Principal Software Engineer (.NET Technical Lead)

About Northern Trust

As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions.

Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure: Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide.

With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

Global Engineering is seeking a Principal Software Engineer (.NET Technical Lead) to provide technical leadership for the design, development, and delivery of modern cloud-native applications and platforms. This role serves as a senior technical leader and principal designer, working closely with business, product, architecture, and engineering teams to deliver scalable, resilient, secure, and high-performing solutions.

The ideal candidate combines deep hands-on expertise in .NET development, cloud technologies, microservices architecture, and AI-assisted software engineering with strong leadership, communication, and project delivery skills.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to engineering teams, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and engineering excellence.
• Serve as the principal designer for major systems and applications, defining architectures, technical standards, and implementation strategies.
• Partner with business stakeholders, product teams, and architects to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions.
• Design, develop, and support applications using C#, .NET Core/.NET, ASP.NET Core, Entity Framework Core, SQL Server, and modern API frameworks.
• Architect and implement microservices and event-driven solutions leveraging Kafka and related messaging technologies.
• Design and deploy cloud-native solutions utilizing Azure and/or AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, and Infrastructure as Code.
• Drive adoption of CI/CD, automated testing, DevOps, and secure software development practices.
• Lead technical project planning, solution design, implementation, and status reporting for strategic initiatives.
• Ensure compliance with enterprise standards, audit requirements, change management controls, and data security policies.
• Collaborate with vendors, consultants, and technology partners as needed.
• Evaluate and recommend emerging technologies, tools, and architectural patterns to improve business outcomes and operational efficiency.
• Champion the use of AI-powered development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Microsoft Copilot, and AI-assisted engineering platforms to enhance developer productivity, code quality, testing, and documentation.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience with enterprise-scale systems.
• 5+ years of experience in technical leadership, solution design, systems analysis, or project leadership roles.
• Strong expertise in:
  • C#
  • .NET Core / ASP.NET Core
  • Entity Framework Core
  • SQL Server
  • REST APIs
  • Microservices Architecture
• Experience with:
  • Kafka or equivalent messaging platforms
  • Docker and Kubernetes
  • Azure and/or AWS
  • Git, GitHub, Azure DevOps, Jenkins, or similar CI/CD tools
• Strong understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC), design patterns, distributed systems, Agile, and DevOps practices.
• Hands-on experience using GitHub Copilot and other AI-assisted software engineering tools to accelerate software development and improve engineering effectiveness.
• Proven ability to lead complex technical initiatives and influence technical direction across multiple teams.
• Excellent communication, analytical, problem-solving, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Financial Services experience.
• Knowledge of Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform.
• Familiarity with modern security frameworks including OAuth, JWT, SAML, SSO, and Identity Management solutions.

Salary Range:

$137,400 - 233,600 USD

Salary range is a good faith estimate of base pay. Northern Trust provides a comprehensive benefits package inclu