In most large companies the title
Principle is the top rung for engineers aside from something like
Senior Scientist that requires post doctoral education or something amazing that changes the direction of a company’s technology.
As a principal your primary job is to be an engineering executive. That means making decisions, studying, and advising executives/planners, and directing the path of technology.
As a front end principal you need to find the shortest path to accomplish the business goals with front end technology. The biggest challenge is that junior engineers, especially on the front end, need tremendous hand holding and resist outside a small comfort zone. That is a challenge because as a principal you set technology direction instead of holding people’s hands, which is the job of their managers.
If as a principal you are too aggressive in your pursuit of product quality you will be sidelined and ignored. If you are too lax you won’t offer any value for your high compensation. This where soft skills become important. Set the bar high, communicate the importance of high standards in terms of money, and get buy-in from senior leadership.
> What should I do?
Document where the current product/process sucks and recommend a radical order of magnitude improvement. Write that clearly for stupid people but include strong evidence for your case. Get buy-in from those that are in a position to care about making/saving money. You don’t have to win the support of resistant junior developers if you make a strong business case. Then oversee the successful implementation and be planning the next big challenge.