Asst Director-Engineering

Principal Financial Group•Charlotte, NC

6h•Hybrid

About The Position

We’re looking for an Assistant Director of Engineering to join our Retirement & Income Solutions (RIS) business, supporting Defined Contribution (DC) and Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP) retirement products with a focus on participant/plan onboarding, and money in/out capabilities. In this critical leadership role, you’ll build and support high-performing engineering teams, guide technical direction, and ensure the successful delivery of initiatives that create an exceptional customer experience. You’ll balance strategic leadership with hands-on engagement—partnering closely with product, operations, and technology leaders while staying connected to the realities of execution across multiple teams.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree (preferably in computer science, engineering, technology, or a related field) or equivalent professional experience.
8+ years of enterprise level technical experience demonstrating‑ increasing responsibility and impact.
Be comfortable with flexible call times with our global staffing model.
Leadership Experience: Guiding engineering teams through complex technical and business challenges.
Leadership Experience: Designing and delivering resilient, scalable solutions in large environments.
Leadership Experience: Building alignment and consensus among diverse stakeholders.
Leadership Experience: Navigating enterprise-level‑ partnerships and dependencies.
Leadership Qualities: Strategic, forward-thinking‑ mindset with a bias toward action.
Leadership Qualities: Strength in operating in dynamic, evolving environments.
Leadership Qualities: Strong communication and collaboration skills across technical and non‑technical audiences.

Nice To Haves

4+ years of technology leadership experience managing and mentoring direct reports.
Financial services industry experience.
Strong use of data and metrics to identify issues, measure progress, and guide decisions.
Solution architecture experience partnering closely with business leaders.
Solid background in Agile practices and tools such as Jira.
Experience with Java, Spring, and REST-based‑ APIs.

Responsibilities

Drive priority decisions that deliver new capabilities while maintaining and modernizing existing systems and applications.
Partner with product, operations, and technology stakeholders to prioritize work and ensure teams stay focused on the highest value‑ outcomes.
Lead and support engineers with diverse skill sets across cloud-based platforms (AWS), on-premises‑ technologies (IBM WebSphere), and mainframe COBOL environments.
Collaborate with delivery managers to review performance metrics and foster a continuous improvement mindset.
Serve as a people leader by mentoring and developing a small team of high-impact engineers and solution architects.
Work effectively with leaders and teams located both stateside and offshore in a globally distributed model.
Execute against defined strategies while also influencing broader technical and organizational direction based on insights from your teams.
Ensure high-quality‑ code delivery and reliable deployments across multiple teams.
Support large, cross-team‑ initiatives requiring strong coordination, communication, and alignment.
Act as an advocate for the responsible adoption of AI tools to improve engineering productivity and effectiveness.