Software Developer - L5

Ncontracts

32d•$170,000 - $200,000

About The Position

We’re looking for a Level 5 Senior Developer to set technical direction beyond a single team. Where our Level 4 Senior Developers own the architecture and delivery of large features within a squad, a Level 5 Senior Developer operates across squads: defining the standards, patterns, and platform capabilities that multiple teams build on. You’ll work on significant and unique problems, exercise independent judgment, and be accountable for technical outcomes that impact the whole R&D function. A Level 5 Senior Developer at Ncontracts is expected to exhibit the following behaviors: Leadership beyond your team: You set technical direction and standards that multiple squads adopt, drive alignment on complex cross-team initiatives, and represent engineering in broader technical and cross-functional discussions – including with leadership. Architecture at scale: You architect complex, distributed systems that span multiple services and teams, design for high availability and resilience, and make the platform-level decisions that others build on. You define patterns rather than just following them. Force multiplier: You mentor Senior (L4) developers and help them reach the next level, develop future technical leaders, and create reusable knowledge – documentation, patterns, and tooling – that raises the bar across teams. Strategic ownership: You identify and drive organization-wide improvements, take ownership of strategic technical initiatives, and see them through obstacles. You apply economic thinking and pragmatic tradeoffs to decisions that affect the whole function. AI-forward engineering: You define how teams use AI assistants and AI-powered capabilities effectively – establishing practices, evaluating and piloting emerging tooling, and ensuring acceleration never comes at the cost of quality or security. Honesty: Whether reviewing another developer’s code, participating in retrospectives, or shaping technical direction, we expect openness and honesty. Honesty creates trust, and we believe all great teams are built on trust. Low ego: Have confidence in your skills and experience, but be willing to alter your opinions when a better idea comes along. Strong opinions, loosely held – and the maturity to build consensus rather than win arguments. Deep curiosity: You research emerging technologies, evaluate them rigorously, and drive adoption of the ones that move the organization forward.

Requirements

Deep, demonstrated expertise in one or more of the following languages and their ecosystems: C#, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python
A proven track record architecting distributed systems that scale horizontally
Cloud architecture expertise in Azure and/or AWS, including infrastructure-as-code
Fluency with event/message-driven architecture and distributed systems patterns
Strong API design and security experience at scale, including OAuth
Advanced data modeling – strong SQL and relational databases, plus judgment on when to reach for other stores
Experience designing CI/CD and deployment strategies (e.g., blue-green, canary, feature flags)
A working observability strategy – metrics, logging, and tracing, with SLIs/SLOs
Experience integrating AI/LLM capabilities into production systems
A track record of mentoring senior engineers and leading technical strategy across more than one team
Experience giving and receiving code reviews, both live and written
Typical experience for this level: a Bachelor’s degree plus ~12 years, a Master’s plus ~8 years, a PhD plus ~5 years, or equivalent depth of demonstrated impact.

Nice To Haves

Experience with vector databases, RAG, and agentic AI patterns
Multi-region, high-availability, or disaster-recovery architecture experience
Experience harmonizing UI/design systems across multiple products
Familiarity with systems integration and working with an integrated design team
Experience representing engineering externally – talks, writing, or open source
An automation mindset

Responsibilities

Set technical direction and standards that multiple squads adopt.
Drive alignment on complex cross-team initiatives.
Represent engineering in broader technical and cross-functional discussions, including with leadership.
Architect complex, distributed systems that span multiple services and teams.
Design for high availability and resilience.
Make platform-level decisions that others build on.
Define patterns rather than just following them.
Mentor Senior (L4) developers and help them reach the next level.
Develop future technical leaders.
Create reusable knowledge – documentation, patterns, and tooling – that raises the bar across teams.
Identify and drive organization-wide improvements.
Take ownership of strategic technical initiatives and see them through obstacles.
Apply economic thinking and pragmatic tradeoffs to decisions that affect the whole function.
Define how teams use AI assistants and AI-powered capabilities effectively.
Establish practices, evaluate and pilot emerging tooling for AI.
Ensure acceleration never comes at the cost of quality or security.
Exhibit openness and honesty in code reviews, retrospectives, and shaping technical direction.
Research emerging technologies, evaluate them rigorously, and drive adoption of the ones that move the organization forward.
Give and receive code reviews, both live and written.

Benefits

Responsible PTO Plan that meets or exceeds state and local medical and family leave laws
11 paid holidays
Community and social events to keep you connected and engaged
Mental Health Benefits
Medical, Dental and Vision insurance
Company-paid Group Life Insurance, Short- and Long-Term Disability
Flexible Spending Account & Health Savings Account
Aflac Benefits – Critical Illness, Cancer Protection, & Hospital Choice
Pet Insurance
401 (k) with company match with eligibility on Day 1 of employment
2 Paid Volunteer Time Off Days