Sr. Software Development Engineer

iSpot • Bellevue, WA

14h • Hybrid

About The Position

At iSpot.tv, the Sr. Software Development Engineer operates in a high-scale AWS environment, dealing with BIG data and processing massive streams of media metadata across thousands of servers. This role is a foundational pillar of the engineering team, where the individual is expected to own entire domains, drive scalable solutions, and act as a 'go-to' expert. The company is specifically looking for an AI-native engineer—someone who views AI not as a novelty, but as a core component of their development lifecycle—to help lead mission-critical data evolution and contribute to the vision of the Creative Audience and Outcomes Pillar. The position offers a really interesting working experience and the chance to contribute to the success of a growing start-up.

Requirements

• Significant experience developing software for shareable features across multiple engineering projects.
• Experience leading small-to-mid-sized technical initiatives.
• Proven ability to make high-level architectural decisions, including redesigning legacy services to ensure they are highly reliable and operable.
• Follow industry best practices for high-availability API design and the streamlining of complex database operations.
• Hands-on experience with Platform Engineering principles, focusing on internal developer experience, infrastructure abstraction, and building self-service capabilities for engineering teams.
• Expert knowledge of AWS (S3, Lambda, EC2, IAM).
• Proficiency in Java, Spring Boot, MySQL, RabbitMQ (or similar message broker), Kubernetes/EKS, Docker, CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience using AI coding assistants and LLMs to accelerate development (e.g., Kiro, Gemini, Copilot, Cursor, or similar, Claude Code).
• Strong communication skills with the ability to tailor messaging to different audiences (from junior devs to senior leadership).
• Excellent problem-solving and analytical skills.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform).
• Experience with CI/CD concepts (CircleCI).
• A track record of identifying trends in incidents and introducing broad solutions to address them.

Responsibilities

• Design domains with testability and multiple teams in mind, creating extensible and shareable codebases.
• Provide prescriptive code reviews that suggest more acceptable code patterns and contribute to company-wide style guidelines.
• Maintain a high standard of quality, setting the example for the team.
• Develop the architecture for automation systems and expertly debug complex issues within the CI/CD pipeline.
• Implement secure deployment strategies, especially for large-scale, high-risk projects.
• Actively explore and learn about AI technologies that enhance the efficiency of the entire team’s work.
• Create space for teammates to improve their AI tooling through pairing, providing demos, and writing documentation.
• Bring creative solutions to complex, large-scale projects and ensure contributions can be extended far into the future.
• Propose and implement viable domain measurement solutions.
• Play a lead role in researching external solutions and leading root cause analysis (RCA) for complex, multi-domain incidents.
• Proactively improve the current state of operations by identifying and reducing toil.
• Apply a "Platform Engineering" mindset to automate repetitive manual tasks.
• Build internal networks to improve organizational speed and the quality of technology solutions, removing obstacles for the team.
• Identify trends and introduce broad solutions to address systemic issues.
• Drive a mature cost-optimization strategy, ensuring architectural decisions and cloud resource utilization are performant and cost-efficient.
• Balance technical excellence with business value, treating cost-consciousness as a core pillar of system reliability.
• Routinely work cross-functionally to align partners and stakeholders with the project vision and strategy.
• Mentor less experienced team members, ensuring communication promotes clarity and inspires action.
• Onboard and coach other engineers in adopting an AI-first mindset, focusing on low-risk strategies.
• Handle personal conflicts within the team and navigate ambiguity to reach strategic milestones.

Benefits

• Compensation packages consist of salary and equity in one of Seattle’s hottest start-ups.
• Standard benefits.
• Interesting working experience.
• Chance to contribute to the success of something great.
• Competitive, market-informed compensation.
• All full time iSpotters are eligible to participate in iSpot’s equity plan to receive stock options.
• Non-exempt roles will also be eligible for (pre-approved) overtime pay.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed