Systems Engineering Principal

Systems Engineering Principal

Pay and Benefits:

The Impact you will have in this role:

As a Principal Systems Engineer – Messaging Platforms, you will serve as the technical authority and architect for our modernized enterprise messaging ecosystem. In this role, you will define platform strategy, reference architecture, and engineering standards for IBM MQ across cloud‑native and OpenShift‑based container platforms.

You will operate as a hands‑on senior technical leader, shaping architectural direction, driving automation and reliability engineering practices, and guiding the evolution of messaging platforms that support mission‑critical business services at scale. You’ll partner closely with domain architects, application owners, infrastructure teams, and operations leadership to ensure messaging platforms are resilient, secure, scalable, and future‑ready

Your Primary Responsibilities:

• Define and drive the technical architecture and long‑term strategy for enterprise IBM MQ platforms
• Design modern, scalable messaging solutions aligned to business, resiliency, and regulatory requirements
• Lead the design, deployment, and operation of IBM MQ environments supporting high availability and disaster recovery
• Deploy and operate IBM MQ and App Connect Enterprise (ACE) on OpenShift container platforms and cloud / hybrid environments (AWS)
• Design and implement Infrastructure‑as‑Code (IaC) and automation frameworks using Terraform, Ansible, and Chef
• Establish platform standards, reference architectures, and operational patterns for enterprise MQ usage
• Conduct proof‑of‑technology and proof‑of‑concept initiatives to evaluate and adopt modern messaging and platform capabilities
• Drive a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) mindset, emphasizing reliability, scalability, automation, and proactive operations over reactive support
• Monitor, analyze, and optimize platform performance and stability using tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and MeshIQ (APM6)
• Mentor and technically guide L2/L3 engineers, promoting best practices in automation, observability, and reliability engineering
• Author and maintain architecture standards, implementation guidelines, operational procedures, and transition documentation for support teams

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience supporting engineering enterprise messaging or middleware platforms
• Demonstrated experience operating in a senior or principal‑level individual contributor role
• Bachelor’s degree preferred or equivalent practical experience
• Experience supporting large‑scale, mission‑critical production systems in regulated or complex environments preferred

Talent Needed for Success

IBM MQ & Messaging Expertise

• 10+ years of hands‑on IBM MQ administration and engineering experience
• Deep expertise in queue managers, channels, clustering, and HA/DR architecture
• Proven experience operating and evolving enterprise‑scale messaging platforms

Cloud, Containers & Automation

• Strong experience with containerized messaging platforms on OpenShift and/or Kubernetes
• Demonstrated success deploying and supporting MQ in cloud or hybrid environments (AWS preferred)
• Advanced experience with Infrastructure as Code and automation (Terraform, Ansible, Chef)

Reliability, Standards & Leadership

• Strong background in Linux/Unix environments
• Ability to define platform standards, best practices, and reference architectures
• Proven ability to drive technical outcomes independently and influence across engineering and infrastructure teams
• Strong ownership mindset with a focus on long‑term platform stability and evolution

Nice to Have Skills

• Experience with IBM App Connect Enterprise (ACE)
• Exposure to MQ Native HA and MQ Internet Pass‑Thru (MQ IPT)
• Strong scripting skills (Bash); programming experience in C/C++ or Java is a plus
• Familiarity with advanced observability and performance tooling
• Cloud and/or container certifications (AWS, OpenShift, Kubernetes)

Experience Level