Associate Director - Engineering

Responsibilities About the Role We invite a dynamic and ambitious Associate Director to join our Information Technology team located in Hyderabad, India. This is an excellent opportunity to spearhead and advance technology excellence across critical business applications and platforms. You will engage closely with business contributors to comprehend strategic priorities, develop technology solutions, and make sure applications and systems successfully fulfill business needs. This position is essential in guaranteeing stability, scalability, resilience, and ongoing progress throughout our technology landscape. Key Responsibilities Assume complete ownership of key applications and systems throughout their lifecycle, ensuring delivery, stability, resilience, modernization, and alignment with business priorities. Lead technology decisions with a balanced perspective across business context, operational accountability, and engineering rigor. Partner with business collaborators to understand needs, translate priorities into technology roadmaps, and deliver measurable business value. Evaluate and optimize technology investments to enhance business value, using strong engineering judgment to improve cost efficiency and operational excellence. Exhibit excellent communication abilities, capable of explaining complex technical concepts clearly and succinctly to both technical and non-technical colleagues. Build positive relationships with US counterparts to enable seamless collaboration and strategic alignment. Encourage a culture of constant development by optimizing processes, boosting agility, and facilitating greater efficiency across teams. Build a high-performance culture that promotes accountability, continuous learning, and employee engagement. Stay current on industry trends, regulatory developments, and plan sponsor and participant expectations to inform strategic decisions and identify innovation opportunities. Qualifications Requirements Poven track record of leading large-scale technology operations. Experience leading technology organizations delivering large-scale Java Full Stack, event-driven, and distributed applications, with deep expertise in architecture patterns, platform engineering, reliability engineering, security, and engineering best practices. Strong knowledge of scalability, resiliency, performance, observability, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles required. Demonstrated ability to drive engineering optimization across multi-location, multi-skilled teams. Proven experience in representing and driving Engineering Roadmaps with Senior Business collaborators. Outstanding leadership abilities with the capacity to guide both 100-150 direct and indirect reporting engineers across various sites. Proven experience of being a Leader of Leader, building high performing teams. Robust engineering expertise combined with the skill to uncover opportunities to simplify system design, increase engineering output, minimize expenses, and elevate overall operational results. Excellent communication and relationship-building skills. Ability to foster an environment of collaboration, consistent advancement, and outstanding achievement. Reporting Relationship This position reports to: Director - Engineering Direct reports: Senior Consultants, including Program Managers, Delivery Managers, Architects, and similar roles. Join us at Principal Financial Group and be a part of our mission to deliver world-class technology solutions that drive business success!About the Role We invite a dynamic and ambitious Associate Director to join our Information Technology team located in Hyderabad, India. This is an excellent opportunity to spearhead and advance technology excellence across critical business applications and platforms. You will engage closely with business contributors to comprehend strategic priorities, develop technology solutions, and make sure applications and systems successfully fulfill business needs. This position is essential in guaranteeing stability, scalability, resilience, and ongoing progress throughout our technology landscape. Key Responsibilities Assume complete ownership of key applications and systems throughout their lifecycle, ensuring delivery, stability, resilience, modernization, and alignment with business priorities. Lead technology decisions with a balanced perspective across business context, operational accountability, and engineering rigor. Partner with business collaborators to understand needs, translate priorities into technology roadmaps, and deliver measurable business value. Evaluate and optimize technology investments to enhance business value, using strong engineering judgment to improve cost efficiency and operational excellence. Exhibit excellent communication abilities, capable of explaining complex technical concepts clearly and succinctly to both technical and non-technical colleagues. Build positive relationships with US counterparts to enable seamless collaboration and strategic alignment. Encourage a culture of constant development by optimizing processes, boosting agility, and facilitating greater efficiency across teams. Build a high-performance culture that promotes accountability, continuous learning, and employee engagement. Stay current on industry trends, regulatory developments, and plan sponsor and participant expectations to inform strategic decisions and identify innovation opportunities.Requirements Poven track record of leading large-scale technology operations. Experience leading technology organizations delivering large-scale Java Full Stack, event-driven, and distributed applications, with deep expertise in architecture patterns, platform engineering, reliability engineering, security, and engineering best practices. Strong knowledge of scalability, resiliency, performance, observability, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles required. Demonstrated ability to drive engineering optimization across multi-location, multi-skilled teams. Proven experience in representing and driving Engineering Roadmaps with Senior Business collaborators. Outstanding leadership abilities with the capacity to guide both 100-150 direct and indirect reporting engineers across various sites. Proven experience of being a Leader of Leader, building high performing teams. Robust engineering expertise combined with the skill to uncover opportunities to simplify system design, increase engineering output, minimize expenses, and elevate overall operational results. Excellent communication and relationship-building skills. Ability to foster an environment of collaboration, consistent advancement, and outstanding achievement. Reporting Relationship This position reports to: Director - Engineering Direct reports: Senior Consultants, including Program Managers, Delivery Managers, Architects, and similar roles. Join us at Principal Financial Group and be a part of our mission to deliver world-class technology solutions that drive business success!