Principal Software Engineer Jobs in Pennsylvania
Principal Software Engineer jobs in Pennsylvania are actively sought across the state's finance, healthcare technology, and defense contracting sectors, with openings ranging from senior-level individual contributors to staff and distinguished engineer tracks. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh lead hiring volume, with Malvern and King of Prussia forming a strong suburban corridor, while employers such as Comcast, Lockheed Martin, and Vanguard maintain consistent principal-level engineering demand. Architecture, cloud platform engineering, and distributed systems design are the most in-demand specializations across Pennsylvania listings. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Showing 5 of 18+ Principal Software Engineer jobs
Description
4 Days in the office from any of our locations in Johnston RI,Dallas TX, Pittsburgh PA,Nashville TN, Short Hills NJ, Westwood or Medford MA, or Phoenix AZ and couple other locations
Role is not relocation eligible.
- Participating in an environment rapidly transforming to the Agile methodology, adhering to best practices and collaborating effectively with your team mates.
- Collaborating and contributing insight to solution design ideation, ensuring both the success of the product and adherence to enterprise architecture principles.
- Designing, modifying, developing and implementing software solutions. Building modern, architecturally sound components, tools and applications to meet mission-driven strategic business goals.
- Infusing quality of service characteristics, such as scalability, manageability and maintainability, into distributed service-based framework to create or expand business or technical capabilities.
- Employing industry best practices to evaluate, correct and prevent vulnerabilities during the software development process.
- Serving as a peer-leader, encouraging a culture of innovation and accountability while adhering to Agile best practices.
RequiredQualifications
- 7+ years of hands-on software development, with proven experience in developing and supporting commercial software products which were sold to non-technical customers in vertical markets
- Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor software engineers
- 5+ years experience in querying, analyzing and managing big data
- Mastery of multiple programming languages, including at least one front end framework (Angular/React/Vue), such as Python3, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Golang, C, C++, etc.
- AWS/AZURE/GCP experience, including managing sensitive assets
- Bash and Linux experience
- Experience with CICD pipeline (CircleCI, Jenkins, or equivalent)
- Strong communication (both oral and written) and interpersonal skills
- Cloud certifications such as AWS Solutions Architect
- Understand data structure concepts such as linked lists, dictionaries, arrays, custom object creation, etc
Desired Qualifications
- 3+ years of experience in the financial services industry, developing solutions for consumer banking, portfolio management, trading, compliance or wealth management
- Understanding of banking system and custodial and consumer banking operations
- Experience with Apache, Lucene, Memcache, RAbbitMQ and NoSQL
- Experience designing API layers and service orchestration between legacy and modern payment platforms, and maintaining solution architecture documentation
- Experience with change and release management (CAB approvals, implementation and backout planning, post-release hypercare), CI/CD tools such as Bitbucket and Harness, privileged access management (e.g., CyberArk), and vulnerability remediation (e.g., Qualys)
- Experience with Oracle Exadata and Tessell database platforms is a plus
- Ability to analyze Oracle AWR and PerfHub reports to diagnose and resolve database performance issues such as lock contention and transaction latency is a plus
- Hands-on experience with AWS infrastructure (EC2, EFS, S3, load balancers), Linux performance diagnostics (e.g., SAR), and observability tools such as Datadog is a plus
- Experience with IBM MQ (including high-availability configurations and certificate management), middleware integration with mainframe systems, and Kafka- and API-based integrations; familiarity with sanctions screening tools such as Firco is a plus
- Knowledge of ACH payment processing and NACHA file standards, including SEC codes, IAT, returns and NOCs, memo and hard posting, settlement, GL reconciliation, and Same Day ACH is a plus
Education and Certifications
- Required: Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or related discipline
- Preferred: Master's degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science or related discipline
Pay Transparency ‌
The salary range for this position is $147,000 – $192,000 per year, plus an opportunity to earn additional incentive earnings (if applicable). Actual pay is based on various factors including, but not limited to, the budget, 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 every 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.
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, 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. At Citizens, we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture that enables all colleagues to bring their best selves to work every day and everyone is expected to be treated with respect and professionalism. Employment decisions are based solely on merit, qualifications, performance and capability.
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.
Benefits
We offer competitive pay, comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, maternity/paternity leave, flexible work arrangements, education reimbursement, wellness programs and more.
Awards We've Received
Dave Thomas Foundation’s Best Adoption-Friendly Workplace
Disability:IN World's Top Disability Inclusive Business
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
Description
4 Days in the office from any of our locations in Johnston RI,Dallas TX, Pittsburgh PA,Nashville TN, Short Hills NJ, Westwood or Medford MA, or Phoenix AZ and couple other locations
Role is not relocation eligible.
- Participating in an environment rapidly transforming to the Agile methodology, adhering to best practices and collaborating effectively with your team mates.
- Collaborating and contributing insight to solution design ideation, ensuring both the success of the product and adherence to enterprise architecture principles.
- Designing, modifying, developing and implementing software solutions. Building modern, architecturally sound components, tools and applications to meet mission-driven strategic business goals.
- Infusing quality of service characteristics, such as scalability, manageability and maintainability, into distributed service-based framework to create or expand business or technical capabilities.
- Employing industry best practices to evaluate, correct and prevent vulnerabilities during the software development process.
- Serving as a peer-leader, encouraging a culture of innovation and accountability while adhering to Agile best practices.
RequiredQualifications
- 7+ years of hands-on software development, with proven experience in developing and supporting commercial software products which were sold to non-technical customers in vertical markets
- Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor software engineers
- 5+ years experience in querying, analyzing and managing big data
- Mastery of multiple programming languages, including at least one front end framework (Angular/React/Vue), such as Python3, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, Golang, C, C++, etc.
- AWS/AZURE/GCP experience, including managing sensitive assets
- Bash and Linux experience
- Experience with CICD pipeline (CircleCI, Jenkins, or equivalent)
- Strong communication (both oral and written) and interpersonal skills
- Cloud certifications such as AWS Solutions Architect
- Understand data structure concepts such as linked lists, dictionaries, arrays, custom object creation, etc
Desired Qualifications
- 3+ years of experience in the financial services industry, developing solutions for consumer banking, portfolio management, trading, compliance or wealth management
- Understanding of banking system and custodial and consumer banking operations
- Experience with Apache, Lucene, Memcache, RAbbitMQ and NoSQL
- Experience designing API layers and service orchestration between legacy and modern payment platforms, and maintaining solution architecture documentation
- Experience with change and release management (CAB approvals, implementation and backout planning, post-release hypercare), CI/CD tools such as Bitbucket and Harness, privileged access management (e.g., CyberArk), and vulnerability remediation (e.g., Qualys)
- Experience with Oracle Exadata and Tessell database platforms is a plus
- Ability to analyze Oracle AWR and PerfHub reports to diagnose and resolve database performance issues such as lock contention and transaction latency is a plus
- Hands-on experience with AWS infrastructure (EC2, EFS, S3, load balancers), Linux performance diagnostics (e.g., SAR), and observability tools such as Datadog is a plus
- Experience with IBM MQ (including high-availability configurations and certificate management), middleware integration with mainframe systems, and Kafka- and API-based integrations; familiarity with sanctions screening tools such as Firco is a plus
- Knowledge of ACH payment processing and NACHA file standards, including SEC codes, IAT, returns and NOCs, memo and hard posting, settlement, GL reconciliation, and Same Day ACH is a plus
Education and Certifications
- Required: Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or related discipline
- Preferred: Master's degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science or related discipline
Pay Transparency ‌
The salary range for this position is $147,000 – $192,000 per year, plus an opportunity to earn additional incentive earnings (if applicable). Actual pay is based on various factors including, but not limited to, the budget, 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 every 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.
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, 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. At Citizens, we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture that enables all colleagues to bring their best selves to work every day and everyone is expected to be treated with respect and professionalism. Employment decisions are based solely on merit, qualifications, performance and capability.
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.
Benefits
We offer competitive pay, comprehensive medical, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, maternity/paternity leave, flexible work arrangements, education reimbursement, wellness programs and more.
Awards We've Received
Dave Thomas Foundation’s Best Adoption-Friendly Workplace
Disability:IN World's Top Disability Inclusive Business
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
See All 18 Principal Software Engineer Jobs in Pennsylvania
Find roles in Pennsylvania that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find JobsPrincipal Software Engineer Jobs by City in Pennsylvania
Where Pennsylvania roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Principal Software Engineer Job Market in Pennsylvania
A snapshot from current Pennsylvania openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Manufacturing
- Technology & Software
- Electronics & Hardware
What Pennsylvania Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in principal software engineer jobs across Pennsylvania.
- Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related technical field
- Ten or more years of software engineering experience with at least three in a technical leadership role
- Demonstrated ability to define system architecture and drive cross-team technical standards
- Deep proficiency in one or more languages such as Java, Python, Go, or C++ at production scale
- Experience leading design reviews, mentoring senior engineers, and influencing engineering roadmaps
- Strong communication skills with the ability to align engineering decisions to business strategy
Principal Software Engineer Jobs in Pennsylvania: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a principal software engineer in Pennsylvania?
Principal software engineer is a seniority designation rather than a licensed profession, so Pennsylvania requires no state-issued credential for the role. The typical path involves earning a bachelor's or master's degree in computer science or software engineering, then building a career from mid-level through senior engineer positions. Pennsylvania employers generally promote to principal based on demonstrated system design ownership, technical mentorship, and cross-organizational influence rather than a fixed years-of-service rule.
How much do principal software engineers make in Pennsylvania?
Principal software engineers in Pennsylvania earn a median of about $126,550 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $77,750 for the lowest 10% to over $178,080 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire principal software engineers in Pennsylvania?
Employers hiring principal software engineers in Pennsylvania right now include Coherent, PNC Financial Services, and Comcast, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of November 2026. Pennsylvania's concentration of financial services firms, large health systems, and defense contractors means principal-level roles here often require deep domain knowledge alongside broad technical leadership skills.
Which Pennsylvania cities have the most principal software engineer jobs?
Pittsburgh, Horsham, and Philadelphia have the most principal software engineer openings in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia drives the largest share through its dense cluster of financial institutions, health systems, and technology campuses, while Pittsburgh's growing robotics and AI research ecosystem anchors demand there, and suburban markets like Malvern and King of Prussia reflect the headquarters presence of major financial technology and defense firms.
Are there remote principal software engineer jobs in Pennsylvania?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 29% of principal software engineer openings tied to Pennsylvania are remote or hybrid as of November 2026, reflecting how thoroughly this role is centered on architecture, code review, and collaboration tools rather than on-site hardware or lab work. The most fully remote positions tend to be at product companies and fintechs, while defense and regulated healthcare employers more often require hybrid or on-site presence.
How can I get hired as a principal software engineer in Pennsylvania with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is building toward the role from a senior software engineer position, not applying to principal roles directly. In Pennsylvania, Comcast Technology Solutions, Vanguard, and major health systems such as Penn Medicine run associate and rotational engineering programs that can accelerate a career trajectory for strong junior engineers. Contributing to open-source projects, earning a cloud architecture certification, and building a portfolio that demonstrates system design thinking gives candidates a visible edge when moving from senior to principal.
Where can I find and apply to principal software engineer jobs in Pennsylvania?
You can find and apply to principal software engineer jobs in Pennsylvania on Migrate Mate, which lists current Pennsylvania openings updated regularly. Search the listings, find roles that fit your background and location preferences, and apply directly to each employer without creating an account or signing up.
See All 18 Principal Software Engineer Jobs in Pennsylvania
Find roles in Pennsylvania that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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