Principal Programmer/Technical Lead, IT Applications (Phoenix, AZ, US) - American Airlines

Intro

Are you ready to explore a world of possibilities, both at work and during your time off? Join our American Airlines family, and you’ll travel the world, grow your expertise and become the best version of you. As you embark on a new journey, you’ll tackle challenges with flexibility and grace, learning new skills and advancing your career while having the time of your life. Feel free to enrich both your personal and work life and hop on board!

Why you'll love this job

• This role is a member of the Information Technology Team within the Information Technology Division.  
• You'll be responsible for providing technical leadership for IT development personnel and overseeing the technical design and implementation of web services and applications.  
• Key differentiators for this role include expertise in the latest industry best practices in cloud frameworks, microservices architecture, database management (SQL/non-SQL), web services design, and advanced DevOps practices.
   

What you'll do

• Collaborate with product management, business analysts, developers, testers, and architectural teams to define strategy and requirements.  
• Lead high-level strategic initiatives and secure commitment from teams for new projects.  
• Drive consensus on technical approaches, set timelines, and lead cross-functional application teams from design through delivery.  
• Apply software engineering best practices to web applications and services.  
• Provide technical guidance and direction to teams developing custom and off-the-shelf web applications and services.  
• Lead modernization initiatives, migrating key enterprise applications to Azure, enhancing scalability and reliability.  
• Develop backend systems to support real-time tracking of critical operations, such as aircraft status monitoring.  
• Optimize MongoDB performance, designing scalable schemas and implementing efficient indexing strategies.  
• Implement CI/CD pipelines for continuous delivery and manage Kubernetes deployments for scalable application environments.  
• Develop and manage task optimization solutions focusing on skill matching, task scheduling, and operational efficiency.
   

All you'll need for success

Minimum Qualifications- Education & Prior Job Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, or related technical discipline, or equivalent experience/training.  
• 5+ years of experience in software development with a focus on JavaScript frameworks (Angular, RxJS, NGRX), and TypeScript.  
• 2+ years of experience with RESTful web services, GraphQL, and API development.  
• 2+ years in web services, microservices architecture, and message queuing systems (e.g., RabbitMQ, Azure Service Bus).  
• Experience with cloud frameworks, particularly Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Functions, and microservices architecture.

Preferred Qualifications- Education & Prior Job Experience

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related technical discipline.  
• 3+ years of technical leadership experience.  
• Experience in the airline industry

Skills, Licenses & Certifications

• Experience with Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines using Azure DevOps and Docker.  
• Proficiency in cloud frameworks, particularly Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Functions, and microservices architecture.  
• Expertise in database management using SQL Server and MongoDB, with experience in performance optimization and indexing strategies.  
• Strong knowledge of frontend development with Angular, including custom directives, services, and reactive programming.  
• Skilled in developing middleware for cross-cutting concerns like logging, error handling, and authentication.  
• Experience with building and managing real-time applications using SignalR and WebSockets.  
• Experience in building task optimization solutions leveraging advanced AI frameworks highly preferred.  
• Proven ability to lead large-scale projects, breaking them down into manageable pieces, developing functional specifications, and delivering them successfully and on time.

What you'll get

Feel free to take advantage of all that American Airlines has to offer: 

• Travel Perks: Ready to explore the world? You, your family and your friends can reach 365 destinations on more than 6,800 daily flights across our global network.
• Health Benefits: On day one, you’ll have access to your health, dental, prescription and vision benefits to help you stay well. And that’s just the start, we also offer virtual doctor visits, flexible spending accounts and more. 
• Wellness Programs: We want you to be the best version of yourself – that’s why our wellness programs provide you with all the right tools, resources and support you need.
• 401(k) Program: Available upon hire and, depending on the workgroup, employer contributions to your 401(k) program are available after one year.
• Additional Benefits: Other great benefits include our Employee Assistance Program, pet insurance and discounts on hotels, cars, cruises and more

Feel free to be yourself at American

From the team members we hire to the customers we serve, inclusion and diversity are the foundation of the dynamic workforce at American Airlines. Our 20+ Employee Business Resource Groups are focused on connecting our team members to our customers, suppliers, communities and shareholders, helping team members reach their full potential and creating an inclusive work environment to meet and exceed the needs of our diverse world.

Are you ready to feel a tremendous sense of pride and satisfaction as you do your part to keep the largest airline in the world running smoothly as we care for people on life’s journey? Feel free to be yourself at American.