Principal Engineer

Posted 2 Days Ago
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Austin, TX, USA
In-Office
Senior level
Fintech • Insurance
The Role
Provide hands-on technical leadership for a new financial services platform supporting product rules, calculation services, APIs, and safe AI-agent interfaces. Design and deliver production software, guide architecture, establish testing and CI/CD practices, build controls for accuracy and auditability, coordinate AI coding agents, investigate incidents, and mentor engineers. The role requires cloud-native distributed systems expertise, strong software engineering skills, and experience in regulated environments.
Summary Generated by Built In

We are driven to do more. More for our customers and the financial professionals who offer our products. If you are driven to do more and love the challenge of pursuing more, Athene is your kind of company. You will find we offer more than the basics to create an inclusive and dynamic work environment at our various locations.


Purpose & Impact:

Help build Athene’s founding engineering team in Austin and shape technology that transforms how annuity and retirement products are distributed and managed. As Principal Engineer, you will provide hands-on technical leadership for a new platform, starting with the product rules and calculation services that support guarantee decisioning and the interfaces that enable AI systems to use those services safely.
You will design and deliver critical software, guide complex engineering decisions and establish practices that help the team build with speed, quality and accountability. With executive sponsorship, Athene’s scale and Apollo’s investment expertise, this is an opportunity to build something consequential while putting innovation, ownership and our BEAM values into practice.

Key Deliverables:

  • Design and build core platform services. Translate business and actuarial requirements into scalable product rules, calculation services and APIs. Partner with Product, Actuarial, Operations and engineering teams to align designs, dependencies and delivery priorities.
  • Deliver critical software and guide technical decisions. Build prototypes, define system interfaces and solve complex implementation challenges. Write and review production code, lead design reviews and create clear technical documentation that other engineers and coding agents can use.
  • Build controls into the platform. Design for calculation accuracy, auditability, data integrity, security and reliable operations. Develop interfaces that allow AI agents to interact with financial services through appropriate permissions, validation and safeguards.
  • Advance development with AI coding agents. Decompose work, coordinate multiple agents and establish testing and review gates for their output. Remain accountable for delivered software and measure improvements in delivery time, quality and engineering effort.
  • Establish reliable engineering practices. Strengthen automated testing, CI/CD, observability, release controls and production readiness. Investigate incidents, address underlying causes and improve the systems and practices that prevent recurrence.
  • Simplify solutions and develop team capability. Reuse existing capabilities where practical, make sound technical trade-offs and reduce unnecessary complexity. Mentor engineers through design discussions, code reviews and pairing, helping the team make effective decisions independently.


What You Need to Bring:

  • 6+ years of designing, building and operating production software systems or relevant professional experience, preferred.
  • Demonstrated success guiding complex technical designs and delivering software in collaboration with other experienced engineers.
  • Demonstrated expertise using multiple AI coding agents to deliver production software, including task decomposition, orchestration, automated validation and review. Ability to explain and substantiate the impact on delivery speed and quality while independently evaluating and troubleshooting generated code.
  • Deep hands-on expertise in cloud-native, distributed, API-first systems, with technologies such as Python, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, AWS, event streaming, infrastructure as code and modern CI/CD.
  • Experience developing interfaces and controls for AI agents, including tool or Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations, permissions, safeguards and evaluations. Experience with rules engines, calculation or pricing services, or annuity and retirement products is a plus.
  • Experience building systems in financial services or another highly regulated environment, with strong attention to accuracy, security, auditability and data integrity. Bring clear written communication, critical thinking, adaptability and the ability to influence and mentor through technical expertise.
  • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.

Willing to consider candidates at multiple levels based on skills and experience.

Drive. Discipline. Confidence. Focus. Commitment.  Learn more about working at Athene.

Athene is a Military Friendly Employer!  Learn more about how we support our Veterans.

Athene is committed to inclusion and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.  We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other status protected by federal, state or local law.

Skills Required

  • 6+ years designing, building, and operating production software systems or equivalent professional experience
  • Experience guiding complex technical designs and delivering software with experienced engineers
  • Expertise using multiple AI coding agents, including task decomposition, orchestration, automated validation, review, and troubleshooting generated code
  • Hands-on expertise with cloud-native, distributed, API-first systems
  • Experience with Python, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, AWS, event streaming, infrastructure as code, and modern CI/CD
  • Experience developing AI-agent interfaces and controls, including tool or Model Context Protocol integrations, permissions, safeguards, and evaluations
  • Experience with rules engines, calculation or pricing services, or annuity and retirement products
  • Experience building systems in financial services or another highly regulated environment
  • Strong attention to accuracy, security, auditability, and data integrity
  • Clear written communication, critical thinking, adaptability, and ability to influence and mentor through technical expertise
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience

Athene Compensation & Benefits Highlights

The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Athene and has not been reviewed or approved by Athene.

  • Retirement Support — Retirement savings support is highlighted through a strong employer match and structured retirement programs. Feedback suggests these offerings add meaningful long-term value to total compensation.
  • Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off policies span flexible or paid time off, a robust holiday schedule, volunteer time, and paid parental, family care, and military leave. Feedback suggests this breadth is a standout element across many roles.
  • Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Wellbeing resources include comprehensive health coverage, mental-health support, onsite fitness centers, and one‑on‑one coaching. HQ amenities and wellness perks are positioned as differentiators for on-site employees.

Athene Insights

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The Company
HQ: West Des Moines, IA
1,254 Employees
Year Founded: 2009

What We Do

Athene, through its subsidiaries, is a leading retirement services company that issues, reinsures and acquires retirement savings products designed for the increasing number of individuals and institutions seeking to fund retirement needs. The products offered by Athene include: • Retail fixed, fixed indexed and registered index-linked annuity products; • Reinsurance arrangements with third-party annuity providers; and • Institutional products, such as funding agreements and group annuity contracts related to pension risk transfers. Athene's subsidiaries include Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Company, a Delaware-domiciled insurance company, Athene Annuity and Life Company, an Iowa-domiciled insurance company, Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Company of New York, a New York-domiciled insurance company, Athene Securities, LLC, an Iowa-domiciled registered broker-dealer (member FINRA), and Athene Life Re Ltd., a Bermuda-domiciled reinsurer. -- The financial industry is ripe for change and Athene is leading the way. We’re determined to make retirement easier for you and other Americans by harnessing our passion, smarts and relentless spirit. Learn how to become an Athene financial professional at www.athene.com/contact. If you love a challenge and are driven to succeed, then Athene is your kind of company.

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