Lead AI Systems Architect & Growth Engineer

ISU Research Park; Ames, Northern (IA, KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

ISU Research Park in Ames, IA seeks a Staff Software Engineer to lead design, development, and scaling of AI-powered applications and agent-driven experiences built on the Workiva platform.

This role combines hands-on building with technical leadership, requiring navigating ambiguity, guiding architectural decisions, and influencing across teams to deliver meaningful business outcomes.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of software engineering experience delivering complex systems.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Drive 0→1 product development and iteration.
• Build and iterate on AI-powered product concepts from prototype to production.
• Partner with Product and Design to shape problems and test hypotheses.
• Balance speed and scalability with a bias toward learning.
• Own and scale architectures for emerging products.
• Lead technical discovery and implementation for high-impact initiatives.
• Set patterns and guardrails for fast, quality delivery.
• Mentor engineers and provide technical guidance across teams.
• Collaborate with Product, UX, and stakeholders on priorities.

Skills

6+ years software engineering

AI/ML features experience

Team leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

TypeScript

Java

Kotlin

Go

PostgreSQL

MongoDB

AWS

Job description

ISU Research Park in Ames, IA seeks a Staff Software Engineer to lead design, development, and scaling of AI-powered applications and agent-driven experiences built on the Workiva platform.

This role combines hands-on building with technical leadership, requiring navigating ambiguity, guiding architectural decisions, and influencing across teams to deliver meaningful business outcomes.