Principal Software Engineer

We are seeking a visionary and hands-on Principal Software Engineer to join Citi’s Global Technology organization in Warsaw, Poland. In this pivotal role, you will lead the technical design, architectural vision, and engineering delivery of Citi's next-generation Risk Management Platform. As part of a globally distributed, high-performing engineering organization, you will collaborate with cross-functional teams, architects, product managers, and quantitative analysts across the globe. You will be instrumental in defining technical standards, leading high-impact architectural initiatives, and mentoring engineering talent across our diverse global teams.

Architectural Leadership & System Design Strategic System Architecture: Analyze complex business workflows, enterprise systems, and industry standards to architect scalable, resilient, and high-throughput solutions for next-generation risk systems. Standards & Best Practices: Define, evolve, and implement engineering methodologies, coding standards, testing automation, and CI/CD best practices across the full software development lifecycle. Deep Technical Integration: Lead the technical integration of complex enterprise functions and platforms to accelerate product deployments and enhance operational capabilities. Domain Flow Mastery: Leverage deep technical expertise across end-to-end data pipelines, microservices, and system flows to drive technological transformation. Technical Delivery & Execution High-Impact Project Planning: Direct and execute technical milestones for multi-million-dollar, cross-functional programs and multi-stream initiatives. End-to-End Collaboration: Consult closely with business stakeholders, quantitative risk managers, and operations users to translate functional specifications into robust technical architectures. Code Excellence: Maintain high standards of code quality, performance profiling, fault tolerance, and security across distributed application services. Leadership, Mentorship & Collaboration Team Leadership & Coaching: Allocate engineering workloads, establish delivery milestones, and actively coach senior developers, engineers, and analysts. Stakeholder Management: Influence and align architectural roadmaps with senior technology and business leadership, as well as external technology partners. Global Synergy: Foster a collaborative, inclusive engineering culture across globally dispersed teams in the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. Governance, Risk & Controls Sound Risk Management: Proactively assess and mitigate technical, operational, and regulatory risks in engineering decisions. Compliance & Transparency: Ensure all platforms strictly adhere to enterprise governance, data privacy policies, regulatory requirements, and security controls, escalating and resolving control issues promptly.   Qualifications & Competencies: Experience & Technical Mastery Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related quantitative field (or equivalent practical experience). Industry Experience: Extensive experience in software engineering and system architecture, with a demonstrated history of delivering mission-critical enterprise systems (Financial Services / Risk Technology experience is strongly preferred). Core Engineering: Advanced expertise in modern backend languages and frameworks (e.g., Java, Python, Go, or C++), distributed computing, concurrent systems, and event-driven architectures (e.g., Apache Kafka). Cloud & Modern Infrastructure: Proven experience with cloud platforms, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes/OpenShift), API gateways, and distributed caching technologies. Data Architecture: Strong proficiency with relational and distributed database technologies, high-volume data processing pipelines, and analytical engines. Leadership & Soft Skills Influential Communication: Exceptional communication, stakeholder