Principal Software Engineer

Principal Software Engineer

SWIFT

Brussels, Belgium

About the Role

We are looking for a Lead Software Engineer to join our Data and Common Application Platform (D&CAP) Tribe, supporting and shaping the Product organization.

Based in Belgium, you will operate as a technical leader with portfolio‑level impact, combining deep hands‑on expertise with strategic ownership of software delivery, platform engineering, and SDLC evolution. You will play a key role in defining, driving, and scaling modern engineering practices — including automation and AI‑enabled capabilities — across multiple teams and products.

This role goes beyond delivery within a single team. You will act as a technical authority, influencing architecture, engineering standards, and delivery practices across the portfolio and contributing to broader tribe‑level initiatives.

You will work in a highly collaborative, international environment, partnering with engineers, architects, product managers, security, and operations across Europe and APAC.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Strategy

• Own and drive technical direction for software delivery and SDLC practices across products and tribes.
• Act as a technical authority for complex system design, architectural trade‑offs, and long‑term sustainability decisions.
• Balance short‑term delivery needs with long‑term platform and operational excellence.

Software Delivery & Platform Engineering

• Lead the design, development, testing, deployment, and support of critical applications and platform components.
• Define and evolve CI/CD standards and reusable pipelines, enabling secure, reliable, and scalable delivery across teams.
• Drive automation‑first approaches across build, test, deployment, monitoring, and operations to reduce manual effort and operational risk.

Cross‑Team Impact & Enablement

• Coach and mentor senior engineers, raising the overall engineering bar and fostering technical excellence.
• Promote and enable inner‑sourcing and knowledge sharing across teams and locations.
• Drive alignment with security, compliance, and reliability requirements in partnership with security and operations teams.

Collaboration & Communication

• Collaborate closely with product, architecture, testing, security, and operations stakeholders to ensure solutions meet functional and non‑functional requirements.
• Produce and maintain high‑quality technical documentation and deliver presentations for internal stakeholders and, where relevant, customers.
• Operate effectively in a global, agile environment spanning multiple time zones.

What Will Make You Successful

Professional Skills

• Bachelor’s or higher degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated ability to operate autonomously with broad accountability and to influence without direct authority.
• Strong customer and quality mindset, with a focus on delivering measurable business and operational outcomes.
• Excellent analytical and problem‑solving skills, particularly in complex, distributed environments.
• Strong communication skills (written and verbal English), with the ability to explain complex technical topics to diverse audiences.
• Proven experience working in large‑scale agile environments across distributed teams.

Technical Skills

• 8+ years of experience as a Software Engineer, DevOps Engineer, or similar role, with significant leadership responsibility.
• Expertise in Java, along with scripting and automation using Python, Bash, and Ansible.
• Deep experience with container platforms and orchestration (Podman, Docker, OpenShift) and infrastructure automation frameworks.
• Strong mastery of CI/CD practices and tooling, including Git, GitLab, Maven, Jenkins, Nexus, or equivalent.
• Experience with infrastructure and pipeline test automation.
• Solid background in monitoring, logging, and observability platforms (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack, or similar).