H&R Block

Compensation

Full Description

About the Role We are seeking a visionary, hands-on Principal Software Engineer to provide enterprise-wide technical leadership across the Financial Services application ecosystem, with particular depth in Spruce native mobile engineering for iOS and Android. This role will shape technical design, development practices, and engineering quality across mobile applications, backend services, cloud and on-premises infrastructure, data flows, and third-party integrations. The Principal Engineer will guide the continued evolution from hybrid frameworks to secure, scalable native experiences using Swift and Kotlin; advance practical adoption of AI-assisted engineering through agentic workflows and development best practices; and ensure solutions align with enterprise architecture, security, reliability, accessibility, and operational standards across all applications. Serving as a senior technical advisor, this leader will partner with Product, Design, Architecture, Security, Operations, Infrastructure, Data, and vendor teams. The role requires deep knowledge of the Financial Services portfolio and the Block enterprise architecture, sound judgment in buy-versus-build decisions, active participation in vendor and technology reviews, and a strong commitment to mentoring engineers and raising engineering capability across teams. Essential Duties and Responsibilities Provide technical vision and leadership across Financial Services applications, with deep ownership of the Spruce native mobile ecosystem and its integration with services, infrastructure, data platforms, and third-party providers. Architect and guide the development of robust, scalable, accessible, observable, and secure native mobile applications using Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android. Define, evolve, and enforce engineering and architecture standards, including MVVM, Clean Architecture, modular design, API and integration patterns, reusable components, secure coding, performance, resiliency, and cloud-native practices. Ensure enterprise standards are consistently met across applications, including architecture governance, cybersecurity, privacy, regulatory and compliance expectations, accessibility, quality engineering, release management, observability, and production support readiness. Advance AI-enabled software delivery by establishing best practices for agentic workflows, AI-assisted design and development, specification-driven development, test generation, code review, documentation, and responsible use of enterprise-approved AI tools. Identify high-value AI use cases, define guardrails and reusable patterns, measure engineering outcomes, and help teams adopt AI in ways that improve quality, speed, maintainability, and developer experience without compromising security or compliance. Mentor engineers and technical leads through architecture reviews, design sessions, code reviews, pairing, coaching, and communities of practice; build technical depth and encourage continuous learning across teams. Maintain deep working knowledge of Financial Services products and applications, business capabilities, customer journeys, infrastructure, operational dependencies, data exchanges, APIs, event flows, and third-party integrations. Collaborate with Product, Design, Engineering, Architecture, Security, Operations, Data, and other enterprise stakeholders to translate business goals and regulatory needs into cohesive technical strategies and executable solutions. Participate in vendor evaluations, technology assessments, proofs of concept, contract and capability reviews, security and architecture reviews, and ongoing vendor performance discussions. Lead technology selection and buy-versus-build analysis using clear criteria such as strategic fit, customer experience, total cost of ownership, time to market, security, compliance, scalability, extensibility, vendor viability, integration complexity, and operational support. Apply a broad understanding of the Block enterprise architecture to ensure solutions align with approved platforms, shared capabilities, integration patterns, data standards, identity and access controls, infrastructure strategy, and long-term modernization objectives. Drive implementation and continuous improvement of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, quality gates, release automation, feature management, telemetry, performance monitoring, and production diagnostics. Lead complex technical investigations and resolution of cross-application issues involving mobile clients, APIs, services, infrastructure, data, identity, network dependencies, and external providers. Evaluate and govern third-party SDKs, APIs, platforms, and services for security, privacy, maintainability, performance, licensing, supportability, and alignment with enterprise standards. Influence roadmaps and investment decisions by identifying technical risks, architectural constraints, modernization opportunities, platform reuse, and sequencing considerations. Stay current with iOS, Android, AI engineering, financial technology, security, cloud, infrastructure, and software architecture trends; translate relevant developments into pragmatic technical direction. Design and oversee reusable software components, reference architectures, development accelerators, and engineering standards that improve consistency and efficiency across teams. Leadership Competencies Enterprise thinking: Connects product, platform, infrastructure, data, security, and operational decisions across the full application ecosystem. Technical judgment: Makes pragmatic decisions that balance customer value, risk, quality, cost, speed, and long-term maintainability. Influence without authority: Builds alignment across engineering, architecture, product, security, operations, and vendor partners. Talent development: Creates leverage by mentoring engineers, strengthening technical leaders, and establishing repeatable engineering practices. Ownership and accountability: Remains engaged from strategy and design through delivery, production readiness, and continuous improvement. Required Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience through a combination of education and professional practice. Ten to twelve years of progressive software engineering experience, including substantial experience as a technical lead, architect, or principal-level engineer for complex, customer-facing applications. Deep expertise in native mobile development using Swift, Kotlin, Xcode, and Android Studio, with demonstrated experience delivering and operating iOS and Android applications at enterprise scale. Proven experience with mobile architecture, API and service integration, performance optimization, secure coding, accessibility, resiliency, observability, automated testing, and release engineering. Broad understanding of distributed systems, cloud and enterprise infrastructure, networks, identity and access management, data integration, event-driven patterns, and production operations. Experience applying AI-assisted engineering practices, including agentic workflows and responsible development patterns, within an enterprise software delivery environment. Experience establishing engineering standards and influencing adoption across multiple teams, applications, or platforms. Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, provide technical feedback, facilitate architecture and design reviews, and raise engineering capability across an organization. Experience evaluating vendors, third-party platforms, SDKs, APIs, and services and contributing to buy-versus-build decisions and technology selection. Demonstrated ability to understand complex business domains and application ecosystems; financial services, banking, lending, payments, or regulated consumer products experience strongly desired. Experience with CI/CD and automation tools such as Fastlane, Bitrise, GitHub Actions, or comparable enterprise tooling, and automated testing frameworks such as JUnit, Espresso, and XCTest. Experience with application telemetry, mobile analytics, crash reporting, performance monitoring, experimentation, and operational diagnostics, including tools such as Datadog, Adobe Analytics, Firebase, or Sentry. Experience with shared SDKs, modular repositories, reusable component strategies, and micro-app or modular application architectures. Deep understanding of App Store and Google Play requirements, enterprise deployment, mobile privacy and security controls, and threat-modeling approaches such as STRIDE and platform capabilities such as App Attest. Excellent communication, leadership, influence, and stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to engage technical and non-technical partners across teams and locations. Preferred Qualifications Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline. Eight or more years performing as a technical lead or architect for a major application, platform, or product ecosystem. Experience modernizing a large hybrid mobile application into fully native iOS and Android applications. Deep knowledge of financial services application portfolios, infrastructure, regulatory constraints, operational controls, and third-party integration models. Experience with enterprise architecture governance, platform modernization, cloud transformation, and cross-portfolio technology strategy. Demonstrated leadership in practical AI adoption for software engineering, including reusable agentic patterns, governance, enablement, and outcome measurement. Contributions to open-source libraries, internal engineering platforms, reference architectures, or developer communities. Why work for us At H&R Block, our purpose is simple: to provide help and inspire confidence in our clients and communities everywhere. For more than 70 years, we’ve led the tax industry and we continue to evolve through our Block Next strategy, blending human expertise with digital innovation. That same commitment to care extends to our associates. When you join us, you become part of a High Performing, Connected Culture built on strong relationships, continuous learning, and a shared commitment to making a meaningful impact. We invest in your well-being through competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, and support for life both in and outside of work. Pay Range Information The pay range for this position is listed below. Local minimum wage laws apply. This information is posted pursuant to local requirements to provide applicants with information about what they might be eligible to receive. Individual pay decisions will depend on job-related factors such as experience, education, skill, performance, and geographic location where work will be performed. Successful candidates may be able to participate in one or more incentive compensation or short-term incentive plans, which could generate additional earnings in accordance with the terms of each plan. Qualifying associates can enroll themselves and/or their eligible dependents in medical and prescription drug coverage; can participate in the H&R Block Retirement Savings Plan (401(k) Plan), the Employee Assistance Program, (virtual) fitness center programs, and the associate discount program; are automatically enrolled in Business Travel Accident Insurance; and receive Associate Tax Prep benefit. Pay Range $132,200.00 - $224,700.00/Yr. Sponsored Job #LI-SH1 #LI-Remote