Principal Financial—Lead Software Engineer

Job description

Description: Responsibilities What You'll do In the role of Lead Software Engineer at Principal Financial Group, you will be working as a Technical SME role where you'll design, build, and deliver cloud-native applications on AWS using TypeScript, Java, and Spring Boot. You'll spend most of your time developing microservices, designing APIs, working with event-driven architecture, and collaborating closely with Product Owners and engineering teams to deliver business features. You'll have opportunity to: Product & Business Alignment • Develop a strong understanding of customer needs, domain context, and product features. • Partner with Product Owners and stakeholders to break down features into clear user stories and technical tasks. • Provide technical input into planning and prioritization. • Align technical decisions with business strategy and delivery goals. Technical Leadership & Architecture • Lead technical solutioning and design, including frameworks, patterns, and technology choices. • Guide teams on microservices architecture, API design, data modeling, and integration patterns. • Ensure solutions meet standards for scalability, resilience, security, and maintainability. • Review and validate technical designs and critical implementations. • Influence and continuously improve engineering standards and best practices. Hands On Development • Build and maintain cloud native microservices with RESTful and event driven APIs. • Write clean, testable, production ready code; actively participate in code reviews. • Leverage AI assisted development tools responsibly to improve speed, productivity, and quality. • Design and implement solutions on AWS using services such as EC2, S3, IAM, Lambda, RDS, API Gateway, SNS, SQS, Step Functions and others. • Build frontend applications using TypeScript or with modern JavaScript frameworks (e.g., React/Angular) where required. • Define and manage infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code (IaC), including AWS CDK (TypeScript) and/or Terraform/CloudFormation. • Design and develop Java based applications using Spring Boot and other relevant frameworks. • Drive best practices for performance, scalability, observability, cost optimization, and security. Software Engineering/Delivery • Own the end-to-end delivery of software. • Own Support responsibilities for in-scope applications or systems and contribute to issue resolutions, lead root cause analysis, and fixes. • Participate actively in code reviews, technical design discussions, mobbing, and pair programming. • Promote responsible use of AI driven and AI assisted practices across the SDLC. • Look for improvement opportunities beyond stated problems, evaluate options, and propose solutions by collaborating, leveraging best practices, and making use of available data Mentorship & Engineering Excellence • Mentor engineers on clean code, SOLID, DRY/KISS principles, microservices, cloud design, and testing. • Encourage knowledge sharing, pair programming, and continuous improvement. • Act as a role model for Agile engineering practices and technical ownership • Foster a culture of continuous improvement and learning Organizational Alignment, Learning & Governance • Develop understanding of the organization’s strategy, AI adoption roadmap, and high-level initiatives, and align delivery outcomes accordingly. • Actively participate in organizational and team-level initiatives, including AI governance, standards definition, and best-practice forums. • Adhere to Information Security, Data Privacy, AI Ethics, and Compliance policies, including responsible AI principles. • Support training, self-development, and continuous upskilling of self and team in software engineering, AI/ML, and emerging technologies. • Perform other job-related duties, proofs of concept (PoCs), and AI experimentation as required Qualifications Who You Are Education: Graduate – Bachelor’s degree (Engineering) or Masters in Computers or relevant Experience: 6 to 9 years Required Skills & Experience • 6-9 years of software engineering experience. • Proven experience building distributed, cloud native systems on AWS preferably using Typescript. • Strong proficiency in Java and Spring Boot will be required. • Hands-on experience building Typescript/JavaScript based front-end applications. • Strong understanding of microservices, REST APIs, Async communication, and failure handling. • Experience with SQL/NoSQL databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, DynamoDB). • Knowledge of IaC, CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitHub Actions) preferred. • Understanding of cloud and application security best practices. • Knowledge of Domain Driven Design would be preferred. • Application of AI tools for development and associated tasks to improve speed, accuracy and quality will be required. • Experience working in Agile teams. • Experience owning and delivering medium complexity projects or modules while leading a small team will be required. • Experience with estimations, task allocation, execution and delivery in team settings required. Additional Information Why Principal? At Principal, we believe in encouraging a collaborative and welcoming environment where everyone's input is appreciated. We are committed to your professional development and assist our team members in reaching their personal and career ambitions. Join us and become part of a world-class team that is making an impact! Responsibilities: What You'll do In the role of Lead Software Engineer at Principal Financial Group, you will be working as a Technical SME role where you'll design, build, and deliver cloud-native applications on AWS using TypeScript, Java, and Spring Boot. You'll spend most of your time developing microservices, designing APIs, working with event-driven architecture, and collaborating closely with Product Owners and engineering teams to deliver business features. You'll have opportunity to: Product & Business Alignment • Develop a strong understanding of customer needs, domain context, and product features. • Partner with Product Owners and stakeholders to break down features into clear user stories and technical tasks. • Provide technical input into planning and prioritization. • Align technical decisions with business strategy and delivery goals. Technical Leadership & Architecture • Lead technical solutioning and design, including frameworks, patterns, and technology choices. • Guide teams on microservices architecture, API design, data modeling, and integration patterns. • Ensure solutions meet standards for scalability, resilience, security, and maintainability. • Review and validate technical designs and critical implementations. • Influence and continuously improve engineering standards and best practices. Hands On Development • Build and maintain cloud native microservices with RESTful and event driven APIs. • Write clean, testable, production ready code; actively participate in code reviews. • Leverage AI assisted development tools responsibly to improve speed, productivity, and quality. • Design and implement solutions on AWS using services such as EC2, S3, IAM, Lambda, RDS, API Gateway, SNS, SQS, Step Functions and others. • Build frontend applications using TypeScript or with modern JavaScript frameworks (e.g., React/Angular) where required. • Define and manage infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code (IaC), including AWS CDK (TypeScript) and/or Terraform/CloudFormation. • Design and develop Java based applications using Spring Boot and other relevant frameworks. • Drive best practices for performance, scalability, observability, cost optimization, and security. Software Engineering/Delivery • Own the end-to-end delivery of software. • Own Support responsibilities for in-scope applications or systems and contribute to issue resolutions, lead root cause analysis, and fixes. • Participate actively in code reviews, technical design discussions, mobbing, and pair programming. • Promote responsible use of AI driven and AI assisted practices across the SDLC. • Look for improvement opportunities beyond stated problems, evaluate options, and propose solutions by collaborating, leveraging best practices, and making use of available data Mentorship & Engineering Excellence • Mentor engineers on clean code, SOLID, DRY/KISS principles, microservices, cloud design, and testing. • Encourage knowledge sharing, pair programming, and continuous improvement. • Act as a role model for Agile engineering practices and technical ownership • Foster a culture of continuous improvement and learning Organizational Alignment, Learning & Governance • Develop understanding of the organization’s strategy, AI adoption roadmap, and high-level initiatives, and align delivery outcomes accordingly. • Actively participate in organizational and team-level initiatives, including AI governance, standards definition, and best-practice forums. • Adhere to Information Security, Data Privacy, AI Ethics, and Compliance policies, including responsible AI principles. • Support training, self-development, and continuous upskilling of self and team in software engineering, AI/ML, and emerging technologies. • Perform other job-related duties, proofs of concept (PoCs), and AI experimentation as required