Principal Engineer - Director

2755 Barclays Services Corpor; United States; On-site; USD 225,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Barclays seeks a senior technology leader to drive design and implementation of robust software solutions, mentoring engineers and guiding cross-functional collaboration to align technology with business goals.

The role emphasizes architectural authority, security and regulatory compliance, and shaping product roadmaps while maintaining high standards for scalability and maintainability.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience in enterprise Java and banking/regulated environments.
• Strong architectural authority with design governance responsibilities.
• Experience mentoring senior engineers and shaping engineering culture.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of robust, scalable software solutions.
• Provide mentorship and coaching to engineering teams.
• Collaborate with product managers, designers, and stakeholders to translate requirements into technical solutions.
• Drive strategic planning to align technology with business goals and regulatory priorities.

Skills

Java 17+

Spring Boot

Spring Cloud

Distributed systems

Architecture leadership

Job description

Job Description Purpose of the role

To drive technical excellence and innovation by leading the design and implementation of robust software solutions, providing mentorship to engineering teams, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and contributing to strategic planning to ensure the delivery of high-quality solutions aligned with business objectives.

Accountabilities

Provision of guidance and expertise to engineering teams to ensure alignment with best practices and foster a culture of technical excellence. Contribution to strategic planning by aligning technical decisions with business goals, anticipating future technology trends, and providing insights to optimize product roadmaps. Design and implementation of complex, scalable, and maintainable software solutions, considering long-term viability and business objectives. Mentoring and coaching to junior and mid-level engineers to foster professional growth and knowledge sharing, elevating the overall skillset and capabilities of the organization. Collaboration with business partners, product managers, designers, and other stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical solutions and ensure a cohesive approach to product development. Innovation within the organization by identifying and incorporating new technologies, methodologies, and industry practices into the engineering process.

Director Expectations

To manage a business function, providing significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Contribute to and influence policy and procedures for the function and plan, manage and consult on multiple complex and critical strategic projects, which may be business wide.. They manage the direction of a large team or sub-function, leading other people managers and embedding a performance culture aligned to the values of the business. Or for an individual contributor, they lead organisation wide projects and act as deep technical expert and thought leader, identifying new ways of working and collaborating cross functionally. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions.. Provide expert advice to senior functional management and committees to influence decisions made outside of own function, offering significant input to function wide strategic initiatives. Manage, coordinate and enable resourcing, budgeting and policy creation for a significant sub-function. Escalates breaches of policies / procedure appropriately. Foster and guide compliance, ensure regulations are observed that relevant processes in place to facilitate adherence. Focus on the external environment, regulators, or advocacy groups to both monitor and influence on behalf of Barclays, when appropriate. Demonstrate extensive knowledge of how the function integrates with the business division / Group to achieve the overall business objectives. Maintain broad and comprehensive knowledge of industry theories and practices within own discipline alongside up‑to‑date relevant sector / functional knowledge, and insight into external market developments / initiatives. Use interpretative thinking and advanced analytical skills to solve problems and design solutions in often complex/ sensitive situations. Exercise management authority to make significant decisions and certain strategic decisions or recommendations within own area. Negotiate with and influence stakeholders at a senior level both internally and externally. Act as principal contact point for key clients and counterparts in other functions/ businesses divisions. Mandated as a spokesperson for the function and business division. All Senior Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others. All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.

Salary / Rate

Minimum: $225,000 Salary / Rate Maximum: $300,000 The minimum and maximum salary/rate information above includes only base salary or base hourly rate. It does not include any another type of compensation or benefits that may be available. Barclays employees are eligible for a suite of a competitive and generous employee benefits, including medical, dental and vision coverage, 401(k), life insurance, and other paid leave for qualifying circumstances. This position is eligible for an incentive award.

This role requires a senior technology leader with deep expertise in enterprise Java and corporate banking platforms, strong architectural authority, and a security‑first mindset. The ideal candidate combines hands‑on technical mastery with the ability to design, govern, and modernise complex, regulated systems, while also influencing engineering culture and aligning technology strategy with business and regulatory priorities. Candidates must have min 15 years experience.

Essential Skills

• Expert-level proficiency in modern Java (Java 17+), Spring Boot, and Spring Cloud within large-scale, mission-critical banking environments
• Proven experience designing and operating high-volume corporate banking platforms (payments, cash management, trade finance, liquidity, treasury)
• Strong command of distributed systems, event-driven architectures, APIs, data consistency, and streaming technologies (e.g. Kafka)
• Demonstrated leadership in enterprise and solution architecture, including microservices, cloud-native design, and legacy modernisation
• Ability to make and defend complex architectural trade-offs balancing performance, resilience, speed, risk, and regulatory compliance
• Deep understanding of security, risk, and regulatory controls, with security embedded across design, development, and deployment

Desirable Skills

• Strong corporate banking domain knowledge, translating business strategy and product needs into scalable technical solutions
• Strategic mindset to align technology roadmaps with growth, cost efficiency, and regulatory change
• Experience partnering with product, risk, operations, and senior architecture stakeholders
• Proven ability to mentor senior engineers and act as a technical role model across teams
• Drives engineering excellence through CI/CD, testing, observability, and operational best practices
• Influences engineering culture and maturity through leadership and example rather than formal authority

Our Work Experience

is the combination of everything that's unique about us: our culture, our core values, our company meetings, our commitment to sustainability, our recognition programs, but most importantly, it's our people.

Our employees are self‑disciplined, hard working, curious, trustworthy, humble, and truthful. They make choices according to what is best for the team, they live for opportunities to collaborate and make a difference, and they make us the #1 Top Workplace in the area.