(1119604) Lead Software Engineer - Emerging Technologies

Diversified Services Network, Inc.•Peoria, IL

1d•$140,000 - $145,000•Hybrid

About The Position

The Lead Software Engineer in the Emerging Technology group is a hands-on technical leader who designs, builds, pilots, and scales next-generation software solutions applying emerging technologies to high-value business problems. The role combines deep software engineering expertise with practical innovation to turn exploratory concepts into secure, reliable, maintainable, production-ready capabilities. The position is full-time and follows a hybrid work model, based at the candidate’s choice of the Chicago, Illinois; Peoria, Illinois; Irving, Texas; or Broomfield, Colorado office. The role leads technical work, mentors engineers, and partners with product, architecture, data science, cybersecurity, infrastructure, UX, and business stakeholders to develop solutions aligned with organizational goals and risk expectations.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical field and at least 8 years of software engineering experience; alternatively, at least 10 years of equivalent experience without a degree.
Hands-on development experience with complex applications, distributed systems, APIs, platforms, or cloud-native services.
Demonstrated leadership of technical work throughout the software development lifecycle using a structured methodology, including requirements analysis, architecture, design, coding, testing, and deployment.
Strong proficiency in one or more modern programming languages, such as Python, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, C#, or Go.
Ability to translate business and market requirements into secure, scalable, observable, and maintainable software designs using modern architecture patterns, CI/CD, and DevOps practices.
Experience designing, developing, and maintaining software integrations and interfaces across platforms and third-party packages.
Ability to design, plan, and execute testing strategies that ensure product quality and adherence to requirements.
Working knowledge of cloud platforms, containerization, infrastructure automation, and production support practices.
Strong analytical, critical-thinking, and decision-making skills in ambiguous or rapidly evolving technical environments.
Ability to communicate complex technical topics clearly to engineering, product, architecture, security, and business audiences.

Nice To Haves

Experience building or integrating AI/ML, large language model (LLM), agentic, RAG, vector database, or prompt-based solutions.
Experience taking emerging technology concepts from proof of concept through pilot, production hardening, governance review, adoption, and operational support.
Familiarity with responsible AI practices, model evaluation, guardrails, data privacy, compliance, and enterprise risk management.
Experience with serverless architectures, Kubernetes, microservices, event-driven architecture, API management, observability platforms, and infrastructure-as-code.
Track record of identifying high-impact use cases and delivering measurable business outcomes.
Ability to influence technical direction without direct authority and establish reusable engineering standards, patterns, frameworks, or accelerators.
Advanced degree; cloud, AI/ML, or software architecture certification; or contributions to technical communities, open-source projects, patents, publications, or innovation initiatives.

Responsibilities

Lead the architecture, design, development, and testing of modern software solutions, prototypes, pilots, and reusable platform capabilities.
Evaluate, prototype, and apply emerging technologies, including generative AI, agentic workflows, RAG, cloud-native services, APIs, automation, and data-driven application patterns.
Translate business opportunities, product goals, and technical requirements into scalable software designs, solution patterns, technical roadmaps, and implementation plans.
Mentor engineers, provide technical direction, facilitate design reviews, and promote experimentation, engineering excellence, and responsible technology adoption.
Partner with product managers, architects, data scientists, cybersecurity, infrastructure, UX, and business stakeholders to deliver solutions aligned with organizational goals and risk expectations.
Define technical evaluation methods, including proof-of-concept success criteria, model and system performance measures, quality gates, automated testing, monitoring, and production-readiness reviews.
Identify technical risks, dependencies, integration needs, security considerations, and operational constraints early in the solution lifecycle and recommend mitigation strategies.