Principal Engineer I

What You'll Do

• Provides senior technical leadership, engineering governance, and strategic direction for enterprise middleware technologies.
• Responsible for the design, implementation, and lifecycle management of middleware platforms, including IBM MQ as a Service, and ensures alignment with enterprise architecture, security, and operational standards.
• Pairs with Enterprise Architecture, Security, Operations, and Application teams to deliver secure, resilient, and production-ready middleware solutions while supporting audit, risk, and compliance requirements.
• Oversees the lifecycle management of Datadog, NetBrain, and LiveNX to ensure these tools are properly governed, maintained, and configured in alignment with WAB standards and compliance requirements.
• Lead architecture, engineering, and operational ownership of IBM MQ as a Service, including availability, security, disaster recovery, and capacity planning.
• Serve as the subject matter expert (SME) and escalation point for enterprise middleware platforms.
• Provide engineering oversight and strategic technical guidance for enterprise monitoring platforms, ensuring optimal design, implementation, and operational effectiveness across infrastructure and application environments; DataDog, NetBrain, LiveNX/LiveWire.
• Provide engineering oversight and technical guidance for middleware technologies including Tomca, Apache, NGINX, ActiveMQ, IIS and .NET & Azure Service Bus.
• Define, implement, and maintain enterprise middleware engineering standards, best practices, and governance processes.
• Partner with Enterprise Architecture to develop middleware reference architectures and ensure production readiness.
• Manage lifecycle of middleware platforms, including legacy and end-of-life (EOL) technologies, migration strategies, and decommissioning.
• Lead vulnerability remediation efforts and manage IT risk exceptions related to middleware platforms.
• Collaborate with internal audit, risk, and compliance teams to support regulatory and audit requirements.
• Develop and maintain middleware technology roadmaps aligned with enterprise strategy.
• Create and maintain technical documentation, standards, and executive-level presentations.
• Mentor engineers and drive consistency in middleware engineering practices across teams.

What You'll Need

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience in middleware, platform, or integration engineering.
• Deep expertise in IBM MQ and messaging platforms.
• Hands-on experience with enterprise middleware technologies, including Tomcat; Apache, NGINX, ActiveMQ, IIS and .NET & Azure Service Bus.
• Hand-on experience with Infrastructure and Application monitoring technology like DataDog, NetBrain, LiveNX/LiveWire.
• Experience managing legacy systems and EOL platform transitions.
• Experience supporting security, risk, audit, and compliance functions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to present to technical and leadership audiences.
• Experience in financial services or other regulated environments.
• Prior experience in a Principal Engineer, Lead Engineer, or senior architecture role.

About the Company

Western Alliance Bank, Member FDIC, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Western Alliance Bancorporation. Serving clients nationwide, Western Alliance Bank includes six legacy bank brands — Alliance Association Bank, Alliance Bank of Arizona, Bank of Nevada, Bridge Bank, First Independent Bank and Torrey Pines Bank — that remain part of the company’s heritage, as well as AmeriHome Mortgage, a Western Alliance Bank Company. Western Alliance Bancorporation is committed to equal employment and will consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, sex, color, religion, age, nation origin, marital status, disability, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or genetic information.