Sr. Software Engineer (AI First)

OPENLANE•Carmel, IN

About The Position

At OPENLANE, we are a technology, data, and innovation company building the world's most advanced and uncomplicated digital marketplace for used vehicles. We are seeking AI-first Sr. Software Engineers to build, evolve, and scale OPENLANE’s U.S. marketplace platforms. These roles are for engineers who already treat AI as a first-class development tool, not a novelty. You’ll use AI to move faster, ship higher-quality software, and reduce operational and development toil, while still applying strong engineering judgment, ownership, and systems thinking. You’ll work on customer-facing marketplace experiences and core platform services, partnering closely with Product, Data, Infrastructure, and SRE teams to deliver resilient, scalable systems. AI is an accelerator, and engineering ownership still matters.

Requirements

5+ years of experience building and supporting production software systems
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience)
Experience building and supporting production software systems
Backend development (Java, Kotlin, Go, Python, .NET, Ruby, or similar)
Strong understanding of APIs, distributed systems, and cloud-native architecture
Comfort working in modern CI/CD environments
Experience with observability, monitoring, and incident response
Ability to own features and systems end-to-end
Actively uses AI development tools (code copilots, AI debuggers, test generators)
Curious about applying AI to real customer and business problems
Able to critically evaluate AI outputs instead of blindly accepting them
Comfortable learning and adapting in a fast-changing tool landscape

Nice To Haves

Frontend experience (React, TypeScript)
AWS or similar cloud platforms
Microservices and event-driven architectures
SQL and data-driven applications
Marketplace, e-commerce, or high-volume transaction systems
Reliability engineering or SRE experience
Experience modernizing or migrating legacy systems

Responsibilities

Design, build, and operate scalable services that power U.S. marketplace workflows such as Buy Now, 45M, Simulcast, and DealerBlock
Develop APIs and backend services on the modern, cloud-native, AI-enabled platform
Embed AI-driven capabilities into marketplace features including pricing logic, negotiation flows, and workflow automation
Use AI tools to accelerate coding, testing, debugging, and documentation while applying strong engineering judgment
Partner with Product to translate business needs into durable, scalable technical solutions
Participate in on-call rotations and support live production systems
Improve system reliability, performance, security, and observability
Contribute to technical direction, engineering standards, and long-term platform evolution
How You’ll Use AI in These Roles: AI-assisted coding and refactoring, AI-generated test coverage and validation, AI-supported debugging and root-cause analysis, AI-assisted documentation and knowledge sharing, Applying AI tools to reduce repetitive work and increase engineering leverage

Benefits

Competitive pay
Medical, dental, and vision benefits with employer HSA contributions (US) and FSA options (US)
Immediately vested 401K (US) or RRSP (Canada) with company match
Paid Vacation, Personal, and Sick Time
Paid maternity and paternity leave (US)
Employer-paid short-term disability, long-term disability, life insurance, and AD&D (US)
Robust Employee Assistance Program
Employer paid Leap into Service Day to volunteer
Tuition Reimbursement for eligible programs
Opportunities to expand your skill set and share your knowledge across a publicly traded, global organization
Company culture of internal promotions, diverse career paths, and meaningful advancement