Principal Software Engineer

Today, through BHN’s single global platform, businesses of all kinds can tap into the world’s largest network of branded payment solutions. BHN helps businesses grow revenue, increase loyalty, motivate and reward their teams, disburse funds and engage consumers. Branded payment solutions include the issuance and distribution of gift cards, egifts, corporate payouts and rewards, along with the technology to deliver these products in seamless, integrated ways. BHN’s network spans the globe with more than 400,000 consumer touchpoints. Learn more at BHN.com.

We're seeking a Principal Software Engineer to architect and implement scalable platform solutions that power seamless recipient experiences across our global network. You'll own critical systems from conception through production, working closely with Product Management to transform growth strategies into robust technical implementations. This role combines deep technical expertise with strategic thinking to build the infrastructure that enables millions of recipients to engage with our digital ecosystem.

Technical Platform Ownership

• Architect, design, and maintain large-scale distributed systems supporting order management, payment processing, and customer engagement
• Lead technical decision-making for API-first platforms that integrate with multiple business systems and external partners
• Drive performance optimization and scalability improvements across core revenue-generating platforms
• Establish technical roadmaps and guide implementation across multi-year platform evolution

Cross-System Integration & Innovation

• Design and implement secure, reusable widget architectures for card servicing, payment acquisition, and customer personalization
• Build embeddable solutions that maintain PCI compliance while enabling rapid deployment across web and mobile applications
• Create integration frameworks that connect catalog management, order processing, payments, fraud/risk, and settlement systems
• Develop proof-of-concept solutions for emerging business requirements and customer engagement opportunities

Security & Compliance Leadership

• Champion security best practices including threat modeling, secure authentication frameworks, and data protection protocols
• Design PCI-compliant architectures using tokenization, sandboxed iframes, and strict access controls
• Implement security layers including rate limiting, bot protection, and vulnerability assessments
• Ensure all platform solutions meet enterprise security standards and regulatory requirements

Collaboration & Technical Leadership

• Partner with Product Management to translate growth funnel strategies into technical implementations
• Work closely with cross-functional teams (Payments+, Fraud/Risk, Infosec) to deliver integrated solutions
• Mentor software engineers and provide technical guidance on architecture decisions
• Lead incident response and post-mortem analysis to improve system reliability

Platform Modernization

• Drive adoption of modern infrastructure technologies including serverless computing (AWS Lambda), API gateways, and cloud-native architectures
• Implement observability solutions for monitoring, metrics, and performance analysis
• Establish development best practices and tooling that accelerate team productivity
• Author comprehensive technical documentation and operational runbooks

Experience

• +12 years of enterprise software development experience with focus on large-scale, distributed systems
• Proven track record of architecting platforms that process high transaction volumes with strict uptime requirements
• Experience with payment systems, e-commerce platforms, or financial technology solutions preferred
• Background in API design, microservices architecture, and cloud-native development

Technical Skills

• Strong proficiency in Java, Spring, nodejs
• Hands-on experience with REST APIs, GraphQL and modern web architectures
• Solid understanding of software engineering fundamentals, design patterns, and scalable systems
• Demonstrated ability to own complex systems and drive technical strategy
• Excellent debugging, troubleshooting, and performance optimization skills
• Comfortable providing production support as needed
• Experience in CI/CD pipelines and cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or similar)
• Familiarity with observability tools (e.g. New Relic, Splunk)
• Prior experience in user-facing or enterprise-scale platforms

Leadership & Communication

• Strong communication and cross-team collaboration skills
• Experience mentoring engineers and driving technical decision-making across teams
• Proven ability to balance technical excellence with business requirements and delivery timelines
• Track record of successful cross-functional collaboration in fast-paced environments

Mindset

• Systems thinking approach to complex technical challenges
• Customer-focused mindset with understanding of user experience implications
• Data-driven decision making and commitment to measurable results
• Passion for building scalable, secure, and maintainable solutions

Salary Range for California Residents Only: $184,060.00 to $248,500.00

Salary Range for Illinois Residents Only: $146,290.00 to $197,500.00

Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, etc. In addition to your salary, Blackhawk Network offers benefits including 401k with employer match, medical, dental, vision, 12 paid holidays in the year 2025, 1 hour of sick pay accrual for every 30 hours worked, parental leave, life insurance, disability insurance, accident and illness insurance, health and dependent care flexible spending accounts, wellness benefits, and flexible time off for all full-time employees. 

Blackhawk Network provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.  Blackhawk Network believes that diversity leads to strength. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Blackhawk Network encourages applicants with previous criminal records to apply to all positions and, pursuant to the San Francisco and Los Angeles Fair Chance Acts (and other “Fair Chance” laws), Blackhawk Network will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.  For Philadelphia applicants or jobs, please see a copy of Philadelphia’s ordinance on this topic by clicking this link: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-280104.