Citizens Financial Group is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the design, development, and evolution of scalable, AI-enabled software systems. This onsite role in Johnston, RI blends hands-on engineering with technical leadership, mentoring, and enterprise-architecture focus, leveraging AI-driven development practices to advance secure, resilient solutions across the organization.
Responsibilities
- Design and develop full‑stack applications while aligning with enterprise architecture standards.
- Engage in Agile software development practices and collaborate with cross‑functional teams.
- Design, modify, develop, and implement modern application components, tools, and services that support strategic business objectives.
- Build scalable, maintainable, resilient, and highly available distributed systems.
- Apply software security best practices throughout the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
- Identify, prevent, and remediate security vulnerabilities to protect systems and sensitive data.
- Serve as a technical leader and mentor, promoting innovation, accountability, and engineering excellence.
- Contribute to architectural decisions and technology strategy.
- Leverage AI-assisted development tools to improve engineering productivity and code quality.
- Design and implement agentic workflows across the software development lifecycle.
- Utilize AI technologies for code generation, refactoring, optimization, automated code review, quality analysis, intelligent test generation, and defect detection.
- Develop and integrate AI-powered applications and services, including customer‑facing solutions using large language models (LLMs).
- Implement AI‑driven automation for engineering and operational processes.
- Develop multi‑agent workflows for orchestration and automated decision‑making.
- Apply advanced AI solution patterns such as Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), prompt engineering, context management, agent orchestration, and tool integration.
- Ensure secure, compliant, and responsible use of AI technologies when handling regulated financial data.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related technical discipline.
- 7+ years of hands‑on software development experience delivering and supporting commercial software applications.
- Demonstrated experience leading, mentoring, and developing engineering talent.
- Strong experience developing applications using Node.js and modern Node.js frameworks.
- Hands‑on experience with Java, Spring, and Spring Boot.
- Experience with modern front‑end frameworks such as Angular, React, or similar technologies.
- Strong understanding of authentication and security protocols including OAuth and SAML.
- Experience implementing security controls and protecting enterprise systems and data.
- Experience building and supporting containerized applications using Docker, Kubernetes, and/or OpenShift.
- Cloud platform experience with AWS, Microsoft Azure, and/or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
- Experience developing and deploying solutions that manage sensitive or regulated data.
- Strong knowledge of Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) processes.
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps tooling, including Jenkins, Harness, Git, Bitbucket, Nexus.
- Experience with relational databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and NoSQL databases such as MongoDB.
- Strong understanding of data structures and algorithms.
- Experience utilizing code quality and code coverage tools.
- Strong verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
- Hands‑on experience using AI‑assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot or equivalent.
- Familiarity with Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI application development concepts.
Technologies
- Node JS
- Java
- Python
- GO
- Angular
- React
- Spring
- Spring Boot
- Node.js Frameworks
- AWS
- Azure
- GCP
- Docker
- Kubernetes
- OpenShift
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- Oracle
- MongoDB
- Jenkins
- Harness
- Git
- Bitbucket
- Nexus
- OAuth
- SAML
- GitHub Copilot
- Large Language Models (LLMs)
- Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)
- Prompt Engineering
- Agentic AI Workflows
- Agent Orchestration
- AI Automation
Benefits
- Competitive pay
- Comprehensive medical coverage
- Dental coverage
- Vision coverage
- Retirement benefits
- Maternity leave
- Paternity leave
- Flexible work arrangements
- Education reimbursement
- Wellness programs
Hours & Work Schedule
- Hours per Week: 40
- Work Schedule: Monday - Friday
Equal Employment Opportunity
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, genetic information, genetic characteristic, martial or domestic partner status, medical condition, military or veteran status, nationa
Background Check
Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the candidate successfully passing a background check, which may include initial credit, motor vehicle record, public record, prior employment verification, and criminal background checks. Results of the background check are individually reviewed based upon legal requirements imposed by our regulators and with consideration of the nature and gravity of the background history and the job offered. Any offer of employment will include further information.
Awards We've Received
- Glassdoor Best Place to Work in Consulting, Finance & Insurance
- Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index 100 Award
- Newsweek America's Most Charitable Company
- The Banker's US Bank of the Year
- Dave Thomas Foundation’s Best Adoption-Friendly Workplace
- Disability:IN Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion
What Sets This Role Apart
- Lead digital-first banking transformation initiatives.
- Drive adoption of AI powered and agentic software engineering practices.
- Influence enterprise architecture and next generation development methodologies.
- Partner with engineering leaders to shape the future of software delivery and innovation.
