Lead Software Engineer - AI-First

Why UKG

At UKG, the work you do matters. The code you ship, the decisions you make, and the care you show a customer all add up to real impact. Today, tens of millions of workers start and end their days with our workforce operating platform. Helping people get paid, grow in their careers, and shape the future of their industries. That is what we do.

We never stop learning. We never stop challenging the norm. We push for better, and we celebrate the wins along the way. Here, you will get flexibility that is real, benefits you can count on, and a team that succeeds together. Because at UKG, your work matters and so do you.

Role Overview

We are looking for a Lead Software Engineer to join our dynamic, AI-first team. This role provides an opportunity to lead projects and contribute to high-impact software solutions used by enterprises and users worldwide. As a Lead Software Engineer, you will be responsible for the design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of complex software systems leveraging AI tools and practices to accelerate delivery and raise the quality bar. You will also mentor junior engineers and champion an AI-augmented engineering culture. We are seeking engineers with diverse specialties and skills who embrace AI as a core part of how they build, review, and ship software.

Responsibilities

AI-Augmented Software Development: Write clean, maintainable, and efficient code using AI coding assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cursor) as a standard part of your workflow, reviewing, validating, and improving AI-generated output with engineering judgment.
Technical Leadership: Lead the design, development, and deployment of complex software applications and systems, championing AI-first approaches to improve quality, velocity, and developer experience.
Project Management: Manage execution and delivery of features and projects, negotiating priorities and deadlines, ensuring successful and timely completion with quality.
Architectural Design: Participate in design reviews with peers and stakeholders; contribute to architectural decisions for new features and systems, ensuring scalability, reliability, and maintainability including how AI components are integrated.
Code Review: Diligently review code developed by others including AI-assisted code, providing feedback that maintains a high bar of technical excellence: adherence to coding guidelines, elegance, efficiency, observability, and test coverage.
Testing: Build testable software, define tests, automate test suites using tools (e.g., JUnit, Selenium) and design patterns guided by the test automation pyramid. Use AI tools to accelerate test generation while ensuring correctness and coverage.
Service Health and Quality: Maintain the health and quality of services, proactively identifying and resolving issues. Utilize telemetry and service health indicators to optimize performance and conduct thorough root cause analysis to prevent recurrences.
Dev Ops Model: Take end-to-end ownership from requirements through design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain, applying AI tooling across the SDLC to improve speed and reliability.
Responsible AI Practices: Apply ethical and responsible AI principles when integrating AI into products or workflows including awareness of bias, data privacy, transparency, and compliance implications.
Documentation: Properly document new features, enhancements, and fixes; leverage AI-assisted tooling to improve documentation quality and coverage.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
5-8 years of professional software development experience.
Deep expertise in one or more programming languages such as C, C++, C#, .NET, Python, Java, or JavaScript.
Extensive experience with software development practices and design patterns.
Proficiency with version control systems like GitHub and work tracking systems like JIRA.
Demonstrated experience using AI coding assistants (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cursor) as part of a production engineering workflow.
Understanding of cloud technologies and DevOps principles.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with cloud platforms like Azure, AWS, or GCP.
Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and automation tools.
Experience with test automation frameworks and tools.
Knowledge of agile development methodologies.
Familiarity with responsible AI principles: bias mitigation, explainability, data privacy, and governance.
Experience building or integrating AI-powered features into production software.
Familiarity with developing accessible technologies.
Dedicated to diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work effectively in a collaborative team environment.

Company Overview

UKG is the Workforce Operating Platform that puts workforce understanding to work. With the world's largest collection of workforce insights, and people-first AI, our ability to reveal unseen ways to build trust, amplify productivity, and empower talent, is unmatched. It's this expertise that equips our customers with the intelligence to solve any challenge in any industry because great organizations know their workforce is their competitive edge. Learn more at ukg.com.

UKG is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace, including the recruitment process.

Disability Accommodation in the Application and Interview Process

For individuals with disabilities that need additional assistance at any point in the application and interview process, please email [HIDDEN TEXT]

Software Engineer III- Eng