At Bridgenext, we engineer Growth Operating Systems. Most enterprises have spent millions on their revenue stack and still aren't seeing the growth they expected.They have tools that function, but no system that wins. We help growth-hungry companies close that gap by turning fragmented platforms, siloed teams, and disconnected data into one integrated Growth OS. More than a technology company or marketing agency, we're a global digital consultancy with experts in engineering, data, AI, creative and more.

Our teams are made up of experts who believe in engineering impact, starting with putting people at the center of everything we do. Every team member directly shapes our work, culture, and values. Nothing matters more to us than a kind, respectful, fulfilling environment that supports everyone. Our flexible, inclusive culture gives you the autonomy, resources, and opportunities to thrive.

Bridgenext is seeking a Principal Engineer / Technical Architect with deep hands-on engineering experience and demonstrated domain knowledge in US Retirement, wealth management, asset management, or adjacent financial services platforms. The role requires someone who can move from business and domain context to detailed solution design and into code, prototypes, troubleshooting, and day-to-day engineering decisions.

The Principal Engineer / Technical Architect will define and validate application architecture for enterprise modernization initiatives across Manulife's Wealth and Asset Management environment. You will own detailed technical design, work directly with engineering teams, review and contribute production-quality code, and guide modernization of legacy and distributed systems. Deep US Retirement / retirement plan recordkeeping experience is strongly preferred; strong wealth or asset management experience with transferable domain depth will also be considered.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead detailed solution design across application services, APIs, event-driven integrations, data persistence, security, and deployment, translating target architecture into implementable HLD/LLD and engineering patterns.
• Work hands-on with engineering teams by writing and reviewing code, building POCs and technical spikes, validating frameworks, troubleshooting complex issues, and setting practical implementation standards.
• Design resilient cloud-native and distributed systems using Azure or AWS, containers/Kubernetes, microservices and serverless patterns, with explicit consideration for scalability, availability, performance, and disaster recovery.
• Define reusable API and integration patterns using REST/OpenAPI, API gateways, asynchronous messaging and event streaming such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, or Azure Event Hubs, including third-party and legacy integrations.
• Drive legacy modernization using approaches such as strangler patterns, service extraction, refactoring, data replication, and controlled coexistence so critical business processing can migrate without disruption.
• Define fit-for-purpose persistence and caching patterns across relational databases, NoSQL/document stores, and Redis or equivalent technologies, with clear choices around transactions, consistency, concurrency, and performance.
• Embed security and privacy into detailed designs, including enterprise IAM, OAuth 2.0/OIDC, secrets management, encryption, auditability, entitlement controls, and protection of sensitive financial and participant data.
• Establish engineering practices for CI/CD, infrastructure as code, automated quality gates, observability, logging, metrics, tracing, and production diagnostics so systems are supportable after release.
• Partner with product owners, business SMEs, enterprise architects, and engineering leads to translate retirement and wealth-management workflows into technical designs, resolve tradeoffs, and challenge assumptions when needed.
• Mentor senior engineers, review pull requests and technical designs, drive non-functional requirements, reduce technical debt, and ensure architectural decisions are consistently implemented across delivery teams.

Workplace:  This is a remote working position for candidates based in the US

Must Have Skills:

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including at least 3 years operating as a Principal Engineer, Technical Architect, Solution Architect, or equivalent on large-scale enterprise platforms, with recent hands-on development responsibility.
• Strong programming depth in at least one enterprise backend stack such as Java/Spring Boot, .NET/C#, Python, or equivalent, with the ability to review and contribute production-quality code and reason about concurrency, testing, design patterns, and failure modes.
• Hands-on experience with Azure or AWS and modern distributed-system patterns, including microservices, containers/Kubernetes (AKS/EKS or equivalent), serverless components, resiliency, and horizontal scaling.
• Proven experience designing production APIs and integration solutions using REST, OpenAPI/Swagger, API gateways, asynchronous messaging, event streaming, retries, idempotency, and error-handling patterns.
• Strong working knowledge of relational databases, NoSQL/document stores, and caching, including schema design, transactional boundaries, query/performance considerations, and consistency tradeoffs.
• Relevant financial-services domain experience in US Retirement, wealth management, asset management, investment platforms, brokerage/custody, or closely related recordkeeping and transaction-processing environments.
• Experience designing secure systems that handle sensitive PII and financial data, including identity/access management, encryption, audit trails, secure coding practices, and regulated operational controls.
• Strong consulting and engineering-leadership posture: able to communicate with business and technology stakeholders, produce clear HLD/LLD artifacts, defend technical decisions, mentor teams, and stay effective in ambiguous modernization programs.

Preferred Skills:

• Deep US Retirement / retirement plan recordkeeping experience, including defined contribution plans such as 401(k), 403(b), and 457(b), IRA/rollover flows, and lifecycle processes such as eligibility/enrollment, contributions/payroll, vesting, trades/pricing, distributions, loans, QDROs, and RMDs.
• Familiarity with retirement regulations and operating constraints such as ERISA, IRS/DOL rules, non-discrimination testing, SECURE 2.0, participant-data privacy, and high-volume processing around payroll, trading, or market events.
• Experience with retirement recordkeeping or legacy core platforms such as Omni, FIS, OBI, SunGard, or mainframe COBOL/CICS environments, and with modernization patterns that allow legacy and new services to coexist safely.
• Experience with wealth or asset-management workflows such as account/portfolio servicing, holdings and transactions, trading, custody, fund administration, or investment platforms; exposure to systems such as Aladdin, SimCorp Dimension, Charles River, Bloomberg AIM, Eagle, or equivalent is valuable.
• Familiarity with retirement and investment ecosystem integrations or standards such as payroll/provider files, SPARK conventions, NSCC/DTCC or Fund/SERV, custodians, plan sponsors, TPAs, and downstream reporting platforms.
• Experience using AI-assisted engineering tools for code analysis, modernization, test generation, documentation, or developer productivity is an asset, provided the candidate can independently validate the resulting design and code.

Professional Skills:

• Solid written, verbal, and presentation communication skills
• Strong team and individual player
• Maintains composure during all types of situations and is collaborative by nature
• High standards of professionalism, consistently producing high quality results
• Self-sufficient, independent requiring very little supervision or intervention
• Demonstrate flexibility and openness to bring creative solutions to address issues

Bridgenext is an Equal Opportunity Employer

US citizens and those authorized to work in the US are encouraged to apply

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