Senior Software Engineer

We’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join our Experience Solutions technology team within Workplace Savings & Retirement Solutions (WSRS). In this role, you’ll play a key part in the evolution of our digital experiences team. You’ll work primarily in the front-end space, building modern, customer-facing experiences using React, Next.js, and AWS. You’ll lead through influence, helping teams collaborate effectively, improving engineering practices, and partnering with architects and leaders to drive strategy.

You’ll have the opportunity to

• Lead the design and delivery of modern, secure, and scalable front-end solutions that directly impact retirement customers
• Influence technical direction and contribute to architecture decisions during a significant modernization and decoupling effort
• Collaborate within an Agile product team, partnering with engineers, product, design, and stakeholders to solve complex problems
• Mentor and elevate other engineers through code reviews, pairing, knowledge sharing, and informal technical leadership
• Build and deploy cloud-based applications running in AWS, using CI/CD pipelines and modern DevOps practices
• Use AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot) to improve productivity, testing, and code quality
• Champion engineering excellence with a focus on performance, reliability, accessibility, and maintainability
• Stay current with industry trends and propose modern technologies to improve our front-end stack

As Principal continues to modernize its systems, this role will offer you an exciting opportunity to build solutions that will directly impact our long-term strategy and tech stack, all while ensuring that our products are robust, scalable, and secure!

Operating at the intersection of financial services and technology, Principal builds financial tools that help our customers live better lives. We take pride in being a purpose-led firm, motivated by our mission to make financial security accessible to all. Our mission, integrity, and customer focus have made us a trusted leader for more than 140 years., This role offers in-office, hybrid (blending at least three office days in a typical workweek), and remote work arrangements (only if residing more than 30 miles from Des Moines, IA, Charlotte, NC, or Raleigh, NC). You’ll work with your leader to figure out which option may align best based on several factors.

• Associate or bachelor’s degree (preference in a computer science, technology, engineering or math-related field or equivalent experience) and 6+ years work experience or equivalent experience.
• Professional experience with either React, Next.js, Angular or similar frameworks and modern component-based development
• Experience contributing to system design, technical decision-making, or reusable solutions using JavaScript/TypeScript
• Strong communicator with a growth mindset and curiosity for learning new technologies and approaches
• Comfortable collaborating with distributed teams and cross-functional partners.
• Experience elevating the people around you - coaching, mentoring, and helping others grow through thoughtful feedback and knowledge sharing
• Hands-on experience working with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Skills That Will Help You Stand Out

• Deep understanding of full stack development
• Experience serving as technical lead
• Experience modernizing legacy systems
• Track record of building team culture
• Demonstrating a product mindset
• Using AI tools, Github copilot, etc.

Salary ranges below reflect targeted base salaries. Non-sales positions have the opportunity to participate in a bonus program. Sales positions are eligible for sales incentives, and in some instances a bonus plan, whereby total compensation may far exceed base salary depending on individual performance. Actual compensation for all roles will be based upon geographic location, work experience, education, licensure requirements and/or skill level and will be finalized at the time of offer.

Salary Range (Non-Exempt expressed as hourly; Exempt expressed as yearly)

$104400 - $187200 / year

Salary Details

The following locations are examples of market-specific salary ranges across different geographies.

• Wichita, KS: $104,400 - 140,400 / year
• Des Moines, IA/Charlotte, NC/Raleigh, NC: $116,000- $156,000 / year
• Chicago/Minneapolis: $127,600- $171,600 / year
• Los Angeles/New York City: $139,200 - $187,200 / year

Time Off Program

Flexible Time Off (FTO) is provided to salaried (exempt) employees and provides the opportunity to take time away from the office with pay for vacation, personal or short-term illness. Employees don’t accrue a bank of time off under FTO and there is no set number of days provided.

Nonimmigrant Workers (https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-nonimmigrant-workers) and Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants (https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-for-employment-based-immigrants), At Principal, we value connecting on both a personal and professional level. Together, we’re imagining a more purpose-led future for financial services - and that starts with you. Our success depends on the unique experiences, backgrounds, and talents of our employees. And we support our employees the same way we support our customers: with comprehensive, competitive benefit offerings crafted to protect their physical, financial, and social well-being. Check out our careers site (https://www.principal.com/about-us/careers) to learn more about our purpose, values and benefits.