Job Description

Principal Engineer, Operations Systems Technology (Python / AWS / Distributed Systems)

About Our Client

Our client is a leading global investment firm with a broad platform across alternative asset management, capital markets, and insurance solutions. Within the firm, the Technology organization is focused on delivering high-impact products and platforms that support sophisticated businesses and stakeholders.

Team Overview

Our client’s Operations Systems Technology team builds and scales platforms that power the operational backbone of the firm. Their systems support investment operations, accounting, treasury, reference data management, and books of record across global business units. The team also delivers a data and platform layer that helps productionize AI use cases so operations and finance groups can harness data-driven insights. The stack is modern and cloud-native, leveraging Python, Kubernetes, and AWS to support mission-critical financial operations.

Our client is seeking a Principal Engineer to lead the architecture, design, and implementation of distributed, data-driven systems within their Operations technology platform. You will set technical direction for key systems, drive cross-team engineering initiatives, and shape the strategy for building resilient, intelligent, and automated operational platforms.

This role is ideal for an engineer with 10+ years of experience, deep Python + AWS expertise, and a strong foundation in distributed systems and data modeling Experience in financial systems, AI productization, or modern data platforms (e.g., Snowflake / lakehouse patterns) is highly valued.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Strategy & Architecture

• Define and lead the technical roadmap for operations and data platforms, ensuring scalability, reliability, and extensibility
• Architect distributed and event-driven systems supporting books of record, investment operations, and reference data services
• Lead modernization initiatives leveraging cloud-native technologies, observability, and infrastructure-as-code (AWS/Terraform)
• Partner with data engineering and AI teams to productionize AI use cases and services that drive automation and operational insight

Engineering Leadership

• Lead design and development of critical backend components written in Python and related frameworks
• Establish engineering standards and best practices to ensure high-quality, maintainable systems
• Collaborate with product, data, and operations stakeholders to translate business needs into scalable solutions
• Drive continuous improvement around performance, reliability, and developer experience

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Align technical vision with product and operations leadership priorities
• Provide architectural guidance across systems integrating financial data, AI services, and internal platforms
• Simplify complex technical landscapes and communicate strategy to both technical and non-technical audiences

Mentorship & Culture

• Mentor engineers across multiple teams, fostering technical growth and leadership development
• Promote a culture of learning, collaboration, and innovation
• Participate in recruiting and talent development to attract and retain top engineering talent

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with demonstrated technical leadership
• Expert-level proficiency in Python, building scalable backend and/or data systems
• Strong hands-on experience with AWS (EKS/ECS, Lambda, S3, DynamoDB, CloudFormation/Terraform)
• Deep understanding of distributed systems (microservices, messaging, caching, concurrency, resilience)
• Experience building production AI products (AI-assisted automation, inference services, data-driven decision tools)
• Familiarity with AI tooling is a plus (e.g., LiteLLM, LangChain, vector databases, LLM APIs)
• Experience with data modeling and modern data platforms (e.g., Snowflake or data lake architectures)
• Strong knowledge of relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and data integrity design
• Background in financial systems / operations tech (accounting, treasury, reference data) strongly preferred
• Excellent communication skills and proven ability to drive alignment across diverse stakeholders

Compensation: This is the expected annual base salary range for this Boston-based position: $200,000–$235,000 USD, plus eligibility for a discretionary bonus based on individual and team performance.

Location: Boston, MA (Hybrid/Onsite expectations per client)