Principal Software Engineer

Opportunity: Principal Software Engineer

Salary Range: $123,000 - $170,000

Company: Aflac Columbus

Division: Digital Services

Job Posting End Date: 10/9/2026

Work Designation. Depending on your location within the continental US, this role may be hybrid or remote.

• If you live within 50 miles of the Aflac offices located in Columbus, GA or Columbia, SC, this role will be hybrid. This means you will be expected to work in the office for at least 60% of the work week. You will work from your home (within the continental US) for the remaining portion of the work week. Details of this schedule will be discussed with your leadership. 
• If you live more than 50 miles from the Aflac offices located in Columbus, GA or Columbia, SC, this role will be remote. This means you will be expected to work from your home, within the continental US. If the role is remote, there may be occasions that you are requested to come to the office based on business need. Any requests to come to the office would be communicated with you in advance.

What does it take to be successful at Aflac?

• Acting with Integrity
• Communicating Effectively
• Pursuing Self-Development
• Serving Customers
• Supporting Change
• Supporting Organizational Goals
• Working with Diverse Populations

What does it take to be successful in this role?

• Deep experience in modern programming languages and cloud development.

• Mastery of Scrum, DevOps, and Test-Driven Development.

• Leadership and strategic planning skills

Education & Experience Required

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or other related field
• 6+ years of programming experience

Or an equivalent combination of education and experience

Education & Experience Preferred

• Master's Degree Computer Science, Information Systems or other related field

Principal Duties & Responsibilities

• Define architectural guidelines and best practices

• Lead software development initiatives from conception to deployment

• Collaborate with stakeholders to align software solutions with business objectives

• Introduce and train teams in advanced programming languages and tools

• Ensure cloud readiness and optimal performance of all applications

• Leads and mentors technical and project team members at the business function level

• Leads the project team in analyzing the requirements and providing accurate and detailed estimates for the designing, building, testing and deployment phases of the project

• Provides technical leadership and mentoring to various technical teams

• Collaborates with Architects, Developers, Senior Infrastructure Technical staff to evaluate and recommend technology advancements and business solutions for assigned projects and/or applications

• Supports the implementation and testing of cross-functional systems, ensuring system meets the needs of client and business; provides continuous support to internal and external clients who are experiencing problems with server hardware, operating systems, core infrastructure applications and related utilities, maintains mainframe operating systems or major subsystems, and associated software and hardware products; handles unresolved support issues across multiple areas of expertise

• Proactively monitors projects and/or existing production applications and core infrastructure by looking for ways to improve the applications and its availability

• Handles unresolved production support issues across multiple areas of expertise; analyzes the current architecture

• Provides design recommendations, develops application and custom integration solutions, including major enhancements and interfaces; writes complex design specifications

• Provides leadership to support ongoing maintenance of mainframe and/or client server applications or tools, depending upon previous involvement with projects

• Facilitates and ensures on-time completion of performance, load, functional and other categories of testing and application vulnerability testing efforts and resolution of issues; develops new cross-functional software systems using disciplined software development processes

• Performs other duties as required

Total Rewards

The salary range for this job is $123,000 - $170,000. This range is specific to the job and salary offers consider a wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including, but not limited to: education, experience, licensure, certifications, geographic location, and peer compensation. The range has been created in good faith based on information known to Aflac at the time of the posting.

At Aflac, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for the role to allow for future and continued salary growth, and compensation decisions are dependent on the circumstances of each case. This salary range does not include any potential incentive pay or benefits, however, such information will be provided separately when appropriate.

In addition to the base salary, we offer an array of benefits to meet your needs including medical, dental, and vision coverage, prescription drug coverage, health care flexible spending, dependent care flexible spending, Aflac supplemental policies (Accident, Cancer, Critical Illness and Hospital Indemnity offered at no costs to employee), 401(k) plans, annual bonuses, and an opportunity to purchase company stock. On an annual basis, you’ll also be offered 11 paid holidays, up to 20 days PTO to be used for any reason, and, if eligible, state-mandated sick leave (Washington employees accrue 1-hour sick leave for every 40 hours worked) and other leaves of absence, if eligible, when needed to support your physical, financial, and emotional well-being. Aflac complies with all applicable leave laws, including, but not limited to, sick and safe leave, and adoption and parental leave, in all states and localities.