LEAD SOFTWARE ENGINEER

A Lead Software Engineer (LSE) is recognized as an expert in their strategic functional area and uses a systematic application of advanced technical knowledge to deliver software solutions using modern day technology stacks.  The LSE leads large complex projects consisting of on-shore and off-shore resources, uses strong organizational and leadership skills to set and maintain efficient development progress, and defines all software components for large-scale systems with minimal oversight.

Duties & Responsibilities: 

• Designs changes to new and existing applications35%
• Develops and debugs software in support of new and existing applications30%
• Project leadership, cost estimation and task planning20%
• Mentors/coaches junior team members10%
• Provides support for production applications (24x7)  5%

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs): 

• Collaborate with decision makers, external vendors and stakeholders to define complex business requirements
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical information in a condensed manner both verbally and in writing.
• Take initiative to contact stakeholders and research solutions when problems are encountered
• Understanding of complex Retail and Technology concepts.
• Recognized expert in one strategic domain with advanced knowledge in at least one additional domain
• Generates commitment and enthusiasm from others to set and achieve challenging goals and objectives
• Experience leading teams and demonstrates a mastery in all aspects of software development activities
• Assists in career development, staff mentoring and succession planning for engineers
• Understands and implements architectural vision for performance, extensibility and availability
• Leads scope of work estimation, cost estimates, task planning, forecasting, scheduling and staff requirements definitions
• Leads complex technology initiatives including those that are companywide with broad impact
• Conduct research and make recommendations on products, services, protocols, and standards in support of procurement and development efforts
• Educate team on technology changes applicable to their domain and how to apply them to their business area.
• Act as a key participant in developing standards and companywide best practices for engineering
• Assigns tasks to both on-shore and off-shore team members to leverage strengths or enhance knowledge

Work Experience &/or Education: 

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field, trade school or equivalent work experience
• Ability to lead the design and integration of AI and LLM based solutions (agents, RAG, automation) within application architectures.
• Experience providing technical guidance on prompt design, model integration, and AI governance best practices.
• Experience modernizing legacy applications to cloud native or microservices architectures
• Hands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• Extensive experience with CI/CD pipelines, telemetry/monitoring, and Kubernetes-based deployments
• Proficiency with source control, build and quality tools such as GitLab
• 7+ years of software development experience in an enterprise IT environment
• 5+ years of experience with a higher-level language (C, Java, Python)
• 5+ years of experience as a full stack Java developer
• 3+ years of hands-on development using PL/SQL, shell scripting
• 2+ years of experience with real time streaming platform (Kafka)
• 2+ years delivering software supporting Merchandising or retail-related applications