Application Services Engineer, Sr. Principal

Blue Shield of California•Oakland, CA

About The Position

We are seeking a highly skilled and technically experienced Application Services Engineer, Sr Principal to help lead Stellarus into a modern technology company. This role will provide deep technical leadership to stand up the platform and technology products organization, build and scale a developer community of practice, and ensure we are hiring and developing the right engineering talent. The ideal candidate will be a hands-on technical strategist who can influence architecture, mentor engineers, and drive delivery excellence across full stack platforms. The Senior Principal Applications Services Engineer will report to the Vice President of IT Applications. In this role you will play a key role as part of the IT Applications leadership team in delivering and collaborating on all aspects of cloud migration strategy and software engineering design, development, and support. Our leadership model is about developing great leaders at all levels and creating opportunities for our people to grow – personally, professionally, and financially. We are looking for leaders that are energized by creative and critical thinking, building, and sustaining high-performing teams, getting results the right way, and fostering continuous learning.

Requirements

Requires a college degree or equivalent experience and minimuma minimum of 12 years of relevant experience, including 10+ years of experience in Software design/development, cloud native architecture and implementations, mobile applications, application architecture, software as a service (SaaS), software integration, automated software testing, continuous integration/continuous delivery, and working in DevSecOps
Viewed as the leading expert and/or resource within the field by peers within and outside the organization
Experience with developing productive relationships with business leaders across the organization to influence how applications can enable new sources of value
Strong communication skills with a proven ability to understand key technical concepts and communicate effectively with technical staff, business stakeholders and senior management to enhance understanding and drive decisions that lead to positive outcomes
Proven ability to collaborate, build relationships and influence individuals at all levels in a matrix-management environment (as well as external vendors and service providers) to ensure that segregation and overlapping roles are identified and coordinated
Strong organizational skills, the ability to perform under pressure and management of multiple priorities with competing demands for resources

Nice To Haves

Master's or bachelor's degree preferred; Computer science or other related experience

Responsibilities

Establish and drive the long-term strategic vision for Platform Engineering, setting the direction for platform architecture, technology choices, and best practices across all the Application Platforms
Pioneer the integration of AI and Agentic AI into platform design, developing and deploying intelligent agents to proactively manage, optimize, and secure the platform, thereby reducing manual work and increasing system autonomy.
Drive organizational change and innovation by identifying and championing new platform technologies, processes, and methodologies that enhance developer productivity and platform efficiency.
Engage with and influence senior executive leadership on matters of platform strategy, resource allocation, and technical roadmaps, translating complex technical concepts into business outcomes.
Mentor and guide senior engineers (L5 and below), acting as a domain expert and a key resource for resolving the most complex and ambiguous technical challenges.
Recommends operational plans and strategies that will directly impact the achievement of overall functional results.
Establishes operational plans for Platform Engineering with a mid-term impact on results (e.g., 2+ years).
Responsible for proactively improving existing processes and systems, using significant conceptualizing, reasoning, and interpretation.
Solutions are novel and unique and draw upon best practices based on expertise.
Develop new perspectives and innovative approaches on existing or new problems, applying agile methods
Communicates with parties within and outside of Platform Engineering.
Has responsibilities for communicating with parties external to the organization, which may include customers or vendors.
Works to influence others to accept Platform Engineering views/practices, and agree to or accept new concepts, practices, and approaches.