Lead Software Engineer

Emergent Software is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to design, implement, and scale a partner-facing API platform. This role blends hands-on technical leadership with ownership of the platform's long-term roadmap and is a remote, US-based position anchored in Pittsburgh, PA. The compensation range for this role is USD 140,000 to 160,000 per year.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the end-to-end design, development, and evolution of a partner-facing API platform.
• Architect and maintain a secure, developer-friendly public API surface with backward compatibility, robust authentication, rate limiting, and thorough documentation.
• Define API architecture, standards, and established best practices.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership through architecture guidance, code reviews, mentoring, and promoting engineering best practices.
• Own the platform's long-term technical strategy and roadmap.
• Collaborate closely with product managers, project managers, and engineering teams across multiple platforms.
• Coordinate the work of distributed engineers, including international contractors.
• Own production systems for partner APIs, including monitoring, observability, incident response, alerting, performance optimization, reliability, and operational readiness.
• Drive integrations with external SaaS platforms and partner ecosystems.
• Help establish engineering processes, technical direction, and team standards as the platform grows.
• Decompose complex initiatives into actionable workstreams, translating business requirements and acceptance criteria into technical deliverables.
• Develop project plans, allocate resources, and drive timely delivery of key initiatives.
• Contribute to architecture and technical decision-making across services and platforms implemented in multiple programming languages.
• Serve as both a technical leader and hands-on contributor during the initial build phase.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience building web-based software applications, including leadership or mentoring of engineers.
• Extensive experience designing, securing, documenting, and operating REST APIs, with emphasis on authentication, versioning, and lifecycle management.
• Proven ability to manage and support production systems.
• Hands-on experience with AWS services, especially API Gateway and ECS, plus related cloud-native technologies.
• Strong TypeScript development experience.
• Demonstrated technical leadership and project coordination experience.
• Ability to quickly become productive in unfamiliar codebases and technology stacks.
• Experience managing live customer-facing systems, including monitoring, observability, incident response, and reliability engineering.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
• This is a remote position. Eligible candidates must reside in the US and be authorized to work in the US without visa sponsorship.
• Eligible states include: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, or Wisconsin.

Technologies

• AWS
• API Gateway
• ECS
• TypeScript
• REST APIs
• C#, Java, Go, Python, Ruby
• Node.js
• Terraform
• CloudFormation
• AWS CDK

Our Vetting Process

• Application (5 minutes)
• Online Assessment (40-60 minutes)
• Initial Video Interview (45 minutes)
• Hiring Manager Phone Interview (30 minutes)
• Hiring Manager Video Interview (60 minutes)
• Hiring Team Interview
• Job Offer

Nice to Have Skills

• Experience across multiple backend languages such as C#, Java, Go, Python, Ruby, Node.js, or TypeScript.
• Experience designing and delivering public, partner-facing, or developer-focused APIs along with supporting developer documentation.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform, CloudFormation, or AWS CDK.
• Experience working in Agile, Scrum, or Kanban environments.
• Experience with test automation, contract testing, and test-driven development.
• SaaS platform experience.
• Familiarity with web application security and API security best practices.
• Experience leading distributed or global engineering teams.