Principal Architect

Description

At Citizens, we invest in the humans who build the logic, ideas, and innovations that bring new technologies to life. As Principal Architect – Software Engineering, you will be instrumental in bringing innovative ideas to fruition. Your role will be central to the successful integration of disruptive technologies within the organization. The Principal Architect will provide architectural mentorship and oversight at a Company Platform level, including its supporting Technical Platform. The Principal Architect will work cross-functionally with both technical and non-technical teams, including: business development, product management, software engineering, cyber-security and departmental executives to drive tangible results. The Principal Architect is capable of presenting designs and ideas to an Architecture Review Board and to Technology and business senior management.

Principal Architect – Software Engineering

3 Days Hybrid from one of the following locations: Johnston, RI, Phoenix, AZ or Westwood, MA offices. 

At Citizens, we invest in the people who bring ideas, logic, and innovations to life. As a Principal Architect – Software Engineering, you will play a critical role in shaping and implementing the next generation of modern, responsive applications, including mobile solutions. Your expertise will drive the successful integration of disruptive technologies, enabling digital transformation and business agility.

In this role, you will serve as a strategic technical leader, collaborating across business and technical teams to define, develop, and implement architectural solutions. The Principal Architect will provide architectural leadership and governance at the platform level, ensuring alignment with enterprise standards and strategic goals.

Key Responsibilities

• Architectural Governance: Define, implement, and maintain architectural principles, governance frameworks, and design patterns that drive cohesive and scalable solutions across the portfolio.
• Technical Strategy: Develop and communicate the long-term architectural vision, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and supporting the modernization of systems and applications.
• Solution Design: Lead the design of frameworks, interfaces, and reusable services that can be extended across the portfolio, ensuring consistency with enterprise architecture standards.
• Technology Evaluation: Assess and recommend emerging technologies, tools, and platforms to senior leadership, driving innovation and competitive advantage.
• Collaboration: Partner with cross-functional teams, including business development, product management, software engineering, cybersecurity, and executives, to ensure technical solutions meet business needs and objectives.
• Governance and Oversight: Provide oversight during code and design reviews to ensure proposed solutions meet enterprise standards for scalability, security, and maintainability.
• Post-Implementation Support: Offer guidance and troubleshooting support post-implementation and mentor engineering teams to ensure successful adoption of new technologies and architectures.
• Metrics and Performance: Define and track KPIs to evaluate the success of architectural initiatives, including system scalability, performance, maintainability, and operational efficiency.

Required Skills/Experience

• 10+ years of experience in web development or solutions architecture, with hands-on expertise in designing highly available, customer-facing applications.
• Deep expertise in modern, Agile-based development methodologies and emerging technologies, including: 
  • Microservices, API management, web-scale architectures, and container-based delivery.
  • Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines and test-driven development (TDD/BDD).
• Proficiency in cloud-native architecture, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP), and database technologies (RDBMS and NoSQL).
• Experience designing resilient and scalable solutions, including transitioning monolithic architectures to microservices-based, loosely coupled architectures.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to present technical designs and strategies to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven ability to align technical solutions with business strategies and influence senior leadership.
• Hands-on experience in at least two of the following domains: Infrastructure, Security, DevOps, Application Development, or Cloud Computing.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience in the financial services industry, including familiarity with consumer and custodial banking.
• Proficiency in multiple programming languages and front-end frameworks (e.g., Angular, React, or Vue) and experience with Python, Java, or JavaScript.
• Strong business analysis and presentation skills, with the ability to facilitate conversations between technical and business stakeholders.
• UI/UX design experience, including branding techniques for web and mobile applications.

Pay Transparency

The salary range for this position is $132,000 - $ 175,000 per year  plus an opportunity to earn an annual discretionary bonus. Actual pay is based on various factors including but not limited to the work location, and relevant skills and experience.  

We offer competitive pay, comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, maternity/paternity leave, flexible work arrangements, education reimbursement, wellness programs and more. Note, Citizens’ paid time off policy exceeds the mandatory, paid sick or paid time-away policy of very local and state jurisdiction in the United States. For an overview of our benefits, visit https://jobs.citizensbank.com/benefits.

Some job boards have started using jobseeker-reported data to estimate salary ranges for roles. If you apply and qualify for this role, a recruiter will discuss accurate pay guidance.

Some job boards have started using jobseeker-reported data to estimate salary ranges for roles. If you apply and qualify for this role, a recruiter will discuss accurate pay guidance.

Equal Employment Opportunity

At Citizens, we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture that enables colleagues to bring their best selves to work every day. Employment decisions are based solely on experience, performance, and ability. Citizens, its parent, subsidiaries, and related companies (Citizens) provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all colleagues and applicants for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, citizenship, physical or mental disability, perceived disability or history or record of a disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender individuals who are transitioning, have transitioned, or are perceived to be transitioning to the gender with which they identify), genetic information, genetic characteristic, marital or domestic partner status, victim of domestic violence, family status/parenthood, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, pregnancy/childbirth/lactation, colleague’s or a dependent’s reproductive health decision making, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or any other category protected by federal, state and/or local laws.

Equal Employment and Opportunity Employer

Citizens is a brand name of Citizens Bank, N.A. and each of its respective affiliates.