Position OverviewAs a Senior Software Engineer Principal within PNC's Retail Tech organization, you will be based in Pittsburgh, PA, Strongsville, OH, Dallas, TX, Birmingham, AL or Canada.
The Contact Center Technology organization is seeking a highly experienced Senior Principal Engineer to provide strategic technical leadership for enterprise-scale API platforms supporting critical contact center capabilities. This individual will serve as the highest-level engineering authority across multiple API delivery crews, establishing technical direction, engineering standards, governance practices, and architectural patterns that drive consistency, scalability, security, resiliency, and operational excellence.
The ideal candidate combines deep hands-on engineering expertise with strong organizational leadership, influencing architecture decisions across multiple teams while championing modern software engineering practices, cloud-native development, DevOps automation, AI-assisted engineering, and platform governance.
This role will partner closely with engineering managers, architects, product owners, risk partners, and executive leadership to ensure technical solutions align with business strategy while maintaining disciplined engineering standards and delivery excellence.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Technology Leadership
• Define and execute the long-term API modernization and architecture strategy for Contact Center Technology.
• Establish enterprise API standards, governance models, and design review processes.
• Lead architecture decisions across multiple development crews and programs.
• Provide technical vision for future-state platform capabilities supporting customer and agent experiences.
• Influence engineering roadmaps and technology investment decisions.
API Governance & Engineering Excellence
• Own API governance standards include:
oVersioning strategies
oBackward compatibility
oContract management
oSecurity standards
oPerformance requirements
oDocumentation requirements
• Drive consistency across all API development teams.
• Lead technical reviews and architecture approval processes.
• Define and enforce coding standards, engineering best practices, and operational readiness requirements.
• Identify and eliminate recurring engineering anti-patterns and technical debt.
Cross-Crew Technical Leadership
• Provide technical oversight across multiple agile crews and initiatives.
• Resolve complex delivery conflicts involving architecture, ownership, dependencies, integrations, and platform standards.
• Establish accountability frameworks ensuring teams adhere to established governance and engineering disciplines.
• Serve as the final escalation point for technical disputes and architecture decisions.
• Mentor senior engineers, technical leads, architects, and engineering managers.
Platform & Cloud Engineering
Lead technical strategy and best practice leveraging:
• Java / Spring Boot / Micronaut
• RESTful APIs
• Event-driven architecture
• Kafka messaging platforms
• OpenShift / Kubernetes container platforms
• Cloud-native architecture
• API gateways and service mesh technologies
• Distributed system design
• High availability and resiliency patterns
• Performance engineering and scalability strategies
Observability & Operational Excellence
Establish enterprise standards and best practices utilizing:
• Dynatrace
• Elastic Search
• Kibana
• Distributed tracing
• Application monitoring
• Production support readiness
• Incident management
• Root cause analysis
• Automated alerting and operational dashboards
DevOps & Developer Experience
Provide technical leadership for CI/CD and modern engineering practices including:
• Jenkins
• GitHub Enterprise
• GitHub Actions
• Automated testing frameworks
• Infrastructure as Code
• Release automation
• Secure software development lifecycle practices
• Continuous delivery enablement
• Quality gates and deployment governance
AI-Assisted Engineering Leadership
Drive adoption of modern AI-enabled engineering practices:
• GitHub Copilot
• Prompt engineering techniques
• AI-assisted development standards
• AI-driven code review strategies
• Engineering productivity improvements
• Secure and compliant AI usage patterns
• Identification of code smells and maintainability issues
• Automated quality recommendations
Risk, Compliance & Security
• Ensure engineering solutions align with enterprise security and risk requirements.
• Provide leadership during audits, control reviews, and regulatory assessments.
• Define secure API design standards.
• Partner with risk, compliance, and technology governance organizations.
• Lead remediation strategies for systemic technical risks.
Required Qualifications
Experience
• 15+ years of software engineering experience.
• 10+ years designing and delivering enterprise-scale distributed systems.
• 8+ years leading large-scale API platforms.
• Demonstrated success influencing multiple teams without direct authority.
• Experience leading architecture and governance programs across large organizations.
• Proven record resolving complex cross-team technology conflicts.
Technical Expertise
Deep expertise in:
• API Architecture & Governance
• Java Development
• Spring Boot
• Micron (PNC specific Spring boot framework)
• Kafka
• OpenShift / Kubernetes
• Containerization Technologies
• Elastic Search
• Dynatrace
• CI/CD Pipelines
• Jenkins
• GitHub Enterprise
• Cloud Architectures
• Event-Driven Design
• Microservices
• Security Architecture
• DevOps Practices
• Observability Platforms
Leadership Competencies
• Exceptional executive communication skills.
• Strong conflict resolution and influence capabilities.
• Ability to lead through ambiguity.
• Strategic planning and organizational alignment.
• Technical mentoring and talent development.
• Governance and policy creation.
• Enterprise decision-making and prioritization.
Success Profile
The successful candidate will be recognized as the technical authority for Contact Center Technology APIs and will:
• Set and maintain enterprise API standards.
• Drive modernization and platform strategy.
• Ensure disciplined execution across multiple crews.
• Improve engineering quality, resiliency, and operational maturity.
• Accelerate adoption of AI-assisted software development.
• Build a culture of accountability, engineering excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to leadership on technology strategy and organizational direction.
This position is ideal for an engineering leader who combines deep technical expertise, strategic thinking, organizational influence, and a passion for building world-class API platforms at an enterprise scale.
PNC is an in-office company that fosters a supportive culture where employees can thrive and achieve balance. We encourage candidates to connect with their recruiter and hiring manager to understand workplace expectations and ensure the role aligns with their goals.
PNC will not provide sponsorship for employment visas or participate in STEM OPT for this position.
Job Description- Leads the design, development, and maintenance of software solutions across multiple product lines.
- Directs and consults on all phases of software engineering life cycle and troubleshoots technical problems as needed using agile methods.
- Leads complex problem solving and resolves workflow problems through automation optimization.
- Monitors security technology trends and ensures the adaptability of techniques to various system architectures. Encourages sound technology choices are made and drive innovative technology architecture and solution design.
- Provides technical guidance and support to colleagues and solution development.
PNC Employees take pride in our reputation and to continue building upon that we expect our employees to be:
- 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.
QualificationsSuccessful candidates must demonstrate appropriate knowledge, skills, and abilities for a role. Listed below are skills, competencies, work experience, education, and required certifications/licensures needed to be successful in this position.
Preferred SkillsApache Kafka, Application Development, Business Management, Customer Solutions, Design, Group Problem Solving, Java (Programming Language), Process Improvements, Red Hat OpenShift, Release Management, Software Solutions, Spring Boot, User Experience (UX) Design
CompetenciesApplication Design, Architecture, Coaching Others, Design Thinking, IT Environment, Problem Solving, Software Process Improvement (SPI), System Development Life Cycle, Technical Troubleshooting
Work ExperienceRoles at this level typically require a university / college degree. Higher level education such as a Masters degree, PhD, or certifications is desirable. Industry relevant experience is typically 8+ years. Specific certifications are often required. In lieu of a degree, a comparable combination of education, job specific certification(s), and experience (including military service) may be considered.
EducationBachelors
CertificationsNo Required Certification(s)
LicensesNo Required License(s)
Pay TransparencyBase Salary: $105,000.00 - $249,600.00
Salaries may vary based on geographic location, market data and on individual skills, experience, and education. This role is incentive eligible with the payment based upon company, business and/or individual performance.
Application WindowGenerally, this opening is expected to be posted for two business days from 07/06/2026, although it may be longer with business discretion.
BenefitsPNC offers a comprehensive range of benefits to help meet your needs now and in the future. Depending on your eligibility, options for full-time employees include: 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.
In addition, PNC generally provides the following paid time off, depending on your eligibility: 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.
To learn more about these and other programs, including benefits for full time and part-time employees, visit pncthrive.com.
