Principal Software Engineer II

Walgreens; Deerfield (IL); Hybrid; USD 166,000 - 282,000; Full time

Job summary

Walgreens is seeking a Principal Software Engineer II to act as a senior technical authority and hands-on leader for Digital and Store technology platforms within the Retail Consumer and Digital organization.

The role focuses on architecting, building, and troubleshooting complex distributed systems powering Walgreens’ online, mobile, and store ecosystems, while advancing engineering excellence and AI-assisted development practices.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field with extensive software engineering background.
• Experience writing code for complex online applications, microservices or mobile apps.
• Strong knowledge of algorithms, systems, architecture and low-level concepts.
• Experience with Unix/Linux, C++, Java, or Node; SOA experience.
• Proven leadership and mentoring of cross-functional teams.
• Experience influencing financial decisions and cross-functional collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Architect, design, build and troubleshoot distributed systems powering Walgreens online, mobile and store tech ecosystems.
• Lead technical decisions, reviews, and architectural direction across teams.
• Write code, review designs, and debug production issues.
• Drive engineering excellence and modern architecture practices across lifecycle.

Skills

C++

Java

Distributed systems

Leadership

Mentoring

Un*x/Linux

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related

Master's degree in Computer Science or related

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Azure

AWS

Job description

Job Summary

Walgreens is seeking a Principal Software Engineer II to serve as a senior technical authority and hands‑on engineering leader supporting highly strategic Digital and Store technology platforms within the Retail Consumer and Digital organization.

This role is responsible for architecting, designing, building, and troubleshooting complex distributed systems that power Walgreens’ online, mobile, and store technology ecosystems. The position plays a key role in driving engineering excellence, modern architecture practices, and the adoption of AI‑assisted development tools across the software development lifecycle.

The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with strong hands‑on engineering capability, including writing code, reviewing designs, debugging production issues, analyzing thread or memory dumps, and helping engineering teams resolve complex technical challenges.

This role will work closely with engineering leadership, architects, and product teams to design scalable, resilient systems and unblock teams working on mission‑critical platforms.

This position is based in Deerfield, Illinois and follows a hybrid work model requiring four days per week in the office.

Job Responsibilities

• Implements activities that impact the critical directions of the organization. Typically assigned to the most critical and strategic / complex / high risk undertakings.

• Writes code that establishes coding specifications, typically for software programs and systems that have no precedent. Leads in developing the technical "vision" and design specifications for assigned projects and oversees implementation.

• Interacts with internal and external peers and management to develop unprecedented solutions that affect several departments.

• Uses professional concepts in developing resolution to critical issues and broad design matters.

• Owns the development and rollout for an entire product, or large project. Champions process (Scrum, TDD, etc.).

• Recognized internally and externally as an expert in the field. Determines leading edge technical / business approaches and/or develops major new technical tools.

• Works on assignments / objectives that regularly require the use of innovation

• Works on issues that impact design/selling success or address future concepts, products or technologies.

• Evangelizes new ideas, technologies and solutions to gain acceptance from a wide range of audiences.

• Creates formal networks with key decision makers and serves as external spokesperson for the organization.

• Writes tech specs and identifies risks before starting major projects.

• Goes above and beyond to reduce complexity.

About Walgreens

Founded in 1901, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) proudly serves nearly 9 million customers and patients each day across its approximately 8,500 stores throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Walgreens has approximately 220,000 team members, including nearly 90,000 healthcare service providers, and is committed to being the first choice for pharmacy, retail and health services, building trusted relationships that create healthier futures for customers, patients, team members and communities.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree and at least 8 years of experience in Engineering, Software Engineering or related field OR a High School Diploma/GED and at least 11 years of experience in Engineering, Software Engineering or related field

• Experience writing code for highly complex and strategic online applications, microservices or mobile applications

• Experience in algorithms, systems, architecture and bits-and-bytes

• Experience with programming languages important to the organization and has in-depth knowledge of Unix/Linux, C++ or Java or Node and Service Oriented Architecture

• Experience leading cross-functional teams and mentoring individual contributors

• At least 5 years of experience contributing to financial decisions in the workplace.

• At least 5 years of direct leadership, indirect leadership and/or cross- functional team leadership.

• Willing to travel up to 10% of the time for business purposes (within state and out of state).

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field

• Experience building large-scale digital or e-commerce platforms

• Experience supporting Android/mobile ecosystems

• Experience designing and operating cloud-native platforms (Azure or AWS)

• Experience with container platforms and orchestration technologies (Docker, Kubernetes)

• Experience working in Agile or product-centric development environments

• Experience building highly resilient and observable systems

• Experience leading cross-organization technical initiatives

• Experience simplifying complex systems and reducing technical debt across large engineering environments

We will consider employment of qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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Salary Range: $165900 - $282200 / Salaried