Principal Engineer - Email Engineering

About this role:

Wells Fargo is seeking a Principal Engineer to join the Email Engineering team within Workplace Technology (WT). This role serves as the technical authority and principal engineer responsible for the modernization, architecture, and engineering leadership of the firm’s enterprise messaging platforms, with a strong focus on Microsoft Exchange, Exchange Online, and Microsoft 365 services. Workplace Technology, part of Enterprise Functions Technology (EFT), delivers critical enterprise capabilities across Endpoint & Mobility, Enterprise Messaging & Collaboration, Voice & Telephony, Security, and Specialized Desktop Services. Within WT, the Email Engineering team plays a vital role in enabling secure, reliable, resilient, and compliant electronic communications at enterprise scale. This role requires deep technical expertise, strong architectural vision, and the ability to operate and influence at scale across a large, regulated enterprise.

In this role, you will:

• Act as an advisor to leadership to develop or influence applications, network, information security, database, operating systems, or web technologies for highly complex business and technical needs across multiple groups
• 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
• 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

Desired Qualifications:

• As a Principal Engineer, you will serve as technical authority in shaping the future‑state enterprise messaging architecture, driving cloud and hybrid strategies, strengthening the organization’s security and compliance posture, and ensuring resilient, highly available service delivery across the Hybrid Exchange ecosystem.
• Serve as the Principal Engineer and technical authority for enterprise email and messaging platforms.
• Design, deploy, and operate Microsoft Exchange Online, Exchange Server, and Hybrid Exchange architectures.
• Engineer, operate, and optimize the enterprise SMTP backbone and secure email platforms, including:
  • Proofpoint MTAs (mandatory, hands-on ownership)
  • Zix Secure Email
  • Sendmail and Postfix
• Design and support SMTP architecture, mail routing, and policy enforcement using DNS, LDAP, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
• Apply advanced networking and high availability principles to support secure, load-balanced email traffic across cloud and hybrid environments.
• Own the end-to-end lifecycle of email platforms, including onboarding, upgrades, patching, capacity planning, performance tuning, decommissioning, and roadmap alignment.
• Ensure high availability, scalability, resiliency, and performance for a global user base.
• Partner closely with Information Security to support:
  • Vulnerability management and remediation
  • Security patching and audits
  • Proactive risk identification and mitigation
• Drive audit readiness and ensure compliance with enterprise security and regulatory standards.
• Define and enforce engineering standards across:
  • Monitoring and telemetry
  • Patch and vulnerability management
  • Change and release governance
• Champion automation first approaches using PowerShell, scripting, and Graph API to improve operational efficiency and reliability.
• Own platform reliability, availability, and performance metrics.
• Act as Level 4 escalation for complex, cross-platform incidents.
• Lead root cause analysis (RCA) and drive preventative, systemic improvements.
• Manage changes in alignment with ITIL-aligned change management practices.
• Provide technical mentoring and guidance to senior and principal-level engineers.
• Serve as a force multiplier across multiple engineering teams and lines of business.
• Review and influence architecture and designs for high-impact initiatives beyond direct ownership.
• Collaborate closely with Architecture, Product Management, User Experience, Information Security, Resiliency, and Infrastructure teams.
• Partner with Product Managers to align engineering execution with L2/L3 OKRs and business outcomes.
• Engage with vendors and manufacturers for platform support, upgrades, implementations, and roadmap planning.
• Develop and lead technical forums, working groups, and communities of practice to drive engineering excellence and architectural consistency.

Job Expectations:

• 7+ years of experience in enterprise email and messaging engineering.
• Deep, hands-on expertise with Microsoft Exchange (Hybrid architectures).
• Mandatory hands-on experience with Proofpoint MTAs.
• Strong experience with secure email platforms (Zix preferred).
• Deep understanding of:
  • SMTP, DNS, LDAP, SPF, DKIM, DMARC
• Experience with Sendmail, Postfix, Milters, OpenLDAP, Proofpoint MTAs, Zix Gateways.
• Strong networking fundamentals:
  • IPv4 / IPv6
  • TCP / UDP
  • NAT, PAT, ACLs, VLANs
• Proven experience in platform lifecycle management:
  • Upgrades
  • Patching
  • Capacity planning
  • Decommissioning
• Strong incident, problem, and change management experience (ITIL-aligned).
• Demonstrated experience providing Level 4 production support.
• Excellent troubleshooting and root cause analysis skills.
• Strong PowerShell scripting experience and working knowledge of Microsoft Graph API.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of influencing technical and executive audiences.
• Ability to collaborate effectively across infrastructure, security, compliance, and application teams.
• Strong analytical and systems-thinking skills.
• Experience in large, regulated enterprises (50,000+ users preferred).

Posting End Date: 

*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.

Drug and Alcohol Policy

Wells Fargo maintains a drug free workplace.  Please see our Drug and Alcohol Policy to learn more.

Wells Fargo Recruitment and Hiring Requirements:

a. Third-Party recordings are prohibited unless authorized by Wells Fargo.

b. Wells Fargo requires you to directly represent your own experiences during the recruiting and hiring process.