Principal Software Engineer

The Hartford•Columbus, OH

1d•$168,400 - $252,600•Hybrid

About The Position

The Principal Software Engineer is a senior technical leader and hands-on engineer for Digital Enablement, which is the digital backbone for most of our external customer interactions and internal workflow management. This role shapes and executes end-to-end application and platform strategy while providing forward-looking technology leadership across the Digital Enablement ecosystem. As a trusted technical authority, the Principal Engineer anticipates emerging technology trends and architectural risks, guiding modernization decisions to ensure platforms remain secure, scalable, and resilient over multi-year horizons. Operating at the intersection of strategy and execution, this role influences architectural standards and engineering practices across teams while remaining deeply engaged in design, code, and the resolution of the most complex technical challenges with an AI first mindset.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in enterprise application development and large-scale system delivery.
Demonstrated success delivering complex, mission-critical systems in Agile environments.
Proven ability to influence technical direction across multiple teams or domains.
Demonstrated success in using the AI tools in SDLC and delivering better business outcomes.
Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to drive clarity and sound decision-making in ambiguous situations.
Strong hands-on expertise in Java, Spring Boot, Angular/TypeScript, SQL, and modern application architectures.
Deep experience with cloud-native platforms (AWS experience preferred).
Expertise in APIs, microservices, event-driven architectures, and distributed systems.
Experience with observability and monitoring tools (e.g., Application Insights, Splunk).
Hands on experience with AI frameworks and AI-assisted development tools.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required.
Candidates must be authorized to work in the US without company sponsorship.
The company will not support the STEM OPT I-983 Training Plan endorsement for this position.

Nice To Haves

Experience in Finance and/or Insurance industries strongly preferred.
Experience in Identity and Access Management, Mobile a plus.

Responsibilities

Own and execute end-to-end technical strategy for Digital Enablement platforms and applications, from architecture and design through delivery and production support.
Serve as a technical authority across Digital Enablement platforms, spanning frontend, backend, integration, and data layers.
Define and evolve solution architectures aligned with enterprise standards, security requirements, resiliency expectations, and modernization goals.
Ensure technology decisions directly support business outcomes, operational efficiency, and long-term platform sustainability.
Establish and enforce engineering standards, architectural patterns, and best practices across teams and release trains with an AI first Engineering Excellence mindset.
Lead the modernization of legacy systems into cloud-native, API-driven, and event-based architectures.
Evaluate architectural trade-offs and risks, providing clear recommendations to senior technology and business leaders.
Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Security, and Platform teams to ensure solutions meet non-functional requirements including performance, availability, scalability, and compliance.
Contribute production-quality code, technical designs, prototypes, and reference implementations for complex and high-risk initiatives.
Lead the resolution of complex technical issues, including high-severity production incidents and systemic design problems.
Act as a technical escalation point for delivery teams, helping unblock critical path issues and reduce delivery risk.
Ensure solutions are production-ready and supportable, with appropriate documentation, controls, and operational readiness.
Ensure quality is engineered into solutions through strong design, extreme automation, and preventative practices.
Define and enforce ‘Definition of Ready’ and ‘Definition of Done’ expectations across the development lifecycle.
Promote shift-left practices such as test-driven development, in-sprint automation, and design for testability.
Lead root cause analysis of recurring defects or reliability issues and drive systemic improvements.
Identify opportunities to leverage modern platforms, AI-enabled capabilities, and GenAI solutions to improve business outcomes.
Lead Proof of Concept (POC) efforts to validate feasibility, value, risk, and scalability of new technologies or approaches.
Translate ambiguous business problems into clear technical hypotheses and solution options.
Present POC outcomes, architectural decisions, and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
Champion strong AI driven SDLC and DevOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines, automation-first delivery, and environment hygiene.
Partner with DevSecOps and Reliability Engineering to embed observability, monitoring, alerting, and resiliency into functional solutions.
Design systems that are reliable, diagnosable, and operable at enterprise scale.
Continuously assess the relevant external technology landscape to identify emerging trends, architectural shifts, and external innovations with potential business impact.
Proactively surface and mitigate technology stack risks, including obsolescence, scalability constraints, security exposure, and vendor or platform dependencies.
Evaluate long-term trade-offs across build vs. buy, modernization sequencing, and platform investments to inform strategic decision-making.
Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Security, and Platform teams to ensure future-facing designs remain resilient, compliant, and aligned to enterprise strategy.
Partner closely with business Product Owners to validate requirements, influence technical prioritization, and align solutions with business objectives.
Manage technical dependencies across teams and release trains; proactively identify and escalate risks.
Mentor and guide engineers through design reviews, technical coaching, and knowledge sharing.