Software Engineer Principal - Ansible/Python

PNC•Pittsburgh, PA

3d•Onsite

About The Position

The Software Engineer Principal is a part of a team responsible for modernizing legacy technology by moving to an Ansible‑based backend and Python‑driven automation, with a strong emphasis on reliability and operational readiness. Focused on technology and business resiliency, They will own and build systems that support high availability, disaster recovery, and automated failover between data centers. This is a hands‑on individual contributor role with technical leadership responsibilities. The engineer spends most of the time building and operating systems, while also guiding technical direction and supporting team members.

Requirements

Hands‑on expertise with Ansible for infrastructure automation and orchestration of failover workflows
Strong Python experience building automation, services, and resiliency tooling
Strong experience with backend engineering in distributed systems
Experience with distributed task processing using Celery, including asynchronous workflows, retries, and scheduling
Solid understanding of high availability, disaster recovery, and resiliency architectures
Experience designing systems that handle failure scenarios gracefully
Experience building application programming interfaces using FastAPI
Familiarity with relational database access using SQLAlchemy or SQLModel
Operating at a senior or principal engineering level in scope and impact
Experience collaborating closely with product owners, architects, and engineering peers
Experience contributing to Agile planning, estimation, and delivery
Ownership of outcomes and drives work from design through implementation and validation
Aligns business strategy with software solutions.
Proposes, designs & codes software solutions to address complex business needs.
Oversees technical and procedural documentation required.
Leads complex problem solving.
Provides technical guidance and support to colleagues and solution development.
Displays an innovative approach to apply modern principles, methodologies and tools to advance business initiatives and capabilities.
Customer Focused - Knowledgeable of the values and practices that align customer needs and satisfaction as primary considerations in all business decisions and able to leverage that information in creating customized customer solutions.
Managing Risk - Assessing and effectively managing all of the risks associated with their business objectives and activities to ensure they adhere to and support PNC's Enterprise Risk Management Framework.
Bachelors degree
5+ years of industry-relevant experience

Nice To Haves

Ansible (Software)
Application Development
Back-End Development
Business Management
Customer Solutions
Design
Group Problem Solving
Process Improvements
Python (Programming Language)
Release Management
Software Solutions
User Experience (UX) Design

Responsibilities

Design, build, and maintain backend infrastructure that supports high availability and automated failover between data centers
Architect and implement resiliency solutions for distributed systems, including failover and failback workflows
Develop and manage automation for recovery operations using Ansible and Python
Lead disaster recovery testing and validate system resiliency and readiness
Collaborate closely with architects to align designs with long‑term resiliency goals
Partner with product owners to plan work, refine requirements, and size epics and user stories
Work within an Agile delivery environment, contributing to planning and execution
Establish and promote best practices for reliability, recovery, and continuity engineering
Mentor junior engineers through technical guidance and hands‑on collaboration
Contribute directly to backend development and operational improvements as needed
Operate as a senior individual contributor with a player‑coach mindset, spending most time on hands‑on development while providing technical leadership

Benefits

medical/prescription drug coverage (with a Health Savings Account feature)
dental and vision options
employee and spouse/child life insurance
short and long-term disability protection
401(k) with PNC match
pension and stock purchase plans
dependent care reimbursement account
back-up child/elder care
adoption, surrogacy, and doula reimbursement
educational assistance, including select programs fully paid
a robust wellness program with financial incentives
maternity and/or parental leave
up to 11 paid holidays each year
9 occasional absence days each year, unless otherwise required by law
between 15 to 25 vacation days each year, depending on career level; and years of service