Distinguished Software Engineer

Ladders; United States; Remote; USD 233,000 - 341,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work options

Professional development

Executive-level impact

Job summary

Ladders is seeking a Distinguished Software Engineer to shape enterprise technology direction across architecture, AI, cloud, and data capabilities for a large financial services business.

This role will partner closely with engineering leaders to define long-term technical strategy and drive practical implementation, while maintaining hands-on credibility to elevate engineering standards across teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 10+ years in software engineering or comparable experience.
• Proven track record delivering multi-year technical strategy at the enterprise level as an individual contributor.
• Experience in distributed systems architecture and expertise in at least two areas: agentic systems, large-scale cloud migrations, modern data architectures, or machine learning.

Responsibilities

• Define the enterprise target architecture and guide its multi-year implementation.
• Own the architecture for enterprise agent systems, including capabilities and governance models for AI agents.
• Oversee the migration strategy from on-premises to cloud infrastructure, ensuring resilience and recovery.
• Set architecture for modern data platforms supporting real-time decision-making and change-data-capture.
• Architect solutions for real-time model serving and rapid experimentation processes.
• Manage the unified marketplace architecture and ensure a flexible data model.
• Establish an AI-native engineering practice to enhance software development methodology.

Skills

Distributed systems

Cloud migrations

Data architectures

Agentic systems

Influence without authority

Hands-on coding

Mentoring engineers

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/IS

Job description

For our client, we are seeking a Distinguished Software Engineer to join the team of a leader in the Finance & Insurance space.

This role will shape enterprise technology direction across architecture, AI, cloud, and data capabilities for a large-scale financial services business. The position will partner closely with engineering leaders and stakeholders to define long-term technical strategy and drive practical implementation. It will also require hands-on technical credibility, with influence extending across teams and disciplines to elevate engineering standards.

Location: Remote - US based candidates only, no visa sponsorship available

Compensation: $232,500 – $341,000 annually

Responsibilities

• Define the enterprise target architecture and guide its multi-year implementation
• Own the architecture for enterprise agent systems, including capabilities and governance models for AI agents
• Oversee the migration strategy from on-premises to cloud infrastructure, ensuring resilience and recovery
• Set architecture for modern data platforms supporting real-time decision-making and change-data-capture
• Architect solutions for real-time model serving and rapid experimentation processes
• Manage the unified marketplace architecture and ensure a flexible data model
• Establish an AI-native engineering practice to enhance software development methodology

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience
• 10+ years in software engineering or comparable experience
• Proven track record delivering multi-year technical strategy at the enterprise level as an individual contributor
• Experience in distributed systems architecture and expertise in at least two areas: agentic systems, large-scale cloud migrations, modern data architectures, or machine learning
• Hands-on credibility through active involvement in coding, design reviews, and incident analysis
• Experience influencing without authority across organizational boundaries
• Ability to develop and elevate technical skills in engineers not under direct management

Benefits

• Flexible work-from-home options combined with occasional onsite requirements
• Opportunity to influence high-stakes technical challenges at an enterprise level
• Professional development focused on elevating engineering standards and practices
• Impactful role in shaping the future of AI and cloud-based solutions for the organization

Our client is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every qualification—your background could be exactly what this team needs.