Principal Application Engineer (Financial Systems

Principal Application Engineer (Financial Systems) Job Description

Navy Federal Credit Union currently does not provide sponsorship for this role. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future sponsorship.

Design, develop, and optimize software applications that bridge technical teams and end-users, addressing business needs through innovative solutions and enhancing member or internal user experiences. Leverage the full development lifecycle, including design, coding, testing, and deployment, to improve system efficiency. Work independently to interpret and develop solutions to complex business challenges that have a significant impact on the function or branch.

Specialized skill set and proficiency with procedures and techniques. Recognized as an expert in own area within the company.

Success in this role requires advanced technical proficiency, strong operational engineering capabilities, cloud infrastructure expertise, and demonstrated ownership of business-critical enterprise applications. The ideal candidate is a hands‑on senior engineer who can operate with minimal supervision, drive complex cross‑functional issues to resolution, and own the technical health, security posture, and service performance of a critical business platform.

• Design, develop, and optimize high‑quality software applications using various, complex programming languages and frameworks that meet business requirements, ensuring alignment with client needs and system performance
• Collaborate with engineers, stakeholders, and team members to gather and analyze complex business requirements and translate them into technical specifications, propose innovative solutions, and ensure timely completion of tasks
• Write complex, clean, scalable, and maintainable code adhering to industry best practices and organizational coding standards
• Implement data structures and algorithms efficiently, optimizing code for performance, scalability, and user experience
• Identify, troubleshoot, and resolve complex application functionality, performance, and bugs, working with the team to implement fixes and improvements
• Conduct complex and team code reviews, provide technical and developmental feedback to team members, and maintain high-quality code standards
• Lead medium to large projects, manage complex issues with senior management, and mentor junior staff; deliver high‑quality results and meet milestones
• Assist in the development and enhancement of application and software development engineering policies, practices, and procedures, ensuring alignment with organizational policies and goals
• Develop and maintain strong working relationships with team members, subject matter experts, and leaders
• Lead incident response, root cause analysis, vulnerability remediation, access reviews, change management, release coordination, disaster recovery readiness, and continuous improvement efforts to ensure platform reliability, compliance, and availability
• Partner with business stakeholders, software vendors, infrastructure, network, security, and database teams to deliver enhancements, manage vendor escalations, resolve complex issues, and proactively address technical risks and dependencies
• Provide technical direction, establish operational standards, mentor team members, contribute to engineering best practices, and communicate technical impact, risk, remediation plans, and platform status to stakeholders.

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Systems, a related field or the equivalent combination of education, training or experience
• 7-10 years of experience in application or software development engineering.
• Subject matter expert within business area/specialization with understanding of interrelationships of different disciplines
• Extensive experience with software development principles, methodologies (including Agile), database structures, web technologies, and technical applications/languages
• Advanced understanding of software development concepts, including version control systems, and expertise in current development methodologies and practices
• Expert problem‑solving and…