Lead Software Engineer

Role Overview: The Lead Software Engineer will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining software applications and data infrastructure. This role requires a blend of software engineering and data engineering skills to ensure the delivery of high-quality solutions that meet or solve business needs or problems in partnership with business stakeholders.

The candidate needs to have strong technical expertise, exceptional communication skills, problem-solving skills, a deep understanding of business needs, and a focus on quality standards, all while being able to effectively navigate complex technical challenges and guide their team towards successful project delivery. He/she must be able to handle multiple projects, and various competing priorities. Ideally, the candidate has worked in a scaled agile environment for planning and managing work in bi-weekly sprints and quarterly PI planning. He/She will work with our business partners and product managers to understand the business requirements. He/She will design, code/ configure, test, debug, and implement the solutions ensuring they meet the requirements and specifications, as well as comply with Nike architectural & application security standards. The person in this role has had experience in guiding others on a highly proficient team in ensuring others understand the business requirements and design and provides leadership to deliver the work. He/She enjoys learning new skills and technologies. Key technical skills for this role are extensive experience in the Software Development Life Cycle, including system cloud architectural design. Proficient in front-end development using Angular/React with TypeScript/JavaScript, as well as backend development with .NET Core (EF Core). Skilled in database design and management with SQL/NoSQL databases such as SQL Server and Cosmos DB. Adept at developing REST APIs and Serverless Functions using Azure Functions or AWS Lambda. Familiar with CI/CD pipelines and data engineering using Databricks.

Key Responsibilities:

• Planning, Design and Development: Leads the design and development of a technical solution that meets the needs of the business and aligns with architectural and quality standards. 
  • Conducts complete diagnosis or discovery of business use cases, working with business stakeholders as well as Product Management to define scope of the solution and acceptance criteria.
  • Independently identifies, defines, directs, and/or performs analysis to resolve complex first-time issues in his or her area(s) of expertise
  • Reviews, analyzes and modifies coded systems including coding, testing, debugging.
  • Ensures effective performance of assigned product(s) and their integration with adjacent solutions/technologies.
• Software Development: Develop and maintain software applications using programming languages with framework/library/environment (e.g. Angular Typescript, React Javascript, C# .Net Core, etc), and data management (e.g. python, SQL, etc). This includes writing clean, efficient, and well-documented code, conducting thorough code reviews, and ensuring adherence to industry’s best practices.
  • Additionally, implement CI/CD pipelines to automate testing, building, and deployment of applications, ensuring rapid delivery of software changes. Utilize tools like Jenkins, or Azure DevOps to streamline these processes.
  • Furthermore, manage change and release processes to ensure smooth transitions from development to production environments. This involves coordinating release schedules, documenting release notes, performing risk assessments, and utilizing change management frameworks and tools like Jira to track changes and ensure compliance.
• Data Pipeline Construction: Build and optimize data pipelines (data streaming) to ensure efficient data processing and integration. This involves designing data workflows (enabled scaling and repeatable use), implementing ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) or ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) processes, and ensuring data quality and consistency.
• Team Collaboration / Project Mgmt: Collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand business requirements and deliver solutions that align with architectural standards. This includes participating in meetings, providing technical insights, and working closely with stakeholders to ensure project success.
  • Within the scope of a work assignment, collaborating with Product Owner, Product Management and managing stakeholder expectations, ensuring prompt and complete service delivery.
  • Manage multiple projects in an Agile environment, ensuring timely delivery and adherence to quality standards. This involves planning, prioritizing tasks, tracking progress and coordinating with team members (Product & Portfolio Management) to meet deadlines.
    • Provides leadership to Squad/Work Team, delivering a vision for work requirements for the quarter. Plan Quarterly Sprints.
    • Has vision for scoping and capacity resourcing of quarter deliverables.
    • Mentors and develop the capabilities of team members.
    • Conducts technical assessments of team members and provides feedback on performance as needed. Conducts technical interviews of candidates (on need basis)
• Documentation: Document workflows and processes to ensure clarity and consistency. This includes creating technical documentation, user guides, and maintaining up-to-date records of system configurations and changes.

Key Accountabilities:

• Reliability and Scalability: Ensure the reliability and scalability of software applications and data infrastructure. This includes monitoring system performance (i.e. resilient, scalable, secure), identifying bottlenecks, and implementing solutions to enhance system efficiency.
• Industry Knowledge: Maintain up-to-date knowledge of industry trends and best practices in software and data engineering. This involves continuous learning and staying informed about new technologies and methodologies.
• Technical Guidance: Provide technical guidance and support to team members and stakeholders. This includes mentoring junior engineers, offering expertise on complex issues, and contributing to the overall technical strategy of the organization (e.g. internal presentations to large audiences and/or common inter-team resources)
• System Performance: Monitor and troubleshoot system performance issues, implementing solutions as needed. This involves using monitoring tools, analyzing performance metrics, and proactively addressing potential problems.
• Compliance: Ensure compliance with data security and privacy regulations. This includes implementing security measures, conducting regular audits, and ensuring that all data handling practices adhere to legal and organizational standards.

Required Skills:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or a related field.
• Proficiency in programming languages with framework/library/environment (e.g. Angular Typescript, React Javascript, C# .Net Core, etc), and data management (e.g. Python, SQL, PySpark, etc).   
• Experience with cloud services (e.g., AWS, Azure), CI/CD pipeline (e.g., Jenkins, Azure DevOps).
• Strong problem-solving abilities and attention to detail.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience with big data technologies such as Hadoop, Spark, and Databricks.
• Familiarity with machine learning and AI techniques and GenAI tools like GitHub Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer, Google Gemini.
• Experience with AI Services in Azure (AI Agent Service, AI Search, OpenAI, etc) and AWS (Bedrock, Polly, Rekognition, etc.)
• Knowledge of data visualization tools such as Tableau or Power BI.
• Experience with containerization and orchestration tools like Docker and Kubernetes.
• Proven track record of successfully managing and delivering complex projects.