Principal Software Architect
Position Summary
As a Principal Architect, you will play a key role in bringing innovative ideas to life and driving the adoption of emerging technologies across the enterprise. This role provides architectural leadership, governance, and oversight at both the business platform and technical platform levels. You will partner with cross functional teams, including business leaders, product managers, software engineers, cybersecurity professionals, and senior executives to design scalable, secure, and high performing solutions that align with enterprise standards and strategic objectives.
The Principal Architect will present architecture strategies, designs, and recommendations to Architecture Review Boards, technology leadership, and business stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
• Participate in architecture, design, and code reviews to ensure solutions align with enterprise standards, security requirements, and best practices.
• Design and develop reusable frameworks, services, interfaces, and platforms that support scalability and consistency across the enterprise.
• Collaborate with engineering teams and technology leaders to define technical direction and drive architectural alignment.
• Influence solution design and implementation to achieve measurable business outcomes.
• Provide post implementation support, including troubleshooting, coaching, and stakeholder enablement.
• Conduct research and technical analysis to evaluate technologies and recommend solutions.
• Perform long term technology trend analysis and provide recommendations for future investments.
• Analyze system performance, operational metrics, and control reports to identify improvement opportunities.
• Drive innovation through the evaluation, adoption, and implementation of new technologies.
• Ensure cybersecurity principles and controls are incorporated into all solution designs.
Required Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in software development, engineering, or solution architecture.
• Hands on experience delivering end to end software solutions for complex, multi tier applications.
• Strong understanding of enterprise architecture concepts, patterns, and best practices.
• Experience with systems analysis, process analysis, and solution design.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate technical concepts to non technical audiences.
• Experience working with relational and non relational database technologies, including RDBMS and NoSQL platforms.
• Experience designing and building highly available, resilient, customer facing applications.
• Experience building cloud native applications and distributed systems.
• Experience designing, developing, and integrating APIs.
• Experience modernizing monolithic applications into microservices based architectures.
• Experience identifying automation opportunities and improving application performance and operational efficiency.
• Experience implementing large scale technology transformations, platform modernization initiatives, or strategic technology migrations.
• Expertise in at least two of the following areas: • Infrastructure • Cybersecurity • DevOps • Application Development • Database Technologies • Cloud Platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
Preferred Qualifications
• Experience in the financial services or banking industry.
• Understanding of consumer banking, commercial banking, or custodial banking environments.
• Experience working with sensitive financial data and regulated environments.
• Strong business analysis, stakeholder management, and presentation skills.
• Experience incorporating cybersecurity principles into application and platform architecture.
• Knowledge of multiple programming languages and frameworks, such as: • Java • JavaScript • Python • Golang • Ruby • C/C++ • Angular • React • Vue.js
• Understanding of UI/UX principles and application design best practices.
Education
• Required: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Pay Transparency
• The salary range for this position is $150,000 to $190,000 per year, plus an opportunity to earn additional incentive earnings. Actual pay is based on various factors including, but not limited to, the budget, work location, and relevant skills and experience.
Benefits
Comprehensive benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement plans, parental leave, flexible work arrangements, education reimbursement, wellness programs, and generous paid time off exceeding local requirements.
Citizens Benefits Overview
For an overview of our benefits, visit our Careers site - https://jobs.citizensbank.com/benefits.
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Equal Employment Opportunity
Citizens, its parent, subsidiaries, and related companies (Citizens) provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all colleagues and applicants for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, citizenship, physical or mental disability, perceived disability or history or record of a disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, genetic characteristic, marital or domestic partner status, victim of domestic violence, family status/parenthood, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, pregnancy/childbirth/lactation, colleague’s or a dependent’s reproductive health decision making, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or any other category protected by federal, state and/or local laws. At Citizens, we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture that enables all colleagues to bring their best selves to work every day and everyone is expected to be treated with respect and professionalism. Employment decisions are based solely on merit, qualifications, performance and capability.
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Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the candidate successfully passing a background check, which may include initial credit, motor vehicle record, public record, prior employment verification, and criminal background checks. Results of the background check are individually reviewed based upon legal requirements imposed by our regulators and with consideration of the nature and gravity of the background history and the job offered. Any offer of employment will include further information.
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