What You'll Do
As a Software Engineer on the Customer Experience Technology team, you will be focusing on building digital capabilities that can be applied across Principal products and experiences around the globe. In this role, you'll work to provide the best customer experience for our clients through innovative technology platforms while building out cloud capabilities with AWS.
As a member of the team, you will:
Be a true full stack engineer. Our teams focus on delivering the best products for our customers which means you will have the opportunity to do work like build out AWS infrastructure using CDK, create excellent front end mobile and web experiences leveraging React and TypeScript, and collaborate with team members leveraging GitHub.
Leverage the latest AWS serverless technologies (API Gateway, CloudFront, EventBridge, Lambda, S3, Step Functions, etc.) to build out some of Principal's highest trafficked mobile and web experiences.
Work in a highly dynamic environment with very strong technical and product team members. You'll have the opportunity to grow your skillset everyday learning from others and bringing your ideas to the table.
Stay current and engagedon industry trends. Through your day-to-day work, you'll have many opportunities to utilize new tools and technologies. We also have weekly team learning sessions, monthly opportunities to build on a project or solve a problem of your choosing, and many more company-wide communities to help you grow.
Contribute to the culture of sharing ideas and celebrating creativity. We value transparency and are also active maintainers and contributors to many of the company's innersourcing projects.
Focused on highest impact, most critical, future-facing decisions and guidance, advancing us technically and affecting business success. Primary expert in multiple areas of our stack, deeply knowledgeable in several domains.
Anticipate broad technical change and ensures the company is always ahead of the curve. Understands deeply the entire architecture for a major part of our business and is able to articulate clearly the scaling and reliability limits of that area.
Understand deeply the entire architecture for a major part of the business and articulate clearly the scaling and reliability limits of that area. Quickly break down complex problems into potential solutions; knowns, and unknowns, in order to get to resolutions faster.
Communicate multi-year technical strategy and lead the team in identifying further strategic areas for development. Nurture external contacts and peer group interaction. Consult with business partners on future technical trends/direction to meet business strategy initiatives.
Identify areas that the company can share effectively with the outside world and guide the creation of content and communication around these areas
Lead conversations internally about the direction of major areas of technology, drive wide-team consensus to the adoption of this direction and inspire engineers.
Create architecture that enables many potential futures without knowing exactly what the future is. Identify technology strategic growth opportunities that enable the company to grow.
Perform other job-related duties or special projects as required.
Who You Are
Associate's or bachelor's degree (preference in a computer science, technology, engineering or math-related field or equivalent experience) and 10+ years work experience or equivalent experience
Proven experience as an IT professional
Ability to obtain certification(s) in an IT related field is a plus
Basic knowledge of insurance and financial services products preferred
Knowledge of business unit applications preferred
Advanced planning, organizational, problem-solving, analytical, decision-making and communication skills required
Proficiency with database applications, knowledge of mainframe, distributed and/or web programming language
Strong leadership and presentation skills required
Must be able to maintain a high degree of accuracy and confidentiality
Must have the desire to learn new technology and continuously grow
Ability to work on cross-functional teams and collaborate with both It and non-IT partners
Some travel may be required, including overnight stays
Additional Preferred Technical Skills:
Familiarity with Agile methodology
Familiarity with CI/CD
AWS serverless technologies (API Gateway, CloudFront, EventBridge, Lambda, S3, Step Functions, etc.)
Experience with GitHub and leveraging Git
Experience with Atlassian Jira and Confluence
API Best practices
Salary Range Information
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)
$137000 - $165000 / 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.
Pension Eligible
Yes
Work Environments
This position is located in our corporate office in Des Moines, IA, and offers in-office, hybrid (blending at least three office days in a typical workweek) in Des Moines, IA.
Hours
This role will partner with our global teams and has an expectation for flexibility in your work schedule. Hours may start at 7:00 a.m. and there may be some on-call work.
Our Engineering Culture
Through our product-driven Agile/Lean DevOps environment, we've fostered a culture of innovation and experimentation across our development teams. As a customer-focused organization, we work closely with our end users and product owners to understand and rapidly respond to emerging business needs.
Collaboration is embedded into everything we do - from the products we develop to the quality service we provide. We're driven by the belief that diversity of thought, background, and perspective is critical to creating the best products and experiences for our customers.
Work Authorization/Sponsorship
At this time, we're not considering applicants that need any @type of immigration sponsorship (additional work authorization or permanent work authorization) now or in the future to work in the United States. This includes, but IS NOT LIMITED TO: F1-OPT, F1-CPT, H-1B, TN, L-1, J-1, etc. For additional information around work authorization needs please use the following links.
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)
Investment Code of Ethics
For Principal Asset Management positions, you'll need to follow an Investment Code of Ethics related to personal and business conduct as well as personal trading activities for you and members of your household. These same requirements may also apply to other positions across the organization.
Experience Principal
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.
Principal is an Equal Opportunity Employer
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.
Posting Window
We will accept applications for 3 full days following the Original Posting Date, after which the posting may remain open or be removed based upon applications received. If we choose to post the job again, we will accept additional applications for at least 1 full day following the Most Recently Posted Date. Please submit applications in a timely manner as there is no guarantee the posting will be available beyond the applicable deadline.
Original Posting Date
11/10/2025
Most Recently Posted Date
11/11/2025
