Principal - Systems Engineer

Ally•Detroit, MI

28d•$110,000 - $180,000

About The Position

Ally Financial is seeking a Principal – System Engineer to support its Federal Reserve and SEC platforms in a regulated environment. The role administers, configures, and supports Nasdaq Axiom (AxiomSL) and Workiva SEC applications used to produce financial submissions. The engineer partners with Business, Technology, and Risk teams to maintain platform stability, onboard reporting requirements, and support data integration across upstream systems in an Agile environment. The work involves financial reporting, DevSecOps, pipeline management, and end-to-end data processing and transformation. The position manages consistency across QA, UAT, and production environments; monitors batch processing and reporting outputs; troubleshoots AWS-based ETL pipeline failures; implements configuration updates for regulatory changes; and coordinates releases and vendor patches. It also maintains data lineage and technical documentation, supports governance and audit requirements, and identifies opportunities to improve automation, data quality, and reporting reliability.

Requirements

At least 7 years of relevant experience.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Finance, or equivalent.
Experience using SQL for data validation, reconciliation, and root cause analysis across large financial datasets.
Proficiency working with Snowflake and PostgreSQL for data storage, querying, and integration.
Experience supporting scheduled batch processing environments and diagnosing pipeline failures.
Experience with data integration tools and AWS-based ETL pipelines that feed financial reporting platforms.
Knowledge of coordinating platform releases, patches, and vendor-driven updates with minimal disruption to production reporting cycles.
Experience managing QA, UAT, and production environments, including release coordination.
Understanding of data lineage, data quality controls, and source-to-report traceability in a regulatory context aligned with enterprise governance standards.
Ability to write and maintain technical documentation, including runbooks, configuration details, and support procedures in adherence with audit and SOX guidelines.
Experience working in Agile delivery teams with exposure to Jira, Confluence, or equivalent tools.
Strong troubleshooting and communication skills, including the ability to triage and resolve production incidents or escalate issues under filing deadlines.
Ability to translate business and regulatory requirements into platform configuration changes with minimal guidance.
Comfort with version control practices and change management processes.
Ability to articulate complex concepts clearly and work and influence successfully within a matrix environment, building effective partnerships with team members at all levels.

Nice To Haves

Experience in systems engineering, application support, or regulatory technology within financial services.
Prior knowledge of Nasdaq Axiom (AxiomSL) or Workiva SEC platform administration, configuration, or implementation, or similar financial software.
Familiarity with regulatory reporting frameworks including Basel III, liquidity coverage ratio, 10-K, 10-Q, and related disclosure filings.
Willingness to share technical and organizational knowledge to mentor junior staff members.

Responsibilities

Manage environment consistency across QA, UAT, and production tiers, including data refreshes and pre-release configuration validation.
Monitor and validate scheduled batch runs for Federal Reserve and SEC submissions, reconciling outputs against upstream sources.
Triage and resolve data pipeline failures across AWS-based ETL workflows feeding AxiomSL and Workiva ahead of regulatory filing deadlines.
Implement AxiomSL configuration changes in response to regulatory rule updates, including Basel III, LCR, and FR Y-series requirements.
Coordinate platform releases and vendor patches across QA, UAT, and production environments while minimizing disruption to reporting cycles.
Partner with Business, Risk, and Technology teams in daily Agile ceremonies to prioritize and size regulatory change requests.
Maintain data lineage and traceability documentation from source systems to final report output in alignment with enterprise governance and audit standards.
Identify and drive process optimization opportunities across reporting workflows to reduce manual effort, cycle time, and recurring failures.
Evaluate platform capabilities and tooling gaps and propose automation or configuration improvements to strengthen data quality controls and reporting reliability.

Benefits

At least 20 paid time off days, 11 paid holidays, and 8 hours of annual volunteer time off; amounts are prorated based on start date and programs vary by status and management level.
401(k) retirement savings plan with matching and company contributions.
Student loan pay downs and 529 educational savings assistance programs.
Tuition reimbursement.
Employee stock purchase plan.
Financial learning center and financial coach access.
Flexible medical, dental, and vision insurance options.
Employee, spouse, and child life insurance.
Short- and long-term disability insurance.
Health Savings Account with employer contributions and Healthcare FSA.
Critical illness, accident, and hospital indemnity insurance.
Total well-being program.
Adoption, surrogacy, and fertility assistance.
Paid parental and caregiver leave.
Dependent Day Care FSA, backup child and adult/elder care days, and childcare discounts.
Employee Assistance Program.
Subsidized and discounted Weight Watchers® program and other employee discount programs.
Depending on the role, travel allowances, relocation assistance, signing bonus, and/or equity may be available.
Annual incentive plan eligibility.