Lead AI Developer Tooling Engineer

Socket.dev; McLean (VA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Paid time off

Medical, dental, and vision plans

Life and disability insurance

Wellness programs

HSA/FSAs

Employee referral bonus

Learning and development resources

Job summary

Appian is seeking a Lead AI Developer Tooling Engineer to architect and deliver developer-facing tools such as IDE integrations, CLIs, code-analysis, and CI/CD workflows. You will leverage AI tooling to enhance engineering productivity while maintaining enterprise-grade reliability.

The role is based in McLean, VA, with in-office collaboration expected five days per week, and a focus on performance, scale, and engineering excellence across teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science or a related discipline.
• 7+ years of software development experience with a BS (or 5+ years with MS).
• Experience building IDEs, CLIs, code-analysis, CI/CD, or developer-experience tools.
• Strong problem solving, telemetry, and enterprise deployment constraints knowledge.
• Proven experience evaluating and applying AI-generated code in production contexts.
• Excellent ability to communicate complex architectures to diverse engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and optimize developer-facing tools and services.
• Design IDE integrations, CLIs, code-analysis, and CI/CD tooling.
• Use AI tools to accelerate development while maintaining quality.
• Expose AI capabilities through user-friendly developer workflows.
• Ensure reliable performance and scalability of tooling in prod environments.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to technical docs and best practices.

Skills

IDE tooling

CI/CD tooling

AI coding assistants

DevOps practices

Code analysis

High-volume production

Technical communication

Education

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science or related field

Master of Science in Computer Science or related field

Job description

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.

Lead AI Developer Tooling Engineer

Grow your engineering career building the developer tools that power AI automation for the world's largest enterprises.

This role is based at our headquarters in McLean, Virginia. Appian was built on a culture of in-person collaboration, which we believe is a key driver of our mission to be the best. Employees hired for this position are expected to be in the office 5 days a week to foster that culture and ensure we continue to thrive through shared ideas and teamwork. We believe being in the office provides more opportunities to come together and celebrate working with the exceptional people across Appian.

ABOUT THE TEAM

Appian Engineering spans the full depth of our platform: from the foundational layers that power enterprise scale, to the AI capabilities redefining what automation can do. We operate in a highly collaborative, fast-paced environment focused on technical precision, continuous learning, and high code quality. By joining our team, you will solve real-world problems that directly shape how Appian delivers our AI-Powered Process Automation platform to enterprises around the world.

THE OPPORTUNITY

As a Lead AI Developer Tooling Engineer, you will serve as a technical linchpin for the team building the tools Appian's own engineers rely on — IDEs, CLIs, code-analysis, and CI/CD workflows — and the layer that brings AI capabilities into their daily development. Equipped with cutting-edge AI tooling yourself, you'll design and deliver developer experiences of real sophistication, shape engineering practices, and deepen your expertise while ensuring flawless Enterprise-Grade Orchestration.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Develop Clean Software: Architect, build, and optimize developer-facing tools and services while maintaining a strong personal technical presence on the team.
• Build Developer Tooling: Design and build the IDE integrations, CLIs, code-analysis, and CI/CD tooling that Appian's engineers rely on every day — treating developer experience as a first-class product.
• Engineer with AI: Use AI coding tools fluently as a force multiplier: generating, reviewing, and critically evaluating AI-assisted code to ship faster without compromising quality or correctness.
• Surface AI in Developer Workflows: Expose AI capabilities to developers through workflows that are fast, understandable, and debuggable — earning trust by making AI assistance transparent and easy to control.
• Optimize Performance & Scale: Manage the availability, latency, and efficiency of developer tooling by engineering deep reliability into it and performing advanced system tuning.
• Drive Engineering Excellence: Radiate development best practices across the department, perform meticulous code reviews on design and implementation, and build automation frameworks to prevent problem recurrence.
• Mentor & Champion Talent: Actively coach, mentor, and guide junior engineers on software craftsmanship, providing the structural support necessary to accelerate their technical proficiency.
• Influence Technical Documentation: Share your expert domain knowledge regularly across the department, building a reputation as a vital resource and publishing high-quality content to Engineering's permanent documentation site.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science or a related technical/analytical discipline.
• 7+ years of relevant software development experience with a BS (or 5+ years of experience paired with a Master of Science in Computer Science or a related field).
• Experience building IDE, CLI, code-analysis, CI/CD, or developer-experience tools.
• Working knowledge of local/remote execution, telemetry, privacy, and enterprise deployment constraints.
• Strong language-server, parser, build-system, source-control, and diagnostics experience.
• Demonstrated experience using AI coding assistants and a strong ability to evaluate, coach others on, and selectively apply AI-generated code in a production engineering context.
• Proven experience developing, optimizing, and maintaining a high-volume, mission-critical production service environment.
• Exceptional ability to communicate highly technical architectures verbally, visually, and in writing to diverse engineering audiences.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Strong experience developing and operating services on public cloud infrastructure.
• We value experience with enterprise platforms such as Salesforce or ServiceNow, as these skills translate well into our Enterprise-Grade Orchestration environment.

The base salary range represents a good faith and reasonable estimate of the range at the time of posting. Actual compensation will be dependent on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate's relevant work experience, qualifications, internal peer equity, and market and business conditions that exist when extending an offer. A discretionary bonus may be awarded in recognition of individual and company performance.

In addition, Appian provides generous benefits offerings that include a 401(k) plan with company match, flexible time off, paid parental leave, medical, dental, and vision plans, life insurance, disability insurance, wellness programs, flexible spending accounts, health savings account contributions, an employee referral bonus program, and learning and development resources. Certain positions may be eligible for equity awards.

Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation, commission, bonus, or benefit plans.

Base Salary Range

$150,000—$300,000 USD

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 AI automation for mission-critical work. 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 more than 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 [e-mail]. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.

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