Principal Architect – GitHub & Azure DevOps Platform Engineering

About Northern Trust As a global leader in innovative wealth management, asset servicing, asset management and banking services, Northern Trust (Nasdaq: NTRS) is proud to guide the world’s most successful individuals, families, corporations and institutions. Since 1889, we have aligned our efforts with our three guiding Principles That Endure: Service, Expertise, and Integrity. Together, they reflect the three cornerstones of business conduct which we strive to instill in our employees, whom we call partners, and to provide to our clients and the communities we serve worldwide. With more than 135 years of financial experience and over 24,000 partners, we serve the world’s most sophisticated clients using leading technology and exceptional service.

Summary We are seeking a Principal Architect – GitHub & Azure DevOps Platform Engineering to lead the strategy, architecture, engineering, governance, and modernization of our enterprise software delivery platforms. This role is accountable for the current and future state of GitHub Enterprise, Azure DevOps, CI/CD pipelines, software supply chain security, artifact management, and developer productivity services across the organization. As a senior technical leader, you will help drive the evolution of our software delivery ecosystem in support of enterprise modernization initiatives, including platform transformation efforts, adoption of modern engineering practices, and the establishment of scalable self-service developer capabilities. You will work closely with engineering, architecture, security, infrastructure, application teams, and executive leadership to define and execute the long-term roadmap for enterprise DevOps and developer experience platforms. This role is ideal for a hands-on architect who enjoys solving complex technical challenges, establishing engineering standards, mentoring teams, and influencing technical strategy across a large enterprise.

Platform Strategy & Architecture Own the technical vision, roadmap, and architecture for GitHub Enterprise, Azure DevOps, Nexus Repository, and related CI/CD platforms. Define the target-state software delivery architecture, standards, governance models, and platform operating model. Drive modernization of software delivery capabilities, including migration from legacy CI/CD tooling and platforms to GitHub and Azure DevOps. Lead the migration strategy and execution approach for enterprise-scale CI/CD transformation initiatives. Establish reference architectures, reusable patterns, and engineering standards for application delivery across diverse technology stacks. Partner with enterprise architecture and engineering leaders to align platform capabilities with broader modernization and cloud strategies. Developer Experience & CI/CD Engineering Design and implement enterprise CI/CD standards, reusable workflows, templates, and automation frameworks. Establish scalable, self-service onboarding capabilities for development teams. Define standards for source control management, branching strategies, pull request workflows, approvals, repository governance, and release management. Drive adoption of GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps Pipelines, Infrastructure as Code, and modern software delivery practices. Improve developer productivity through automation, platform engineering, and developer experience improvements. Create and maintain technical documentation, standards, engineering playbooks, and onboarding materials. Platform Modernization & Migration Lead migration initiatives involving: Legacy CI/CD platforms to GitHub and Azure DevOps Pipeline modernization and standardization Repository consolidation and governance improvements Modern artifact and package management practices Develop migration factory approaches including inventory, complexity assessment, wave planning, automation, testing, and cutover strategies. Define success metrics and operational KPIs for platform transformation