Principal Engineer, Developer Experience

Allstate Insurance; Illinois; On-site; USD 199,000 - 274,000; Full time

Job summary

Allstate Insurance seeks a Principal Engineer to lead the Developer Experience organization, shaping technical strategy and adoption of tools, platforms, and capabilities used to build, test, deploy, secure, and operate software. This hands-on leader partners with engineering teams to improve productivity and deliver scalable, secure solutions that drive business outcomes.

The Director role emphasizes culture and travel to local offices, championing AI-assisted development and modern engineering

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field.
• 12+ years of software engineering experience, including experience leading engineering organizations, platform engineering teams, or developer experience functions.
• Hands-on experience building software and working directly with developer platforms, automation tools, and cloud-native technologies.
• Experience leveraging GitHub Copilot, AI-assisted engineering tools, large language models, and emerging agentic development capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Lead the vision, technical strategy, and execution of Allstate's Developer Experience program, ensuring engineers have access to modern, secure, and efficient development tools and platforms.
• Serve as a trusted advocate for the engineering community by gathering feedback and driving improvements to reduce friction and increase productivity.
• Remain actively engaged in software engineering practices, contributing to technical discussions, prototypes, automation initiatives, and platform improvements.
• Evaluate, validate, and govern developer tools, plugins, frameworks, and platform capabilities for security, reliability, and scalability.
• Champion the adoption of AI-assisted software development and emerging agentic capabilities.
• Partner with engineering leaders, architects, platform teams, and product stakeholders to create a seamless development experience.
• Drive innovation through experiments, proof-of-concepts, and assessments of emerging technologies.
• Establish metrics and KPIs focused on developer productivity, platform adoption, engineering satisfaction, and operational excellence.
• Build and lead high-performing teams while fostering technical excellence, learning, and customer-centric thinking.
• Influence enterprise-wide engineering standards and technology decisions across the SDLC.
• Lead globally distributed teams to deliver modern engineering capabilities with speed, quality, security, and reliability.

Skills

Developer Tools

GitHub Copilot

LLM Architecture

People Management

Software Development

Software Engineering

Stakeholder Influence

Stakeholder Management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field

Tools

GitHub Copilot

AI-assisted engineering tools

Job description

At Allstate, great things happen when our people work together to protect families and their belongings from life's uncertainties. And for more than 90 years, our innovative drive has kept us a step ahead of our customers' evolving needs. From advocating for seat belts, air bags and graduated driving laws, to being an industry leader in pricing sophistication, telematics, and, more recently, device and identity protection.

Job Description

The Principal Engineer leads Allstate's Developer Experience organization, driving the technical strategy, adoption, and continuous improvement of the tools, platforms, and capabilities engineers use to build, test, deploy, secure, and operate software. As a hands-on technical leader and advocate for the developer community, this individual partners closely with engineering teams to reduce friction, improve productivity, and enhance the overall development experience. The Principal Engineer champions modern engineering practices, AI-assisted development, and emerging agentic technologies while leading high-performing teams responsible for delivering scalable, secure, and innovative solutions that enable business outcomes.

As a Director you won't just deliver results - you drive our culture and shared purpose. At Allstate, we value in person connected experiences not just with your team but also other Allstaters. This may require travel within your local area or to one of our offices on a regular basis.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the vision, technical strategy, and execution of Allstate's Developer Experience program, ensuring engineers have access to modern, secure, and efficient development tools and platforms.
• Serve as a trusted advocate for the engineering community by continuously gathering feedback, understanding developer pain points, and driving improvements that reduce friction and increase productivity.
• Remain actively engaged in software engineering practices, contributing to technical discussions, prototypes, automation initiatives, and platform improvements.
• Evaluate, validate, and govern developer tools, plugins, frameworks, and platform capabilities before enterprise adoption to ensure security, reliability, and scalability.
• Champion the adoption of AI-assisted software development, including GitHub Copilot and emerging agentic engineering capabilities, identifying opportunities to improve developer effectiveness and software quality.
• Partner with engineering leaders, architects, platform teams, and product stakeholders to create a seamless and consistent development experience across the enterprise.
• Drive innovation through experimentation, proof-of-concepts, technical demonstrations, and continuous assessment of emerging technologies.
• Establish metrics and KPIs focused on developer productivity, platform adoption, engineering satisfaction, and operational excellence.
• Build and lead high-performing teams while fostering a culture of technical excellence, learning, innovation, and customer-centric thinking.
• Influence enterprise-wide engineering standards, best practices, and technology decisions that enhance the software development lifecycle.
• Lead globally distributed and cross-functional teams to deliver modern engineering capabilities that enable speed, quality, security, and reliability.

Skills & Capabilities

• Developer-first mindset with a passion for improving the engineering experience.
• Ability to influence technology strategy and drive adoption of new tools and practices across the enterprise.
• Proven change leadership and experience leading engineering transformation initiatives.
• Strong collaboration and relationship-building skills across engineering, product, and business teams.
• Demonstrated people leadership experience and developing high-performing teams.
• Effective communicator with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business value.
• Experience influencing vendor roadmaps and product strategies to align with evolving business objectives and operational priorities.

Experience

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, including experience leading engineering organizations, platform engineering teams, or developer experience functions.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience building software and working directly with developer platforms, automation tools, and cloud-native technologies.
• Experience leveraging GitHub Copilot, AI-assisted engineering tools, large language models, and emerging agentic development capabilities.
• Strong understanding of the end-to-end software development lifecycle and modern engineering practices.
• Proven ability to influence senior technical leaders and drive adoption of new technologies and engineering practices.
• Experience presenting technical concepts, facilitating demonstrations, and engaging directly with engineering communities.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• This job has supervisory duties.

Skills

• Developer Tools
• GitHub Copilot
• LLM Architecture
• People Management
• Software Development
• Software Engineering
• Stakeholder Influence
• Stakeholder Management

Compensation

Compensation offered for this role is 199,000.00 - 274,000.00 annually and is based on experience and qualifications.

The candidate(s) offered this position will be required to submit to a background investigation.

Joining our team isn't just a job - it's an opportunity. One that takes your skills and pushes them to the next level. One that encourages you to challenge the status quo. One where you can shape the future of protection while supporting causes that mean the most to you. Joining our team means being part of something bigger - a winning team making a meaningful impact.

Allstate generally does not sponsor individuals for employment-based visas for this position.

Effective July 1, 2014, under Indiana House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1242, it is against public policy of the State of Indiana and a discriminatory practice for an employer to discriminate against a prospective employee on the basis of status as a veteran by refusing to employ an applicant on the basis that they are a veteran of the armed forces of the United States, a member of the Indiana National Guard or a member of a reserve component.

It is the Company's policy to employ the best qualified individuals available for all jobs. Therefore, any discriminatory action taken on account of an employee's ancestry, age, color, disability, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual and reproductive health decision, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, race (include traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles), religion (including religious dress), sex, or sexual orientation that adversely affects an employee's terms or conditions of employment is prohibited. This policy applies to all aspects of the employment relationship, including, but not limited to, hiring, training, salary administration, promotion, job assignment, benefits, discipline, and separation of employment.

Allstate provides a comprehensive technology setup, including a laptop, monitors, headset, keyboard, and mouse. Employees eligible to work from home also receive a monthly connectivity reimbursement to help offset internet costs.

When working from home, you must have a dedicated, private workspace free from distractions, along with appropriate desk and seating. Reliable internet is required, with minimum speeds of 50 MB download and 5 MB upload.