Lead Software Engineer

Charles Schwab; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) with company match

Sabbatical after 5 years

Paid parental leave and family life

Tuition reimbursement

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Job summary

Charles Schwab is seeking a Senior Software Engineering Leader to guide architecture, scale critical verification and fraud prevention platforms, and mentor teams. You will balance security, performance and enterprise standards while delivering high-visibility initiatives.

You will collaborate with product, architecture, security and technology partners to accelerate innovation through AI-enabled practices, modern software development, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of progressive software engineering with technical leadership of complex enterprise initiatives.
• Experience leading software teams delivering large-scale, highly available distributed systems.
• Strong hands-on experience with Java, Spring Boot, RESTful APIs, microservices, and event-driven architectures.
• Ability to lead teams in adopting AI-native development practices and using AI responsibly to improve delivery.
• Deep expertise with Apache Kafka and distributed systems concepts (scalability, resiliency, fault tolerance).
• Experience with SQL and NoSQL databases, data modeling, query optimization, and performance tuning.
• Experience with GitHub, GitHub Actions, automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and automation.
• Experience deploying and supporting applications in PCF environments.
• Demonstrated ability translating business requirements into scalable technical solutions and delivery plans.
• Experience driving architecture decisions balancing security, maintainability, performance, and standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead software engineering teams delivering large-scale, distributed systems.
• Shape architecture and drive scalable, secure product solutions across stakeholders.
• Collaborate with product, architecture, security and business partners to deliver outcomes.
• Mentor engineers, establish coding standards, reviews and quality controls.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

REST APIs

Microservices

Event-driven design

AI-native development

Kafka

SQL/NoSQL

CI/CD

Leadership

Distributed systems

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Master's degree

Tools

GitHub

GitHub Actions

Automated testing

CI/CD pipelines

PCF (Pivotal Cloud Foundry)

Job description

Your opportunity

At Schwab, you're empowered to make an impact on your career. Here, innovative thought meets creative problem solving, helping us challenge the status quo and transform the finance industry together. We believe in the importance of in-office collaboration and fully intend for the selected candidate for this role to work on site in the specified location(s).

Schwab Technology Services enables the future of how clients manage their money by delivering innovative, secure, and reliable technology solutions that support investing and financial planning experiences. As a Senior Software Engineering Leader, you will help drive the evolution of critical client verification and fraud prevention platforms that protect clients and support business growth. This role combines technical leadership with hands-on engineering, allowing you to influence architecture, scalability, resiliency, and engineering excellence across high-visibility initiatives. You will collaborate closely with product, business, architecture, security, and technology partners to solve complex problems, deliver meaningful outcomes, and accelerate innovation through modern software development and AI-enabled engineering practices. Success in this role requires strong technical leadership, adaptability, collaboration, and a passion for developing talent while fostering a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.

What you have

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including technical leadership of complex enterprise initiatives.
• Proven experience leading software engineering teams delivering large-scale, highly available distributed systems.
• Strong hands-on experience with Java, Spring Boot, RESTful APIs, microservices, and event-driven architectures.
• Ability to lead teams in adopting AI-native development practices throughout the entire product development cycle. Demonstrated experience applying AI tools (such as Github Copilot) and agentic workflows to modern software engineering practices, with the ability to guide teams in using AI responsibly to improve delivery speed, quality, reliability, and productivity and efficiency from inception to delivery.
• Deep expertise with Apache Kafka and distributed systems concepts including scalability, resiliency, fault tolerance, consistency, asynchronous processing, and performance optimization.
• Experience with SQL and NoSQL databases, data modeling, query optimization, transaction management, and performance tuning.
• Experience with GitHub, GitHub Actions, automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and software delivery automation.
• Experience deploying and supporting applications in Pivotal Cloud Foundry (PCF) environments.
• Demonstrated ability to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions and delivery plans.
• Experience driving architecture decisions while balancing security, maintainability, performance, scalability, and enterprise standards.
• Strong understanding of software design patterns, API lifecycle management, integration patterns, and object-oriented design.
• Experience establishing engineering standards through code reviews, design reviews, automation, and quality controls.
• Proven experience troubleshooting complex production issues and leading root-cause analysis and incident response efforts.
• Strong communication, collaboration, mentoring, and stakeholder management skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• Experience building secure, high-volume platforms within financial services, fraud prevention, identity verification, or other highly regulated industries.
• Experience with AI agent frameworks such as LangChain, AutoGen, or CrewAI.
• Experience with AI evaluation frameworks, benchmarking, and model validation.
• Experience modernizing legacy applications through automation and AI-driven approaches.
• Experience designing cloud-native applications using Kubernetes, containers, or public cloud technologies.

In addition to the salary range, this role is eligible for bonus or incentive opportunities.

What’s in it for you

At Schwab, you're empowered to shape your future. We champion your growth through meaningful work, continuous learning, and a culture of trust and collaboration - so you can build the skills to make a lasting impact. Our Hybrid Work and Flexibility approach balances our ongoing commitment to workplace flexibility, serving our clients, and our strong belief in the value of being together in person on a regular basis.

We offer a competitive benefits package that takes care of the whole you - both today and in the future:

• 401(k) with company match and Employee stock purchase plan
• Paid time for vacation, volunteering, and 28-day sabbatical after every 5 years of service for eligible positions
• Paid parental leave and family building benefits
• Tuition reimbursement
• Health, dental, and vision insurance