Principal Salesforce Engineer, Marketing Cloud

About the Role

Key Responsibilities

• Design solutions by creating the overall design and architecture for the Marketing Technology team, articulating component interactions across systems and product groups.
• Lead solution design initiatives aligned with Thrivent's broader software engineering strategy.
• Leverage platforms or technologies such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Kafka, and Java-based applications to architect scalable, integrated marketing solutions.
• Lead the development of architecturally significant components within the marketing technology ecosystem.
• Establish engineering structures and reusable patterns to enable effective team collaboration.
• Build and integrate solutions using tools such as enterprise APIs, Informatica, Kafka Topics, and enterprise data warehouses.
• Research and experiment with emerging technologies and best practices, sharing findings organization-wide.
• Participate in team collaboration sessions to remove technical roadblocks and provide architectural guidance.
• Support product planning by translating business needs into technical user stories.
• Act as a technical leader in system design across multiple teams, ensuring strategic alignment.
• Facilitate solution design and implementation across product teams for marketing initiatives.
• Promote adherence to enterprise technology standards and target architecture across teams.
• Provide deep technical expertise to ensure cohesive system design and integration across platforms.
• Collaborate with other product teams to provide technical leadership and mentorship.
• Create and maintain enterprise design patterns to guide strategic technology vision.
• Define high-level capability requirements for marketing platforms and collaborate to deliver them.
• Partner with engineering communities to establish and evolve best practices and standards.
• Evaluate and implement CI/CD improvements to enhance system reliability and delivery speed.
• Lead resolution of critical incidents and proactively address production issues.
• Contribute to the evaluation and strategic fit of third-party software and platforms.
• Mentor engineers, reinforce best practices, and facilitate knowledge sharing.
• Support recruitment efforts and promote Thrivent's technology brand.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related technical field, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of experience in software engineering.
• 5+ years of experience leading high-performing technology teams.
• Proven ability to influence both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Hands-on experience with marketing technologies such as Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Salesforce CRM (Sales Cloud, Service Cloud), and Java-based applications.
• Demonstrated leadership and participation in the broader technology community.

Nice to Have

• Master's degree in a related field.
• Experience in the financial services industry.
• Experience coaching and mentoring engineering talent.
• Experience with marketing applications such as Social Platforms (Sprinklr, Hearsay Social), Paid Media (LiveRamp), Tag Management Tools (e.g., Google Tag Manager, Adobe Tag Manager).

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience.
• 5+ years of leadership experience in technology teams.

Benefits & Perks

• Market competitive compensation programs including bonuses and incentives.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Health savings account and flexible spending account.
• 401k and pension plans.
• Life, accidental death, dismemberment, and disability insurance.
• Paid Time Off, Sick and Safe Time, company holidays, Volunteer Time Off, paid parental leave.
• Well-being benefits and other employee benefits.