Principal Engineer

About this role:
Wells Fargo is seeking a Principal Engineer to join PCI team within Consumer Technology Architecture & Engineering organization. With our intense focus on data security, this principal engineer will lead technical solutions for large complex programs to protect card holder data. Should be able to act as a lead and technical expert to analyze delivery requirements, solution, design and deploy the solution to protect customer PII data across the customer journeys and business process flow. Should be a hand on engineer with ability to lead and work collaboratively with Product, business, and IT teams across multiple product areas. This role also requires forward-thinking capabilities in AI and agentic AI systems, with the opportunity to explore and build innovative AI-driven solutions to enhance PCI compliance and risk management.
In this role, you will:

• Lead the strategy and resolution of highly complex and unique challenges requiring in-depth evaluation across multiple areas or the enterprise, delivering solutions that are long-term, large-scale and require vision, creativity, innovation, advanced analytical and inductive thinking
• Translate advanced technology experience, an in-depth knowledge of the organizations tactical and strategic business objectives, the enterprise technological environment, the organization structure, and strategic technological opportunities and requirements into technical engineering solutions
• Lead engineering efforts to implement and maintain PCI-compliant architectures across the enterprise.
• Collaborate with LOBs, Risk, Security, and Compliance teams to identify cardholder data risks and design remediation strategies.
• Develop and maintain scalable, secure solutions for cardholder data protection in alignment with PCI DSS requirements.
• Design and prototype AI/agentic AI solutions to improve PCI-related processes such as data discovery, classification, risk scoring, and automated evidence generation.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on PCI standards and AI technologies, mentoring other engineers and influencing enterprise architecture.
• Contribute to enterprise-level PCI strategy and technology roadmaps.
• Evaluate and integrate tools that support PCI compliance, such as data tokenization, encryption, logging, and AI-driven policy enforcement.
• Provide vision, direction and expertise to leadership on implementing innovative and significant business solutions
• Maintain knowledge of industry best practices and new technologies and recommends innovations that enhance operations or provide a competitive advantage to the organization
• Strategically engage with all levels of professionals and managers across the enterprise and serve as an expert advisor to leadership

Required Qualifications:

• 7+ years of Engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated through one or a combination of the following: work experience, training, military experience, education
• 7+ years deep understanding of PCI DSS requirements, including experience implementing compliant solutions.
• 7+ years of hand on Java and Python experience
• 7+ years of deep understanding and hands on experience of the microservices, restful API's, event-driven and Integration architecture.
• 7+ years of experience with databases and data models
• 5+ years of Agile experience

Desired Qualifications:

• Ability to lead the strategy and resolution of highly complex and unique challenges requiring in-depth technical evaluation across multiple product areas.
• Provide technology vision, direction, and expertise to leadership on implementing innovative and significant business solutions
• Experience with the engineering, design, deployment, and architecture of data at rest encryption or tokenization solutions
• Experience with PCI scope reduction techniques (e.g., tokenization, P2PE, segmentation).
• Knowledge of agentic AI concepts and their application to security or compliance use cases.
• Contributions to open-source security tools, AI frameworks, or PCI industry working groups.
• Certifications: PCI ISA or AI/ML certifications.

Locations:

• 2222 W Rose Garden Ln, Phoenix, AZ
• 2501 S Price Rd, Chandler, AZ
• 111432 Las Colinas, Irving, TX

Please note:

• Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.
• Required location(s) listed above. Relocation assistance is not available for this position.
• Salary range is determined by location of the job. May be considered for a discretionary bonus, Restricted Share Rights, or other long - term incentive awards.
• This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

Posting End Date:
5 Oct 2026
*Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.
We Value Equal Opportunity
Wells Fargo is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected characteristic.
Employees support our focus on building strong customer relationships balanced with a strong risk mitigating and compliance-driven culture which firmly establishes those disciplines as critical to the success of our customers and company. They are accountable for execution of all applicable risk programs (Credit, Market, Financial Crimes, Operational, Regulatory Compliance), which includes effectively following and adhering to applicable Wells Fargo policies and procedures, appropriately fulfilling risk and compliance obligations, timely and effective escalation and remediation of issues, and making sound risk decisions. There is emphasis on proactive monitoring, governance, risk identification and escalation, as well as making sound risk decisions commensurate with the business unit's risk appetite and all risk and compliance program requirements.
Candidates applying to job openings posted in Canada: Applications for employment are encouraged from all qualified candidates, including women, persons with disabilities, aboriginal peoples and visible minorities. Accommodation for applicants with disabilities is available upon request in connection with the recruitment process.
Applicants with Disabilities
To request a medical accommodation during the application or interview process, visit Disability Inclusion at Wells Fargo .
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Wells Fargo maintains a drug free workplace. Please see our Drug and Alcohol Policy to learn more.
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