Principal Engineer - (Hybrid)

At Allstate, great things happen when our people work together to protect families and their belongings from life’s uncertainties. And for more than 90 years, our innovative drive has kept us a step ahead of our customers’ evolving needs. From advocating for seat belts, air bags and graduated driving laws, to being an industry leader in pricing sophistication, telematics, and, more recently, device and identity protection. Your role in the team The Principal Engineer leads Allstate's Developer Experience organization, driving the technical strategy, adoption, and continuous improvement of the tools, platforms, and capabilities engineers use to build, test, deploy, secure, and operate software. As a hands-on technical leader and advocate for the developer community, this individual partners closely with engineering teams to reduce friction, improve productivity, and enhance the overall development experience. The Principal Engineer champions modern engineering practices, AI-assisted development, and emerging agentic technologies while leading high-performing teams responsible for delivering scalable, secure, and innovative solutions that enable business outcomes. Key Responsibilities Lead the vision, technical strategy, and execution of Allstate's Developer Experience program, ensuring engineers have access to modern, secure, and efficient development tools and platforms. Serve as a trusted advocate for the engineering community by continuously gathering feedback, understanding developer pain points, and driving improvements that reduce friction and increase productivity. Remain actively engaged in software engineering practices, contributing to technical discussions, prototypes, automation initiatives, and platform improvements. Evaluate, validate, and govern developer tools, plugins, frameworks, and platform capabilities before enterprise adoption to ensure security, reliability, and scalability. Champion the adoption of AI-assisted software development, including GitHub Copilot and emerging agentic engineering capabilities, identifying opportunities to improve developer effectiveness and software quality. Partner with engineering leaders, architects, platform teams, and product stakeholders to create a seamless and consistent development experience across the enterprise. Drive innovation through experimentation, proof-of-concepts, technical demonstrations, and continuous assessment of emerging technologies. Establish metrics and KPIs focused on developer productivity, platform adoption, engineering satisfaction, and operational excellence. Build and lead high-performing teams while fostering a culture of technical excellence, learning, innovation, and customer-centric thinking. Influence enterprise-wide engineering standards, best practices, and technology decisions that enhance the software development lifecycle. Lead globally distributed and cross-functional teams to deliver modern engineering capabilities that enable speed, quality, security, and reliability. Skills & Capabilities Developer-first mindset with a passion for improving the engineering experience. Ability to influence technology strategy and drive adoption of new tools and practices across the enterprise. Proven change leadership and experience leading engineering transformation initiatives. Strong collaboration and relationship-building skills across engineering, product, and business teams. Demonstrated people leadership experience and developing high-performing teams. Effective communicator with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business value. Experience influencing vendor roadmaps and product strategies to align with evolving business objectives and operational priorities. Essential Criteria All applicants must demonstrate they have a legal right to work in the UK for employment at Allstate. Allstate is not providing sponsorship for this vacancy. A minimum of 5 years of software engineering experience (Java) A minimum of 5 years of experience leading engineering organizations, platform engineering teams, or developer experience functions. Demonstrated hands-on experience building software and working directly with developer platforms, automation tools, and cloud-native technologies. Strong understanding of mainstream languages such as python and javascript Experience leveraging GitHub Copilot, AI-assisted engineering tools, large language models, and emerging agentic development capabilities. Proven ability to influence senior technical leaders and drive adoption of new technologies and engineering practices. Experience presenting technical concepts, facilitating demonstrations, and engaging directly with engineering communities Desirable Criteria Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field. Previous experience working in large complex IT organisation. Supervisory Responsibilities This job has supervisory duties. Job Posting End Date: Sunday 6th September [11.59pm] #SE1 #Hybrid Skills Cloud Infrastructure, Development Experience, Emerging Technologies, Engineering Practices, Technical Strategy, Technology Strategies Shape the Future of Insurance with Cutting-Edge Tech and a People-First Culture Why join us? Allstate NI is proud to be Allstate’s European Digital Centre of Excellence, a hub for innovation and engineering excellence. We’re recent winners of Best Place to Work in IT (100+ employees) and Best Use of Cloud Services at the Belfast Telegraph IT Awards, and we’ve been recognised for our community and sustainability impact with Platinum in the Northern Ireland Environmental Benchmarking Survey. We’re a product-driven, cloud-first organisation delivering real outcomes through modern technology, a digital product-centric talent model, and a culture rooted in engineering excellence. Our teams work in cross-functional structures, guided by an outcome-based delivery approach that accelerates speed, agility, and value. We also invest in you. At Allstate NI, your career growth matters. You’ll have access to our Continuous Learning Hub, designed to support skills development and professional advancement through tailored learning paths, certifications, and mentoring opportunities. Whether you’re deepening technical expertise or exploring leadership roles, we provide the tools and support to help you thrive. What do you get in return? As well as receiving a competitive annual salary, our reward package includes: Corporate bonus scheme Pension scheme Annual performance-related pay reviews Life assurance and income protection Flexible working options Hybrid working Private medical and dental insurance Access to an employee assistance programme Discounted gym membership Two paid volunteering days each year Cycle to work scheme Be part of a high-performing, socially responsible organisation where your work has purpose, and your growth is supported every step of the way.