructure, network, database, and security architectures for products
- Guides the proactive creation and maintenance of tools for monitoring and support
- Leads project budgeting, planning, and management across multiple efforts and teams
- Develops and delivers formal training courses
- Visits with operational units (e.g., warehouses, stores, data centers) to understand needs and build relationships
20% Delivery & Execution:
- Guides configuration, debugging, and support for infrastructure
- Documents, reviews and ensures that all quality and change control standards are met
- Guides field and corporate roll-outs of technology
- Guides the stand up of necessary system software, hardware, and equipment (physical or virtual) to meet changing infrastructure needs
- Creates and optimizes specifications for complex technology solutions
- Produces and manages purchase requests for hardware and software
- Creates technical white papers and thought leadership
- Creates and enforces process standards
- Leads disaster recovery planning and engineering efforts
- Collaborates with other leaders to drive build versus buy decisions with regard to technology
30% Support & Enablement:
- Collaborates with product and project teams to understand needs and enable them with infrastructure
- Guides technology architecture design review efforts for project and product teams
- Leverages tooling and custom applications to monitor the operational status of applications, infrastructure, networks, databases and security; optimizes and tunes performance as appropriate
- Guides root cause analysis, debugging, support, and post-mortem analysis for security incidents and service interruptions
- Guides maintenance, upgrades, and support for existing systems and infrastructure to ensure operational stability
- Acts as a vendor relationship manager
- Guides the production of in-house documentation around solutions
- Monitors tools and proactively helps teams struggling with systems issues
- Provides application support for software running in production
- Guides the creation of scripts and tools that drive automation and enable product teams and end users to move towards self service
- Acts as a mentor to more junior Systems Engineers
10% Learning:
- Keeps abreast of innovations and industry trends as well as changes to internal systems and determines how they impacts tools, training, and support necessary to keep systems up, running, and secure
- Participates in and contributes to learning activities around modern systems engineering core practices (communities of practice)
- Leads learning efforts inside the organization focused on systems engineering
- Proactively views articles, tutorials, and videos to learn about new technologies and best practices being used within other technology organizations
Direct Manager/Direct Reports:
- Typically reports to the Systems Engineer Manager or Sr. Manager, Technology Director or Sr. Director.
Travel Requirements:
- Typically requires overnight travel less than 10% of the time.
Physical Requirements:
- Most of the time is spent sitting in a comfortable position and there is frequent opportunity to move about. On rare occasions there may be a need to move or lift light articles.
Working Conditions:
- Located in a comfortable indoor area. Any unpleasant conditions would be infrequent and not objectionable.
Minimum Qualifications:
- Must be eighteen years of age or older.
- Must be legally permitted to work in the United States.
- Must be legally permitted to work in the United States
Preferred Qualifications:
- 6-8 years of relevant work experience
- Professional experience in all areas of Systems Engineering – Infrastructure, Network , Database, and Security; proficiency in at least 2 areas and mastery of at least 1
- Mastery of working as part of a collaborative, cross-functional, modern engineering team
- Proficiency in infrastructure, network, database, or security troubleshooting and remediation; experience with at least one other
- Proficiency in installing and upgrading applications or databases and performing system maintenance
- Proficiency in networking, system and hardware design and architecture, DBMS concepts, SQL programming, and client server concepts
- Mastery of debuggers, runtime analysis, library systems, compiled programming, and software update tools
- Mastery of complex system and environment analysis, design, and optimization
- Experience with system and software deployment automation
- Proficiency in object oriented programming languages (preferably Java), distributed computing environments, and code reviews
- Experience with middleware design and development
- Proficiency in system security design and management
- Proficiency in disaster recovery planning and engineering
- Proficiency in monitoring the operational status and performance of, and configuring as well as tuning, systems, networks, or databases
- Proficiency in operating system commands and utilities as well as scripting
- Proficiency in working with cloud platforms such as GCP and Azure
- Proficiency in supporting a 24×7 retail operation
Minimum Education:
- The knowledge, skills and abilities typically acquired through the completion of a bachelor's degree program or equivalent degree in a field of study related to the job.
Preferred Education:
- No additional education
Minimum Years of Work Experience:
- 6
Preferred Years of Work Experience:
- No additional years of experience
Minimum Leadership Experience:
- None
Preferred Leadership Experience:
- None
Certifications:
- None
Competencies:
- Action Oriented: Taking on new opportunities and tough challenges with a sense of urgency, high energy, and enthusiasm
- Business Insight: Applying knowledge of business and the marketplace to advance the organization's goals
- Collaborates: Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives
- Communicates Effectively: Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences
- Cultivates Innovation: Creating new and better ways for the organization to be successful
- Drives Results: Consistently achieving results, even under tough circumstances
- Global Perspective: Taking a broad view when approaching issues; using a global lens
- Interpersonal Savvy: Relating openly and comfortably with diverse groups of people
- Manages Ambiguity: Operating effectively, even when things are not certain or the way forward is not clear
- Manages Complexity: Making sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems
- Nimble Learning: Actively learning through experimentation when tackling new problems, using both successes and failures as learning fodder.
- Optimizes Work Processes: Knowing the most effective and efficient processes to get things done, with a focus on continuous improvement
- Self-Development: Actively seeing new ways to grow and be challenged using both formal and informal development channels
- Situational Adaptability: Adapting approach and demeanor in real time to match the shifting demands of different situations
Paid Time Off Benefits
Salaried associates are eligible for 2 weeks of vacation in their first year; FT hourly will be eligible for 40 hours of paid vacation time after 6 months of continuous service; (for positions in Washington State, Spokane, and Tacoma only) – Salary and Temporary associates will earn 1 hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked; FT associates will earn 1 hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked or 4 hours per month, whichever is greater; (for positions in Seattle only) – Salary and Temporary associates will earn 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked; FT associates will earn 1 hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked or 4 hours per month, whichever is greater.
Remote/virtual – An associate in a remote/virtual role typically is not required to work from a designated Home Depot location to complete their job duties. Limited or infrequent in-office presence may be required. We also refer to this as location – independent.
Learn more about our 4 different work locations. Additional information will be provided during the application process.
As part of the application process for this role, there will be an on-line assessment. The assessment usually takes about 17 minutes to complete. You will be directed to the assessment link immediately after submitting your application. Once you click on the link, you will need to complete it within 72 hours after starting it. You may stop and restart the assessment as many times as you like within the 72-hour time frame.
During the assessment, we’ll ask you questions about your approach to work and various work-related situations. The questions are based on characteristics that are related to performing successfully in hourly roles at The Home Depot, including:
- Professional Experience
- Learning Potential
- Responsibility
- Customer Focus
If you have a disability and would like to request an accommodation related to the assessment, or you would like to obtain more information about the assessment, click here to learn more.
Healthcare Options
Profit-Sharing Bonuses
Tuition Reimbursement
Discounts on Cell Phones, Gyms, and More