Our Fortune 500 company is driving a digital transformation and looking for forward-thinking innovators to disrupt how our industry thinks about and uses technology. As one of the world's leading employee benefits providers, we help millions of people gain affordable access to benefits that help them protect their families, their finances and their futures.

Are you an asker of questions, a solver of problems, and a challenger of the status quo? Our mission is to provide a differentiated customer experience and exceed the expectations people have of technology at any company — not just insurers. 

We are seeking individuals to join our team of talented IT professionals who share never-ending passion and an unwavering focus on our customer experience. Team members comfortable working in an agile, fast-paced, and delivery-focused environment thrive in our environment where we value an entrepreneurial spirit and those who challenge the status-quo.

Unum is changing, and we’re excited about what’s next. Join us.

General Summary:

Principal Software Engineer – DevOps Migration & Engineering Excellence
We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead a transformative DevOps migration initiative within the Center of Engineering Excellence. This strategic role will oversee a cross-functional, global team based in Chattanooga and Portland, with both onshore and offshore collaboration.

The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in DevOps, Agile methodologies, CI/CD, and Test Automation, and will guide the migration of over 500 enterprise applications to a new platform. This role requires a visionary leader who can assess current designs, drive innovation through AI-powered autonomous IT processes, and influence teams to adopt best practices.

We’re looking for a change agent with strong leadership, communication, and analytical skills—someone passionate about delivering customer-centric solutions and fostering professional growth across teams.

Job Specifications

• Bachelor’s degree required, Master’s preferred or equivalent relevant experience.
• Strong expertise in Azure, GitHub DevOps, and CI/CD platforms, with preferred knowledge of Octopus Deploy, SonarQube, Veracode, and Test Automation tools.
• Hands-on experience with GitHub Copilot or similar AI-driven coding tools.
• Deep understanding of the systems development lifecycle, IT infrastructure, and software development methodologies.
• Solid grasp of risk assessment, change management, and configuration management practices.
• Ability to communicate architectural concepts to both technical and business audiences persuasively.
• Knowledge of Agile/Lean development methodologies and continuous deployment practices to support enterprise architecture.

Primary Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Architecture

• Drive the successful implementation of DevOps, CI/CD, Test Automation, Quality Assurance, and GenAI platforms, ensuring compliance, governance, and alignment with business strategy.
• Lead architectural design and advancement of reference architectures, ensuring scalability, stability, and high performance across enterprise applications.
• Collaborate with Enterprise Architects and domain-specific architects to develop and apply technical roadmaps, standards, tooling, and frameworks.
• Resolve architectural uncertainties through prioritization, planning, and execution of architectural sprints, update technology roadmaps and portfolio backlogs accordingly.

Technology Innovation & Evaluation

• Identify, evaluate, and prototype emerging technologies—including AI, digital platforms, and automation—to solve business problems and enhance IT capabilities.
• Coordinate tool and technology selection, risk assessments, and sunsetting processes with technical and business stakeholders.
• Stay abreast of IT trends and third-party/cloud solution updates, communicating opportunities for expanded business applicability.

Collaboration & Integration

• Partner with Product Owners, Business Consultants, and Business Architects to integrate digital maturity and DevOps strategies into solution designs.
• Collaborate with UX designers to ensure efficient translation of designs into working solutions.
• Ensure solutions deliver excellent customer experiences, are secure, scalable, and adhere to best practices and open standards.

Mentorship & Team Development

• Mentor Senior Engineers, fostering best practices in architecture, software development, and professional growth.
• Provide ongoing guidance to agile teams, ensuring adoption of modern development practices including automated testing, continuous integration, and deployment.
• Promote a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within the team.

Execution & Delivery

• Ensure application quality from design through deployment and operations, maintaining performance and system stability.
• Participate in backlog refinement, sprint planning, code reviews, and retrospectives to ensure delivery of business value.
• May contribute directly to design, coding, configuration, testing, and maintenance of software deliverables.
• Monitor application behavior in production and take appropriate action to meet business needs.

Communication & Stakeholder Engagement

• Communicate effectively with senior stakeholders, providing updates on technical impacts, project progress, and architectural decisions.
• Ensure transparency and alignment by maintaining up-to-date Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools and participating in daily standups.

#LI-AD1

#LI-MULTI
#LI-DEVOPS

~IN1

Our company is built on helping individuals and families, and this starts with our employees. We want employees to maintain a positive balance, which is why we provide access to the benefits and resources they need to invest in themselves. From our onsite fitness facilities and generous paid time off to employee professional development programs, we are committed to helping employees live and work their best – both inside and outside the office.

Unum is an equal opportunity employer, considering all qualified applicants and employees for hiring, placement, and advancement, without regard to a person's race, color, religion, national origin, age, genetic information, military status, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, or protected veteran status.

The base salary range for applicants for this position is listed below. Unless actual salary is indicated above in the job description, actual pay will be based on skill, geographical location and experience.

$109,100.00-$224,000.00

Additionally, Unum offers a portfolio of benefits and rewards that are competitive and comprehensive including healthcare benefits (health, vision, dental), insurance benefits (short & long-term disability), performance-based incentive plans, paid time off, and a 401(k) retirement plan with an employer match up to 5% and an additional 4.5% contribution whether you contribute to the plan or not.  All benefits are subject to the terms and conditions of individual Plans.

Company:

Unum