Principal Software Engineer

Description and Requirements
The Team You Will Join
When you join MetLife's Global Technology team, you'll be part of a forward-thinking group dedicated to shaping the future of digital solutions for customers worldwide. You'll develop, maintain and support technology applications and delivery, leveraging AI, automation, and contemporary ways of working to enhance experiences and drive business outcomes. Your work will simplify complex processes, improve tech resiliency, and ensure high-performing, seamless solutions that power life's most important moments. In this dynamic environment, you'll collaborate with talented peers across teams and functions, expanding your skills in impactful ways. Ready to push boundaries and set new industry standards? Join us and help drive the future of technology forward.
The Opportunity
The Principal Software Engineer is responsible for setting the architectural direction, platform strategy, and technical execution for the Unified Actuarial Platform (UAP), ensuring it enables scalable, secure, and future-ready actuarial, risk, and regulatory capabilities across MetLife's enterprise platforms. Guided by our purpose - always with you, building a more confident future - and our New Frontier strategy focused on stronger growth, attractive returns, and all-weather performance, this role is a unique opportunity to shape the technical foundation of critical actuarial and financial risk platforms.
In this role, you will define long-term platform architecture, lead adoption of advanced analytics, AI, and Generative AI capabilities, and ensure the platform remains current with rapidly evolving business, regulatory, and technology needs. With broad autonomy and accountability, you will influence enterprise standards, drive innovation using Databricks and AI technologies, and enable secure, governed, and production-ready solutions that power actuarial insight and decision-making at scale.
Key Responsibilities

• Lead platform architecture, technical strategy, and design decisions for the Unified Actuarial Platform across actuarial, financial risk management, and regulatory use cases.
• Create enterprise architecture standards, guardrails, and reference patterns that ensure scalability, resiliency, security, and seamless integration across UAP delivery teams.
• Oversee Databricks as a core platform capability, including engineering standards, governance, performance optimization, cost management, and adoption of new features.
• Develop secure, governed AI and Generative AI capabilities, including LLM, RAG, and agent-based architectures tailored for regulated actuarial environments.
• Manage platform operational excellence by ensuring stability, performance, platform currency, and resolution of complex, escalated production issues.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Engineering, Data Science, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience delivering enterprise-grade platforms with increasing scope and complexity.
• Strong sustained hands-on Databricks engineering experience.
• Deep experience or knowledge of Python, SQL, distributed processing, and large-scale analytics environments.
• Demonstrated experience delivering AI-enabled and Generative AI solutions in production.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting actuarial, risk, finance, or regulatory solution portfolios.
• Experience operating as a principal engineer or architect in enterprise environments and expertise in Databricks governance, performance tuning, and cost optimization.
• Familiarity with DevSecOps, CI/CD, and enterprise platform governance models and relevant certifications (Databricks, Azure, SAFe).

Location Expectation: This is a hybrid role requiring a minimum of 3 days per week in office.
The expected salary range for this position is $120,000 - $170,000 . This role may also be eligible for annual short-term incentive compensation and stock-based long-term incentives. All incentives and benefits are subject to the applicable plan terms.
Benefits We Offer
Our U.S. benefits address holistic well-being with programs for physical and mental health, financial wellness, and support for families. We offer a comprehensive health plan that includes medical/prescription drug and vision, dental insurance, and no-cost short- and long-term disability. We also provide company-paid life insurance and legal services, a retirement pension funded entirely by MetLife and 401(k) with employer matching, group discounts on voluntary insurance products including auto and home, pet, critical illness, hospital indemnity, and accident insurance, as well as Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and digital mental health programs, parental leave, paid time off, paid holidays, volunteer time off, tuition assistance and much more!
About MetLife
Recognized on Fortune magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies", Fortune World's 25 Best Workplaces™, as well as the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For®, MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, is one of the world's leading financial services companies; providing insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management to individual and institutional customers. With operations in more than 40 markets, we hold leading positions in the United States, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Our purpose is simple - to help our colleagues, customers, communities, and the world at large create a more confident future. United by purpose and guided by our core values - Win Together, Do the Right Thing, Deliver Impact Over Activity, and Think Ahead - we're inspired to transform the next century in financial services. At MetLife, it's #AllTogetherPossible . Join us!
MetLife is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All employment decisions are made without regards to race, color, national origin, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital or domestic/civil partnership status, genetic information, citizenship status (although applicants and employees must be legally authorized to work in the United States), uniformed service member or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law ("protected characteristics").
If you need an accommodation due to a disability, please email us at [email protected]. This information will be held in confidence and used only to determine an appropriate accommodation for the application process.
MetLife maintains a drug-free workplace.
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