Principal, SW Engineer

Northern Trust • Chicago, IL

23h • $137,400 - $233,600

About The Position

Northern Trust's FX Technology group builds and operates platforms supporting its global FX business, including pricing, execution, trade processing, and client connectivity. The group is modernizing legacy systems by breaking up monolithic applications, adopting event-driven services, and changing how it builds software with AI. The Principal Engineer will design and build next-generation front-office trading systems and trade flows while helping shape an engineering culture that is curious, open to new ideas, and willing to challenge established practices. The role is hands-on and leads through technical designs, code, and collaboration.

The position focuses on building low-latency, resilient, and scalable trading services; migrating monolithic systems to independently deployable microservices while maintaining production operations; and designing Kafka-based event-driven trade flows. The engineer will build cloud-native services on Azure and integrate them with on-premises systems, write production Java or C++ code, and own CI/CD and automated testing. The role also involves applying AI across development, collaborating with traders and technology stakeholders, producing architecture and governance documentation, proposing improvements, and mentoring engineers across onshore and offshore teams.

The role supports a multi-year modernization of a trading platform for a growing global FX business. It is hands-on, visible, and closely connected to the trading desk, with an opportunity to influence the team's engineering practices and culture.

Requirements

• 10 or more years of experience building production software, with strong hands-on coding skills in Java or C++.
• Proven experience breaking monolithic systems into microservices in a live production environment.
• Deep experience with Kafka and event-driven architecture.
• Hands-on experience with Azure, including Container Apps or AKS, Event Hubs, Key Vault, and related services.
• Strong CI/CD experience, with test automation built into the pipeline.
• Practical experience using AI coding tools such as GitHub Copilot or agent-based workflows to accelerate delivery, with concrete examples.
• Solid relational database skills, such as SQL Server, Postgres, or similar.
• A track record of driving team change by introducing practices, tools, or ways of working and gaining adoption.
• Clear, confident communication with engineers and business stakeholders, including presenting ideas, leading technical discussions, and constructively pushing back.
• A collaborative, energetic approach to building relationships across teams and engaging people in the team's direction.
• Authorization to work in the U.S. without employment-based visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with trading systems or other real-time, low-latency domains; FX experience is a plus.
• Familiarity with FIX, market data, or order management systems.
• Experience with observability tools such as Application Insights or Log Analytics.

Responsibilities

• Design and build front-office trading services for pricing, order flow, and trade capture, with a focus on low latency, resiliency, and scale.
• Lead the decomposition of existing monolithic applications into smaller, independently deployable microservices; define service boundaries, contracts, and a migration path that keeps production running.
• Design Kafka-based event-driven trade flows, including event models, topic design, schema management, and replay and recovery patterns.
• Build and deploy cloud-native services on Azure using Azure Container Apps or AKS, Event Hubs, and Key Vault, and integrate them with on-premises systems.
• Write production code in Java or C++ regularly, review code, set engineering standards, and raise the bar for the team.
• Use AI across the development lifecycle for legacy code analysis, test generation, refactoring, migration, and defect triage; develop reusable tools and practices for the team.
• Own CI/CD and automated testing for services so production deployments are routine.
• Work with traders, product owners, and architects to translate business needs into technical designs and working software.
• Produce design documentation that meets architecture and governance review requirements.
• Propose and advocate for improved approaches to building, testing, and delivering software, and help the team adopt them.
• Encourage open discussion, knowledge sharing, and experimentation, and support engineers in questioning existing practices.
• Mentor engineers across onshore and offshore teams through pairing, design reviews, demos, and hands-on example.

Benefits

• Retirement benefits, including a 401(k) and pension.
• Health and welfare benefits, including medical, dental, vision, spending accounts, and disability benefits.
• Paid time off.
• Parental and caregiver leave.
• Life and accident insurance.
• Other voluntary and well-being benefits.
• A discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed