Lead Software Engineer

Here at Appian, our values of Intensity and Excellence define who we are. We set high standards and live up to them, ensuring that everything we do is done with care and quality. We approach every challenge with ambition and commitment, holding ourselves and each other accountable to achieve the best results. When you join Appian, you’ll be part of a passionate team dedicated to accomplishing hard things, together.

The Mission

As a Lead Software Engineer working on the Appian platform, your mission is to be the technical anchor for our most ambitious engineering initiatives. You will ensure Appian is always fast, scalable, and resilient, regardless of the complexity our customers demand. While a Senior Engineer focuses on feature health, you are focused on platform evolution.

You will lead the design and orchestration of high-stakes systems, integrating cutting-edge AI into the core fabric of our product. This role demands a balance of elite coding mastery, visionary system architecture, and the ability to align technical roadmaps with Appian's overarching business strategy.

Key Responsibilities

The Lead Software Engineer isn't just "the best coder"—they are the architect of the team’s success and the guardian of our technical future.

• Technical Strategy & Roadmap: Work alongside Product Leadership to transform long-term business goals into scalable technical milestones. You don't just build features; you define the technical "North Star."

• Advanced Architecture: Lead the design of distributed, event-driven, and cloud-native systems. You are responsible for making high-level decisions on system boundaries, data consistency, and integration patterns.

• AI Orchestration & Innovation: Drive the adoption of AI-native engineering and an AI-native culture within the team. This includes using AI tools to improve developer productivity and implementing AI features into the platform to make the Appian platform more intelligent and autonomous.

• Architectural Governance: Set and enforce the "gold standard" for system design and code quality. You ensure that the codebase remains modular, maintainable, and free of crippling technical debt.

• Developer Multiplier: Create the "Golden Paths" and internal frameworks that empower other engineering teams to ship faster. You build the tools that make every other engineer more productive.

• High-Stakes Problem Solving: Act as the final escalation point for the "un-debuggable." You lead the resolution of critical production outages and architect long-term fixes for deep-seated performance bottlenecks.

• Mentorship & Influence: Cultivate a culture of excellence. You mentor Senior Engineers into future Leads and foster a high-growth environment through rigorous design reviews and technical coaching.

Required Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.

• Educational background from a highly selective, premier engineering institution with a focus on Computer Science fundamentals is preferred

Experience:

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience.

• Strong understanding of data structures, algorithms, design patterns, object-oriented as well as functional programming.

• Proven track record of leading technical initiatives from conception to global production deployment.

• Deep expertise in Java & modern web technologies, with a mastery of data structures, algorithms, and complex design patterns.

• Extensive experience building and scaling distributed systems in AWS cloud-native environments and modernization of applications/platforms.

• Strong knowledge of enterprise application architecture.

• Experience managing "large-scale" codebases where performance optimization and bottleneck identification are critical.

• Experience in AI/ML integration, specifically implementing intelligent features like RAG or agentic workflows into enterprise software is preferred.
Experience with using AI tools and models like Amazon Q, Kiro, Claude is preferred.

Technical Skills:

• Full-Stack Authority: Expert-level proficiency in Java or similar major languages.

• Infrastructure & Orchestration: Hands-on experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and advanced CI/CD automation.

• Observability: Deep familiarity with performance monitoring and alerting stacks (e.g., Grafana, Prometheus, ELK).

• Cloud & Data: Strong experience with AWS services and modern database technologies (Relational, NoSQL, and Vector databases).

• Security & Compliance: Strong understanding of enterprise-grade security, including OAuth2, OIDC, and data encryption at rest/transit.

Soft Skills

• Strategic Communication: The ability to influence stakeholders and explain the "why" behind complex technical trade-offs in terms of business value.

• Systems Thinking: The ability to see how a change in one microservice ripples across the entire ecosystem.

• Radical Accountability: A bias for action and a sense of ownership over the entire platform’s stability and success.

• Mentorship: A genuine passion for leveling up the collective intelligence of the engineering organization.

Tools and Resources

• Training and Development: During onboarding, we focus on equipping new hires with the skills and knowledge for success through department-specific training. Continuous learning is a central focus at Appian, with dedicated mentorship and the First-Friend program being widely utilized resources for new hires.

• Growth Opportunities: Appian provides a diverse array of growth and development opportunities, including our leadership program tailored for new and aspiring managers, a comprehensive library of specialized department training through Appian University, skills based training, and tuition reimbursement for those aiming to advance their education. This commitment ensures that employees have access to a holistic range of development opportunities.

• Community: We’ll immerse you into our community rooted in respect starting on day one. Appian fosters inclusivity through our 8 employee-led affinity groups. These groups help employees build stronger internal and external networks by planning social, educational, and outreach activities to connect with Appianites and larger initiatives throughout the company.

Benefits

Appian offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your health, wellbeing, and financial future. Benefits may include health coverage, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with free mental health support, life and disability insurance, an Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP), a retirement/pension plan, wellness dollars, tuition reimbursement, family-forming benefits and more. Benefits vary by country—please ask your Talent Acquisition contact for details specific to the location you are applying to.

About Appian

Appian provides process automation technology. We automate complex processes in large enterprises and governments. Our platform is known for its unique reliability and scale. We’ve been automating processes for 25 years and understand enterprise operations like no one else. For more information, visit appian.com. [Nasdaq: APPN]

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Appian is an equal opportunity employer that strives to attract and retain the best talent. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Appian provides reasonable accommodations to applicants in accordance with all applicable laws. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at [email protected]. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.

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