Lead Software Engineer

As a Lead Software Engineer, you will develop and execute the key technology components of the Enterprise API Technology & Platform strategy and ensure alignment with Guardian's enterprise digital strategy. You will be an innovative software engineer and will harness deep industry and technical expertise to develop seamless data integration between Enterprise Applications using RESTful APIs, messaging, and event streams.

As a key technical leader, you will mentor team members, design delivery strategies, and champion a culture of automation and continuous improvement within the software delivery lifecycle.

You will

• Lead the design, development, and evolution of enterprise APIs, including REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and event-driven integrations, following API-first design principles

• Enable developer productivity and self-service through reusable API frameworks, platforms, templates, SDKs, documentation (OpenAPI/AsyncAPI), and developer portals

• Establish best practices & enterprise capabilities for improving API design, governance, testing, documentation, and release management across development teams

• Drive incident response and resolution for production API and platform issues, lead post-mortems, and implement preventive and resiliency improvements

• Research emerging technologies and perform PoCs related to API management, integration patterns, platform engineering, and observability

• Ensure compliance with security, data privacy, and performance standards in all integration projects.

• Collaborate with a team of software engineers in implementing and maintaining enterprise APIs and platform(s).

• Mentor and guide engineers on best practices, tools and technologies to enhance delivery quality

• Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

• 10+ years of experience in Software engineering, building and operating distributed systems

• Strong hands-on experience developing high-quality APIs using Java (Spring Boot), Node.js, .NET, or Python

• Experience with a broad range of web technologies including React, Angular, & Typescript

• Expertise in Microservices Architecture, Enterprise Integration Patterns (EIP), and Event-Driven Architectures

• Strong knowledge of API security including OAuth 2.0, JWT, token lifecycle management, and user access control mechanisms

• Competency with CI/CD automation tools (e.g., Bitbucket, Jenkins, AWS, GitHub)

• Deep understanding of API protocols and integration patterns: REST, GraphQL, gRPC, SOAP, async/event-driven architectures

• Experience implementing API observability using logging, metrics, tracing, and monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry, Splunk)

• Strong experience designing domain-aligned APIs using OpenAPI / Swagger specifications, with a focus on consistency, reusability, and user/machine readability.

• Deep understanding of containerization & orchestration technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, Helm) and AWS Cloud services S3, Lambda, Kafka, SQS/SNS, Redis Cache.

• Hands-on experience working with both SQL and NoSQL databases, designing for scale, performance, and reliability, Guardian Life is not currently or in the foreseeable future sponsoring employment visas. In order to be a successful applicant, you must be legally authorized to work in the United States, without the need for employer sponsorship.

$118,980.00 - $195,465.00

The salary range reflected above is a good faith estimate of base pay for the primary location of the position. The salary for this position ultimately will be determined based on the education, experience, knowledge, and abilities of the successful candidate. In addition to salary, this role may also be eligible for annual, sales, or other incentive compensation.

Our Promise

At Guardian, you'll have the support and flexibility to achieve your professional and personal goals. Through skill-building, leadership development and philanthropic opportunities, we provide opportunities to build communities and grow your career, surrounded by diverse colleagues with high ethical standards.

Inspire Well-Being

Additionally, at applicable times, Guardian will make public the most recent bias audit results for such AI tools, which may be found here (https://www.workday.com/en-us/legal/responsible-ai-and-bias-mitigation.html) . Current Guardian Colleagues: Please apply through the internal Jobs Hub in Workday. Every day, Guardian helps our 29 million customers realize their dreams through a range of insurance and financial products and services. Our Purpose, to inspire well-being, guides our dedication to the colleagues, consumers, and communities we serve. We know that people count, and we go above and beyond to prepare them for the life they want to live, focusing on their overall well-being - mind, body, and wallet. As one of the largest mutual insurance companies, we put our customers first. Behind every bright future is a GuardianTM. Learn more about Guardian at guardianlife.com .