Principal Software Engineer

About the Role

Morningstar Wealth is seeking a Principal Software Engineer with strong full-stack expertise to lead the development and maintenance of our model creation and data delivery systems. This role is central to advancing how Wealth builds, manages, and delivers models and data pipelines that power our products and services.

The ideal candidate has deep technical expertise in system design, model-driven architecture, and large-scale data delivery, with the ability to guide teams in building robust, scalable, and high-performance solutions.

To foster continuous collaboration, we follow a hybrid policy in which you are required to be onsite a minimum of three days in our Chicago office.

Responsibilities

• Model & Data Platform Development: Design, develop, and enhance systems that support the creation, publication, and management of models, as well as the delivery of data to downstream applications.

• System Modernization: Maintain, upgrade, and migrate existing applications and services, ensuring stability, scalability, and efficiency.

• Architectural Leadership: Define and evolve the architecture for model creation and data delivery workflows, ensuring seamless integration with Morningstar's broader product ecosystem.

• Performance & Reliability: Drive improvements in system performance, data quality, and delivery speed, while enforcing best practices for scalability and resiliency.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with data scientists, architects, DevOps/SRE, and product teams to align model development with business and technical goals.

• Technical Guidance & Mentorship: Provide hands-on expertise in software development and data engineering, mentoring junior engineers and harmonizing engineering practices across teams.

• Project Oversight: Provide technical oversight for projects, ensuring architecture and delivery align with business goals.

• Innovation & Continuous Improvement: Stay up to date on emerging technologies in data, AI, and model engineering, and introduce practices that accelerate delivery.

Requirements

• Experience: 10+ years in professional software development, with significant experience in data-intensive systems.

• Methodology: Strong understanding of Agile/Scrum and modern software engineering practices.

• Leadership: Demonstrated ability to guide technical teams, resolve architectural challenges, and manage complex projects.

• Security Awareness: Expertise in securing applications, data pipelines, and APIs against common vulnerabilities.

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field required; advanced degree strongly preferred.

• Technical expertise in the following:

  • Strong background in .NET (preferred) or other MVC frameworks for building scalable services and APIs.

  • Proven experience with AWS services (compute, storage, data, AI/ML services).

  • Hands-on expertise with CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code (AWS CodePipeline, Terraform, Harness, or similar)

  • Strong DevOps practices and automation skills.

  • Experience with databases (RDS, NoSQL) and data delivery systems.

  • Experience integrating AI/ML models into production workflows.

  • Proficiency in Python for data and model engineering (best practices and libraries).

  • Experience with JavaScript frameworks (Vue.js) is a strong plus.

Compensation and Benefits

At Morningstar we believe people are at their best when they are at their healthiest. That's why we champion your wellness through a wide-range of programs that support all stages of your personal and professional life. Here are some examples of the offerings we provide:

• Financial Health
  • 75% 401k match up to 7%
  • Stock Ownership Potential
  • Company provided life insurance - 1x salary + commission

• Physical Health
  • Comprehensive health benefits (medical/dental/vision) including potential premium discounts and company-provided HSA contributions (up to $500-$2,000 annually) for specific plansand coverages
  • Additional medical Wellness Incentives - up to $300-$600 annual
  • Company-provided long- and short-term disabilityinsurance

• Emotional Health
  • Trust-Based Time Off
  • 6-week Paid Sabbatical Program
  • 6-Week Paid Family Caregiving Leave
  • Competitive 8-24 Week Paid Parental Bonding Leave
  • Adoption Assistance
  • Leadership Coaching & Formal MentorshipOpportunities
  • Annual Education Stipend
  • Tuition Reimbursement

• Social Health
  • Charitable Matching Gifts program
  • Dollars for Doers volunteer program
  • Paid volunteering days
  • 15+ Employee Resource & Affinity Groups

Total Cash Compensation Range

Inclusive of annual base salary and target incentive

If you receive and accept an offer from us, we require that personal and any related investments be disclosed confidentiality to our Compliance team (days vary by region). These investments will be reviewed to ensure they meet Code of Ethics requirements. If any conflicts of interest are identified, then you will be required to liquidate those holdings immediately. In addition, dependent on your department and location of work certain employee accounts must be held with an approved broker (for example all, U.S. employee accounts). If this applies and your account(s) are not with an approved broker, you will be required to move your holdings to an approved broker.

Morningstar's hybrid work environment gives you the opportunity to work remotely and collaborate in-person each week. While some positions are available as fully remote, we've found that we're at our best when we're purposely together on a regular basis, typically three days each week. A range of other benefits are also available to enhance flexibility as needs change. No matter where you are, you'll have tools and resources to engage meaningfully with your global colleagues.