Sr. Principal Engineer, Employee Experience (Hybrid - Seattle, WA)

Nordstrom•Seattle, WA

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

Nordstrom is seeking a Sr. Principal Engineer to define and drive the technical strategy, architecture, and engineering standards for systems supporting its financial operations, people processes, and workplace collaboration. The role spans enterprise finance and ERP systems, HR and talent platforms, and productivity and collaboration tools used by Nordstrom employees. It will shape how engineering teams design, secure, and scale technology for Finance, HR, and the workplace experience. The engineer will work with executives and leaders across Finance, HR, Nordstrom Technology, and business functions to translate enterprise priorities into technical roadmaps. The role establishes architectural foundations for operational excellence, employee experience, and AI-enabled productivity, and leads through strategic influence across teams and business functions.

Requirements

15+ years of experience in software engineering, systems architecture, or platform engineering, with progression to strategic, enterprise-scope technical leadership.
Hands-on experience architecting or engineering solutions across enterprise finance systems, HR/HCM platforms, and productivity/collaboration tools.
Deep expertise in enterprise integration patterns, APIs, event-driven architecture, and data flows connecting core business systems.
Demonstrated ability to lead through influence and build consensus with engineering, product, and business stakeholders.
Working knowledge of security, privacy, and regulatory considerations relevant to financial and employee data systems, including Segregation of Duties, SOC, data privacy, and access governance.
Expertise with multiple cloud platforms and modern application architectures, and enterprise SaaS ecosystems sufficient to evaluate build-versus-buy tradeoffs.
Ability to connect technical architecture to business outcomes and communicate value to executive stakeholders across Finance, HR, and Technology.
Track record of developing engineering talent and building cross-functional partnerships across teams not directly managed.

Nice To Haves

Experience with Workday or similar HR/HCM platforms.
Experience with Microsoft 365, ServiceNow, Slack, or similar productivity and collaboration tools.
AWS and GCP expertise are preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop and communicate a multi-year technical vision and roadmap for Finance, HR, Productivity, and Collaboration systems, aligned with enterprise architecture, cloud strategy, and AI ambitions.
Own architecture and design patterns for financial systems, HR systems, and productivity and collaboration platforms.
Establish SaaS integration patterns, API standards, event schemas, and data contracts connecting business systems to the broader enterprise.
Lead design and delivery of large-scale, cross-functional initiatives such as platform modernizations, vendor migrations, technical debt deprecations, and system consolidations.
Define architecture patterns for identity, access control, and data protection appropriate for sensitive financial and HR data.
Partner with security, privacy, and compliance teams to meet PCI, SOC, data privacy, and audit requirements.
Identify opportunities for AI, AI-native automation, SaaS AI features, and self-service capabilities in finance, HR, and workplace processes.
Guide teams evaluating AI-enabled tools, including conversational assistants, intelligent document processing, and workflow automation.
Set technical standards and best practices across the Finance, HR, and Productivity & Collaboration engineering portfolio.
Mentor senior and principal engineers, participate in architecture reviews, and advise on technical career growth and promotions.