Lead Software Engineer

As a Lead Software Engineer for Customer Experience & Reliability, you are a technical leader and customer advocate responsible for driving the resolution of complex, cross-system production issues.

This role offers a unique mix of technical leadership and hands-on engagement, allowing you to influence outcomes while staying close tothe technology.You’llpartner closely with a Senior Engineering Manager to ensure:

• The right problems are prioritized and addressed
• Engagement within the team
• Root causes are clearlyidentified
• Follow-up actions are effectively executed

You will remain technically engaged in reading code, analyzing logs, and troubleshooting issues, but your primary impact will come through ownership, coordination, and sound technical judgement., * Lead cross-functional debugging sessions across Engineering, Customer Success Managers, Operations, and Support.

• Help teams converge on root causes by asking the right technical questions.
• Support during incidents by tracking decisions, risks, and next steps.
• Translate between customer impact and system behavior.

Technical Troubleshooting & Guidance

Maintain deep technical fluency to:

• Read and reason about C#, .NET / .NET Core, and JavaScript code
• Analyze logs, metrics, and traces (e.g., Splunk, New Relic, APM tools)
• Reproduce issues at a conceptual or functional level
• Review proposed fixes and designs with a focus onreliability, operability, and customer impact.

Proactive Customer Experience & Reliability Improvements

• Manually reproduce customer issues, isolate root causes, and deploy fixes under time pressure while partnering with L1/L2 support teams to resolve high-priority advisor tickets.
• Recognize recurring issue patterns and provide feedback to feature development teams to drive systemic improvements.
• Identifysystemic weaknesses and partner with engineering teams to improve observability, diagnostics, and operational readiness.
• Support and influence emerging automation or AI-assisted diagnostic workflows.

Mentorship & Leadership

• Model strong ownership, calm decision-making, and accountability during production incidents.
• Mentor engineers and support teams on effective incident handling and production readiness.
• Reinforce a culture wherecustomer experience is an engineering responsibility., Morningstar’s hybrid work environment gives you the opportunity to collaborate in-person each week as we’ve found that we’re at our best when we’re purposely together on a regular basis. In most of our locations, our hybrid work model is four days in-office each week. A range of other benefits are also available to enhance flexibility as needs change. No matter where you are, you’ll have tools and resources to engage meaningfully with your global colleagues.

• 8+yearsexperiencein software engineering, production support, reliability, or tech-lead roles
• Hands-on experience withC#, .NET / .NET Core
• Practical familiarity withJavaScript / web application behavior
• Experience working with distributed systems in production
• Familiarity with AWS-hosted systems and cloud-based architectures
• Proven ability to lead incidents and cross-team technical problem solving
• Strong communicationskills across technical and non-technical audiences, * Customer-First Mindset- Every technical decision is evaluated through the lens of advisor impact and experience quality.
• Calm Under Pressure- You lead incidents with composure, clear communication, and structured decision-making.
• Continuous Improvement- Youidentifypatterns, advocate for systemic fixes, and raise the bar on operational readiness across teams.

At Morningstar we believe people are at their best when they are at their healthiest. That’s why we champion your wellness through a wide range of programs that support all stages of your personal and professional life. Here are some examples of the offerings we provide:

• Financial Health
• 100% 401k match up to 6% of salary
• Stock Ownership Potential
• Company provided life insurance - 1x salary + commission
• Physical Health
• Comprehensive health benefits(medical/dental/vision)including potential premium discounts and company-provided HSA contributions (up to $500-$2,000 annually) for specific plansand coverages
• Additional medical Wellness Incentives - up to $300-$600 annual
• Company-provided long- and short-termdisabilityinsurance
• Emotional Health
• Trust-Based Time Off
• 6-week Paid Sabbatical Program
• 6-Week Paid Family Caregiving Leave
• Competitive 8-24 Week Paid Parental Leave
• Adoption Assistance
• Leadership Coaching & FormalMentorshipOpportunities
• Annual Flex Stipend - $1000 annually to cover personal education & well-being expenses
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Social Health
• Charitable Matching Gifts program
• Dollars for Doers volunteer program
• Paid volunteering days
• 15+ Employee Resource & Affinity Groups

Total Cash Compensation Range $114,100.00-167,350.00