Principal Software Engineer

About Northern Trust:

Northern Trust, a Fortune 500 company, is a globally recognized, award-winning financial institution that has been in continuous operation since 1889.

Northern Trust is proud to provide innovative financial services and guidance to the world's most successful individuals, families, and institutions by remaining true to our enduring principles of service, expertise, and integrity. With more than 130 years of financial experience and over 22,000 partners, we serve the world's most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

R150312 Principal Software Engineer

Role Overview

The Principal Software Engineer in NTAM Investments Technology is a senior technical leader responsible for architecting and delivering scalable software and data platforms with a strong emphasis on Python-based services, data engineering, and production-grade AI/ML enablement. This role partners closely with engineers, product owners, architects, and business stakeholders in NTAM Investments to build secure, reliable, and high-performance systems, while setting engineering standards and mentoring other engineers.

The ideal candidate has deep hands-on expertise in Python (PySpark/FastAPI), React, strong SQL and data modeling capabilities, experience deploying on Microsoft Azure, and demonstrated ability to operationalize AI-driven applications by integrating machine learning models into production systems.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Technical ownership, clearly communicate trade-offs, risks, and dependencies to senior investment and technology stakeholders.
• Lead the design, development, and deployment of scalable solutions using Python, Azure services, and SQL-based data platforms
• Define and enforce coding standards, architecture best practices, and development workflows through design and code reviews
• Drive modern architecture patterns including API-driven microservices and event-driven (pub/sub) systems
• Partner closely with partners and contractors in offshore to deliver solutions and improve productivity using AI tools like Github Copilot.

AI Tools Enablement (Developer Productivity & Governance)

• Champion adoption of GitHub Copilot as an AI-assisted development capability (pair programming, refactoring, debugging, test generation) while ensuring SDLC discipline remains intact (peer review, testing, approvals, CI gates, scanning).
• Establish and maintain Copilot instruction files and reusable agent skills to encode team conventions (architecture guardrails, naming/testing standards, security expectations), reducing repetitive prompting and improving consistency of generated output across repositories.
• Define and scale an agentic SDLC approach where AI agents assist across the lifecycle (requirements/backlog drafting support, code scaffolding, test automation, documentation), with engineers retaining accountability for design decisions and quality gates.
• Partner with DevOps / platform teams to drive measurable outcomes from AI-assisted delivery (e.g., cycle time improvements, testing automation adoption) and proactively manage bottlenecks created by increased PR throughput and review load.
• Promote responsible and secure AI usage patterns, including guidance around prompt hygiene, data minimization, and avoiding unsafe behaviors (e.g., prompt injection risks, unsafe code generation) when using agents and AI assistants.

Data Engineering & Platform Foundations

• Design and optimize SQL data models, queries, and stored procedures in Snowflake for performance and scalability
• Build and integrate data pipelines and ETL workflows using Python and orchestration tools (e.g., Azure Data Factory or similar)
• Develop data-driven backend services using Python tooling such as Pandas, NumPy, and high-performance APIs (e.g., FastAPI)
• Drive CI/CD pipeline automation and deployment best practices using Git-based workflows and cloud-native tooling
• Establish strong testing and quality standards, including unit testing and API test automation
• Lead troubleshooting of complex production issues, perform root-cause analysis, and implement durable fixes

Collaboration, Influence & Mentorship

• Partner cross-functionally with engineering, QA, DevOps, and product teams to deliver cohesive solutions
• Mentor and coach engineers across levels, raising the overall technical bar
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders and influence architectural decisions

Domain Knowledge (Highly Preferred)

• Experience with solutioning and integrating with Axioma portfolio optimizer, Risk models and developing Optimization constraints for Fixed Income portfolio construction.
• Understanding of Asset Management Investments asset classes (equities, fixed income, alternatives), portfolio theory, and investment constraints.
• Experience with Aladdin Enterprise/Charles River (CRD), Bloomberg AIM or other Portfolio and Order Management, integrating Aladdin SaaS to develop Investment tools and processes.
• Experience with financial data providers (e.g., Bloomberg, FactSet, MSCI) and APIs.

Salary Range:

$137,400 - 233,600 USD

Salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package including retirement benefits (401k and pension), health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability), paid time off, parental and caregiver leave, life & accident insurance, and other voluntary and well-being benefits. Northern Trust also provides a discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component.

Working with Us:

As a Northern Trust partner, greater achievements await. You will be part of a flexible and collaborative work culture in an organization where financial strength and stability is an asset that emboldens us to explore new ideas.

Movement within the organization is encouraged, senior leaders are accessible, and you can take pride in working for a company committed to assisting the communities we serve! Join a workplace with a greater purpose.

We'd love to learn more about how your interests and experience could be a fit with one of the world's most admired and sustainable companies! Build your career with us and apply today. #MadeForGreater

Reasonable accommodation

Northern Trust is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please email our HR Service Center at [email protected] .

We hope you're excited about the role and the opportunity to work with us. We value an inclusive workplace and understand flexibility means different things to different people.

Apply today and talk to us about your flexible working requirements and together we can achieve greater.