Software Development Engineer 4

WEX•Portland, ME

About The Position

At WEX, a Software Development Engineer (SDE) Level 4 is a recognized Staff/Lead technical expert who provides cross-platform strategic leadership. You will influence global system architecture, help define enterprise-wide standards, and actively participate in the functional design/redesign of business processes to maximize AI and automation. In this role, you will act as a visionary builder and strategic anchor for WEX’s AI-driven opportunities. You will architect complex autonomous systems, champion enterprise-wide AI adoption, and define the orchestration logic that enables next-generation agentic AI to scale securely and efficiently across multiple domains and services.

Requirements

Recognized Staff/Lead technical expert
Cross-platform strategic leadership
Influence global system architecture
Define enterprise-wide standards
Actively participate in the functional design/redesign of business processes to maximize AI and automation
Act as a visionary builder and strategic anchor for WEX’s AI-driven opportunities
Architect complex autonomous systems
Champion enterprise-wide AI adoption
Define the orchestration logic that enables next-generation agentic AI to scale securely and efficiently across multiple domains and services
Design multi-agent workflows
Handle advanced state management, memory persistence, and tool interactions
Champion the secure integration of LLMs into enterprise process workflows
Mentor senior engineers across the organization on advanced AI leverage and agentic design patterns
Filter industry AI trends through rigorous cost-benefit analysis
Build prototypes and "Golden Paths" that enable other teams to adopt high-value, cutting-edge technologies safely and rapidly
Solve architectural bottlenecks that cross team boundaries
Review designs from other teams to ensure consistency and define the "Golden Path" for how disparate services should communicate
Lead Threat Modeling sessions to ensure security across multiple teams
Participate in the definition of security and compliance standards for enterprise AI adoption
Demonstrate high standards for Code and Configuration Quality
Define style guides, documentation templates, and configuration guardrails
Build shared custom components or configuration frameworks
Create reusable CI/CD templates (e.g., Helm Charts, Argo Workflows), deployment modules, and automated sandbox-seeding scripts that standardize how other teams deploy and enforce privacy compliance
Define the standard SLIs/SLOs that teams must monitor
Drive chaos testing initiatives across the engineering organization
Lead the Post-Mortem Corrective of Errors (COE) process, enforcing action items to prevent recurrence
Build "Self-Service" platform capabilities that allow business units to self-solve data issues without logging support tickets
Elicit requirements for initiatives that span multiple teams, identifying data model conflicts early
Validate all technical requirements against broader business KPIs (e.g., Retention, CAC, Time-to-first-dollar)
Manage dependencies on the quarterly roadmap, identifying "Critical Path" risks weeks in advance
Ensure the architecture supports the future roadmap, not just the current sprint
Negotiate timelines seamlessly with other teams
Organize and lead technical workshops (e.g., Event Storming, Architecture Reviews)
Translate complex architectural risks into "Business Language" for stakeholders, explaining why refactoring matters in terms of revenue or customer experience
Identify friction between teams (e.g., API conflicts, mismatched release cadences) and mediate solutions (e.g., implementing Contract Testing)
Build trust across organizational boundaries and de-escalate complex technical disputes
Act as a "polyglot" leader who moves across disparate stacks to unblock teams
Coach senior peers on "learning how to learn" and institutionalize feedback loops
Spot high-potential SDE 2s and 3s, giving them visibility and actively advocating for their career advancement

Responsibilities

Architect complex autonomous systems and design multi-agent workflows, defining orchestration logic across multiple domains and services while handling advanced state management, memory persistence, and tool interactions.
Champion the secure integration of LLMs into enterprise process workflows.
Mentor senior engineers across the organization on advanced AI leverage and agentic design patterns.
Filter industry AI trends through rigorous cost-benefit analysis.
Build prototypes and "Golden Paths" that enable other teams to adopt high-value, cutting-edge technologies safely and rapidly.
Solve architectural bottlenecks that cross team boundaries.
Review designs from other teams to ensure consistency and define the "Golden Path" for how disparate services should communicate.
Lead Threat Modeling sessions to ensure security across multiple teams.
Participate in the definition of security and compliance standards for enterprise AI adoption.
Demonstrate high standards for Code and Configuration Quality.
Define style guides, documentation templates, and configuration guardrails, and build shared custom components or configuration frameworks.
Create reusable CI/CD templates (e.g., Helm Charts, Argo Workflows), deployment modules, and automated sandbox-seeding scripts that standardize how other teams deploy and enforce privacy compliance.
Define the standard SLIs/SLOs that teams must monitor and drive chaos testing initiatives across the engineering organization.
Lead the Post-Mortem Corrective of Errors (COE) process, enforcing action items to prevent recurrence.
Build "Self-Service" platform capabilities that allow business units to self-solve data issues without logging support tickets.
Elicit requirements for initiatives that span multiple teams, identifying data model conflicts early.
Validate all technical requirements against broader business KPIs (e.g., Retention, CAC, Time-to-first-dollar).
Manage dependencies on the quarterly roadmap, identifying "Critical Path" risks weeks in advance.
Ensure the architecture supports the future roadmap, not just the current sprint, and negotiate timelines seamlessly with other teams.
Organize and lead technical workshops (e.g., Event Storming, Architecture Reviews).
Translate complex architectural risks into "Business Language" for stakeholders, explaining why refactoring matters in terms of revenue or customer experience.
Identify friction between teams (e.g., API conflicts, mismatched release cadences) and mediate solutions (e.g., implementing Contract Testing).
Build trust across organizational boundaries and de-escalate complex technical disputes.
Act as a "polyglot" leader who moves across disparate stacks to unblock teams.
Coach senior peers on "learning how to learn" and institutionalize feedback loops.
Spot high-potential SDE 2s and 3s, giving them visibility and actively advocating for their career advancement.