Lead Software Engineer

Appian Corporation•McLean, VA

1d•$150,000 - $300,000•Onsite

About The Position

Appian is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to join their analytics team. This role involves building the reporting, charting, and AI-powered insights engine for the Appian platform. Responsibilities include working across the full stack, from database schema design to chart components and AI prompt pipelines. The position is based at Appian's headquarters in McLean, Virginia, and requires a commitment to in-person collaboration, with employees expected to be in the office 5 days a week. The Lead Software Engineer will be responsible for ensuring the Appian platform is fast, scalable, and reliable, with a scope extending from the data layer to the user interface and design tools. This role involves analyzing complex issues, exercising judgment in technical decisions, and acting as a technical leader to influence team dynamics, mentor peers, and collaborate with partners.

Requirements

B.S. in Computer Science or related (7+ years experience) or M.S. in Computer Science or related field (5+ years of experience)
Proven track record in high-volume, critical production service environments
Experience building interactive web UIs with TypeScript/React (or similar component frameworks)
Experience leveraging modern AI coding tools and agentic workflows to accelerate development, improve spec generation, and automate boilerplate tasks
Proven track record of collaborating with key contacts outside your immediate area of expertise and influencing team culture
Demonstrated history of guiding less experienced engineers with empathy and taking full ownership of complex deliverables
Strong Java fundamentals - Spring Framework, Hibernate/JPA, interface-first architecture, dependency injection

Nice To Haves

Hands-on experience building or integrating LLM pipelines, prompt workflows, and AI copilot services into customer-facing products
Experience setting up custom agent harnesses, context configuration files (e.g., AGENTS.md, custom linters), or spec-driven execution workflows
Experience with data visualization libraries (Highcharts, D3, Chart.js) and state management patterns (Redux)
Strong UI/Full-Stack foundation using React, TypeScript, and functional UI principles
Familiarity with process mining, analytics, or business intelligence platforms

Responsibilities

Lead feature development and architectural decisions using spec-driven workflows while keeping the platform modern and scalable
Leverage deep knowledge of data structures, algorithms, and design patterns to write software in a full-stack web and mobile environment
Manage availability, latency, scalability, and efficiency by engineering reliability into software and systems
Contribute heavily to software performance analysis and system tuning, ensuring our analytics engine and data layers operate at peak efficiency under high-volume workloads
Design and implement features end-to-end across Liquibase/JPA schemas, Spring/Java services, SAIL system rules, and React/TypeScript components
Build and extend LLM copilot pipelines, prompt workflows, and rich data visualization experiences like chart widgets and dashboard builders
Conduct thorough design and code reviews, model best practices, and actively mentor engineers to increase team proficiency and development velocity
Communicate complex designs clearly across teams and contribute high-quality technical content