The Principal DevOps & API Engineer is responsible for the architecture, design, delivery, and governance of enterprise-grade DevOps and API platforms within a regulated financial services environment.

This role combines deep hands-on technical leadership with strategic ownership of DevOps pipelines, cloud-native platforms, and API ecosystems, ensuring scalability, security, reliability, and regulatory compliance.

The role collaborates closely with engineering teams, product owners, security, architecture, and governance stakeholders to drive platform excellence, developer experience, and continuous improvement aligned with Bank's and CB UAE regulatory requirements.

Key Responsibilities

DevOps & API Engineering

• Design, develop, test, and deploy DevOps and API platform services using Java Spring Boot, Maven, and cloud-native technologies.
• Design and implement enterprise API services, shared frameworks, and reusable components supporting internal and external consumers.
• Develop and deploy AWS Lambda functions supporting DevOps workflows and API platform capabilities.
• Build and maintain shared libraries, SDKs, frameworks, and dependencies for DevOps and API platforms.
• Ensure high unit test coverage, code quality, security, and vulnerability-free implementations.
• Maintain source code and artifacts in Git, Nexus, and enterprise repositories.
• Deploy and manage platform workloads on AWS EKS and Kubernetes-based environments.
• Drive API lifecycle management, including versioning, backward compatibility, deprecation, and retirement strategies.

API Platform, Integration & Governance

• Define and enforce API standards, design guidelines, and best practices (REST, security, versioning, documentation).
• Oversee API gateway integration, authentication, authorization, rate limiting, and traffic management.
• Ensure APIs meet performance, scalability, and resilience requirements.
• Maintain API specifications and documentation using Swagger / OpenAPI, Postman, and internal platforms.
• Enable API discoverability and reuse through catalogues and developer portals.
• Collaborate with security teams to implement API security controls, including OAuth2, JWT, encryption, and secrets management.

Monitoring, Observability & Operations

• Monitor and optimize platform and API performance using AppDynamics, ELK, and observability tooling.
• Define and enforce operational excellence practices, including:
• Incident management
• Root cause analysis (RCA)
• Continuous improvement and reliability engineering
• Ensure high availability, fault tolerance, and operational readiness across platforms.

DevOps Strategy, Architecture & Governance

• Own the end-to-end DevOps and API platform lifecycle, from design through operations.
• Establish and enforce architecture, development, and operational standards.
• Act as a key technical decision-maker in strategic and architectural forums.
• Drive the long-term vision and roadmap for DevOps and API platform capabilities.
• Lead design and architecture reviews across cross-functional teams.
• Champion automation-first, cloud-native, and platform engineering practices.

Regulatory & Enterprise Alignment

• Ensure platforms align with Bank's strategic objectives and governance frameworks.
• Implement and enforce standards compliant with CB UAE regulatory guidelines.
• Follow the Bank's DevOps Governance Strategy, including contribution to governance playbooks and stakeholder engagement.
• Ensure enterprise-level compliance covering:
• Identity and access management
• Entitlement models
• Auditability and traceability
• Secure configurations and data protection

Leadership & Mentorship

• Provide technical leadership across DevOps, API, SRE, and engineering teams.
• Mentor and coach engineers, fostering a culture of engineering excellence, ownership, and accountability.
• Lead by example through hands-on contribution, design authority, and architectural guidance.
• Influence stakeholders across engineering, security, operations, and business domains.

Research & Innovation

• Research and evaluate emerging DevOps, API, and cloud technologies.
• Lead adoption of new tools and methodologies to improve developer experience and operational efficiency.
• Drive innovation while balancing risk, compliance, and enterprise constraints.

4. KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Principal Engineer as part of the Core Delivery team aligned to a service.
• Through experience, enhances skills across multiple specialisations.

5. JOB CONTEXT

• Owns delivery of assigned DevOps and API initiatives end to end.
• Ensures thorough unit testing and high-quality deliverables.
• Delivers outcomes within agreed timelines and performance benchmarks.
• Communicates effectively with stakeholders and delivery teams.
• Seeks feedback and drives continuous improvement.
• Adapts to changing priorities and complex delivery challenges.
• Works across multiple Service Delivery Teams.

6. QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• Master’s degree is an advantage.

Minimum Experience

• 10+ years in software engineering with strong focus on DevOps, API platforms, cloud, and automation.
• End-to-end SDLC ownership with DevOps and CI/CD expertise.
• Experience in Open Banking or regulated financial services.
• Deep hands-on expertise in AWS (Lambda, EKS, cloud-native services).
• Strong experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and container orchestration.
• Extensive CI/CD experience using GitLab, Nexus, and enterprise toolchains.
• Proven experience designing and operating DevOps and API platforms at scale.

DevOps, Automation & Platform Engineering

• Proven delivery of secure, production-grade DevOps and API solutions.
• Strong experience with infrastructure automation and pipelines.
• Hands-on experience implementing DevSecOps and shift-left security.
• Strong troubleshooting and debugging skills across large systems.
• Experience remediating security vulnerabilities across apps and pipelines.
• Proficiency in Python or similar scripting languages.
• Nice-to-have: Node.js for automation or platform tooling.

Monitoring, Reliability & Performance Engineering

• Experience with continuous monitoring and observability.
• Ability to analyse metrics, identify bottlenecks, and optimize systems.
• Experience improving alerting, performance profiling, and operational readiness.

Governance, Security & Compliance

• Strong experience in enterprise governance frameworks.
• Deep understanding of IAM, secrets management, encryption, and secure configurations.
• Experience implementing governance aligned with CB UAE and Bank standards.

Leadership, Architecture & Strategy

• Proven ability to mentor engineers and influence cross-functional teams.
• Strong analytical skills with end-to-end system thinking.
• Experience evaluating and adopting new technologies responsibly.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Proficiency with architecture tools such as Visio, Draw.io, or equivalent.

Enterprise & Scale Experience

• Proven experience delivering large-scale platforms in complex enterprises.
• Strong focus on standardization, reuse, and developer experience.
• Ability to operate as a strategic technical leader, beyond day-to-day delivery.