Associate Director - Engineering

Principal Financial Group; Hyderabad; On-site; INR 4,500,000 - 7,500,000; Full time

Job summary

Principal Financial Group in Hyderabad seeks an Associate Director - Engineering to lead enterprise-scale programs, drive modernization, and set technical strategy. You will mentor senior specialists, shape architecture, and partner with business leaders to deliver measurable outcomes.

The role emphasizes collaboration, governance, and execution excellence across IS, with a focus on cloud adoption, automation, and platform transformation to sustain enterprise-wide impact.

Qualifications

• 18+ years of experience in engineering leadership.
• Experience leading enterprise-scale technology initiatives and senior teams.
• Strong expertise in cloud, infrastructure, AI/automation, reliability, modernization, and security.

Responsibilities

• Lead GCH - IS Capability Maturity strategy and deploy specialist teams.
• Drive technology modernization, automation, cloud adoption, and platform transformation.
• Establish engagement models, governance, and success metrics for initiatives.
• Build and mentor a team of senior technical specialists.
• Deliver reusable frameworks, accelerators, and guidelines across IS.
• Collaborate with business and technology leaders to deliver outcomes.
• Influence senior leaders across business and technology functions.
• Foster multi-functional collaboration for enterprise-wide impact.
• Act as trusted technical leader for enterprise architecture and transformation initiatives.

Skills

Cloud

Infra/Platform Eng

AI & Automation

Reliability Engineering

Infrastructure Modernization

Security Engineering

Education

Engineering degree or equivalent

Tools

AWS

Azure

Kubernetes

CKA

SAFe Agilist

Job description

What Makes This Opportunity Unique

At Principal, we foster a culture of innovation and collaboration, where your expertise and enthusiasm can truly make a difference. As the Associate Director - Engineering, you will lead critical initiatives that require deep technical knowledge, critical thinking, and flawless execution. This role offers an outstanding opportunity to influence our technology direction and drive significant enterprise-wide impact!

What You'll Do

At Principal, we foster a culture of innovation and collaboration, where your expertise and enthusiasm can truly make a difference. As the Associate Director - Engineering, you will lead critical initiatives that require deep technical knowledge, critical thinking, and flawless execution. This role offers an outstanding opportunity to influence our technology direction and drive significant enterprise-wide impact!

Primary Responsibilities

• Contribute to the GCH - IS Capability Maturity strategy and deploy specialist teams to accelerate strategic enterprise initiatives.
• Drive technology modernization, engineering maturity, automation, cloud adoption, and platform transformation.
• Establish engagement models, execution standards, governance, and success metrics for high-impact initiatives.
• Build and mentor a team of senior technical specialists, strengthening organizational capability and technical depth.
• Deliver reusable frameworks, accelerators, playbooks, and guidelines that scale across IS.
• Work alongside business and technology leaders to tackle complex challenges, guide strategy, and deliver measurable outcomes.
• Influence senior leaders and collaborators across business and technology functions.
• Foster multi-functional collaboration to accelerate enterprise-wide outcomes.
• Act as a trusted technical leader for enterprise architecture, engineering excellence, innovation, and transformation initiatives.

Secondary Responsibilities

• Contribute to department and organization-level high-level initiatives.
• Represent the Automation vertical within various technical and other forums within PFG and the industry.

Required Qualifications

• 18+ years
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, or related fields, or equivalent professional experience (B.E. / B.Tech / M.S. / M.Tech / MCA).
• Demonstrable experience leading senior technical teams and enterprise-scale technology initiatives.
• Strong expertise in one or more areas such as Cloud, Infrastructure/Platform Engineering, AI & Automation, Reliability Engineering, Infrastructure Modernization, Security Engineering.
• Established skill in guiding technology strategy and managing delivery across several teams and areas.
• Strong engineering approach with hands-on technical credibility.
• Experience leading large-scale change, modernization, or capability-building programs.
• Excellent collaborator management, communication, and executive engagement skills.

Preferred Certifications

• AWS Solutions Architect Professional, Azure Solutions Architect Expert, or equivalent cloud certification.
• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA) or equivalent platform certification.
• CCNA or equivalent certification around Network & Infrastructure.
• SAFe Agilist, Scrum, or Agile leadership certification.

Required Behavioral Proficiencies

• Make sound business decisions.
• Embrace Change.
• Build positive relationships.
• Get results.
• Act Strategically.
• Lead and Cultivate Talent.

Why Principal

At Principal, we offer a setting where your expertise and passion for security can thrive. If you are ready to join a positive group committed to quality and creativity, we want to connect with you!

Our Engineering Culture

In our 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 grasp and quickly address emerging business needs. Collaboration is embedded in every part of our work - from the products we create to the outstanding service we provide. We are driven by the belief that diversity of thought, background, and perspective is essential to designing the highest-quality products and experiences for our customers. Join us and become part of a highly ambitious team committed to delivering outstanding solutions!