Principal Software Engineer

Ally Bank; Charlotte (NC); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

401K matching

Tuition reimbursement

Life insurance

Employee health benefits

Job summary

Ally Financial is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to provide technical leadership for a product area, platform, or complex initiative. You will guide architecture and direction, solve high-impact problems, and raise engineering quality across teams.

You will remain technically engaged while mentoring others and applying AI-assisted development practices to deliver secure, scalable software. This role emphasizes collaboration with product, security, and cross-functional teams in a dynamic

Qualifications

• 7+ years of relevant software engineering experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or equivalent.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction and guide architecture, design, integration, and implementation decisions.
• Lead complex technical initiatives from strategy and design through production.
• Serve as escalation point for high-impact technical decisions.
• Translate business priorities into clear technical direction.
• Establish engineering standards and guide modernization decisions.
• Mentor engineers across experience levels and raise technical capability across teams.
• Evaluate and drive adoption of tools, frameworks, automation, and AI-assisted development practices.

Skills

Technical leadership

Architecture

AI-assisted development

Communication

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/CE

Tools

Python

Java

Node.js

React/Angular

AWS/Azure

Job description

Ally and Your Career
Ally Financial only succeeds when its people do - and that’s more than some cliché people put on job postings. We love this stuff! We see our people as, well, people - with interests, families, friends, dreams, and causes that are all important to them. Our focus is on the health and safety of our teammates as well as work-life balance and diversity and inclusion. From generous benefits to a variety of employee resource groups, we strive to build paths that encourage employees to stretch themselves professionally. We want to help you grow, develop, and learn new things. You’re constantly evolving, so shouldn’t your opportunities be, too?
Work Schedule: Ally designates roles as (1) fully on-site, (2) hybrid, or (3) fully remote. Hybrid roles are generally expected to be in the office a certain number of days per week as indicated by your manager. Your hiring manager will discuss this role's specific work requirements with you during the hiring process. All work requirements are subject to change at any time based on leader discretion and/or business need.

The Opportunity

As a Principal Software Engineer at Ally, you will provide technical leadership for a product area, platform, or complex engineering initiative. You will guide architecture and technical direction, solve high-impact problems, and establish practices that keep our software secure, resilient, and scalable. You will remain technically engaged while raising engineering quality and effectiveness across teams.
Principal Engineers should be able to guide technical change and apply AI-assisted development based on practical engineering and business value.
At this time, Ally will not sponsor a new applicant for employment authorization for this position.

The Work Itself

• Set technical direction and guide architecture, design, integration, and implementation decisions.

• Lead complex technical initiatives from strategy and design through production.

• Serve as an escalation point and authoritative reviewer for high-impact technical decisions.

• Translate business and product priorities into clear, achievable technical direction.

• Establish engineering standards and guide pragmatic modernization decisions.

• Mentor engineers across experience levels and raise technical capability across teams.

• Evaluate and drive adoption of tools, frameworks, automation, and AI-assisted development practices.

Why Ally: At Ally, Principal Engineers shape technology at meaningful scale. You will help teams support critical platforms today while influencing the architecture, tools, and engineering practices that define what comes next.

The Qualifications We’re Looking For

Minimum Qualifications

• 7+ years of relevant experience

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or equivalent

Preferred Qualifications

• Significant professional software engineering experience, including leading complex technical initiatives.

• Deep expertise in at least one engineering domain with broad architectural and system-design knowledge.

• A record of influencing technical direction and improving engineering quality across teams.

• Strong judgment when resolving ambiguous, high-scope, or business-critical problems.

• Strong communication and influence skills with technical and nontechnical stakeholders.

Core Technologies

• Deep experience with some of the following: Python, Java, Node.js, JavaScript/TypeScript, React, React Native, Angular, Spring, REST APIs, automated testing, CI/CD, Git, AWS or Azure, and connecting to backend SQL databases.

Qualified candidates may be considered for multiple software engineering opportunities supporting Bank and Corporate Finance Tech or Dealer Financial Services Tech. Team placement will be determined based on candidate experience, business need, and overall fit.

How We’ll Have Your Back
Ally’s compensation program offers market-competitive base pay and pay-for-performance incentives (bonuses) based on achieving personal and company goals. Our Total Rewards program includes industry-leading compensation and benefits plus additional incentives that are designed to meet your needs and those of your family so you can get the most out of your career and your life, including:
Time Away: Program starts at 20 paid time off days in addition to 11 paid holidays and 8 hours of volunteer time off yearly (time off days are prorated based on start date and program varies based on full or part-time status and management level).
Planning for the Future: plan for the near and long term with an industry-leading 401K retirement savings plan with matching and company contributions, student loan pay downs and 529 educational save up assistance programs, tuition reimbursement, employee stock purchase plan, and financial learning center and financial coach access.
Supporting your Health & Well-being: flexible health and insurance options including medical, dental and vision, employee, spouse and child life insurance, short- and long-term disability, pre-tax Health Savings Account with employer contributions, Healthcare FSA, critical illness, accident & hospital indemnity insurance, and a total well-being program that helps you and your family stay on track physically, socially, emotionally, and financially.
Building a Family: adoption, surrogacy and fertility assistance as well as paid parental and caregiver leave, Dependent Day Care FSA back-up child and adult/elder care days and childcare discounts.
Work-Life Integration: other benefits including Mentally Fit Employee Assistance Program, subsidized and discounted Weight Watchers program and other employee discount programs.
Other Compensations: depending on the role for which you are considered, you may be eligible for travel allowances, relocation assistance, a signing bonus and/or equity.
To view more detailed information about Ally’s Total Rewards, please visit https://www.ally.com/content/dam/pdf/corporate/ally-total-rewards-snapshot.pdf

Who We Are:
Ally Financial is a customer-centric, leading digital financial services company with passionate customer service and innovative financial solutions. We are relentlessly focused on "Doing it Right" and being a trusted financial-services provider to our consumer, commercial, and corporate customers. For more information, visit www.ally.com.

Ally is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy status, marital status, military or veteran status, genetic disposition or any other reason protected by law.

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, if afterreview of the position expectations, you believe that you may need a medical accommodation to fulfill the duties of this role, please email [e-mail] with details of your accommodationrequest.

Base Pay Range

$110,000.00 - $180,000.00

An individual's position in the range is determined by the specific role, the scope and responsibilities of the role, work experience, education, certification(s), training, and additional qualifications. We review internal pay, the competitive market, and business environment prior to extending an offer.

Incentive Compensation:

This position is eligible to participate in our annual incentive plan.