Lead Software Engineer (Conference Navigator)

Gartner; Irving (TX); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Growth and learning opportunities

Mentorship and technical courses

Diversity and collaboration culture

Health and wellness benefits

401K with match

Job summary

Gartner is seeking an experienced Lead Software Engineer to lead the US-based Support & Operations team within Conference Technology. You will drive technical excellence, own architecture decisions, and ensure the stability and readiness of Gartner's conference platforms.

This hands-on leadership role emphasizes software development, engineering standards, and operational excellence, with opportunities to influence across regional and global teams and occasional travel to conferences.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field.
• 7–10+ years of professional software development experience, with significant experience in supporting and operating production systems.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a technical lead or overseeing complex systems.
• Strong expertise in backend development using C#, .NET Core, or similar technologies.
• Proficiency with modern web technologies (Angular, React, TypeScript).
• SQL and data modeling for production systems.
• Deep understanding of cloud platforms (AWS or Azure).
• Experience with asynchronous processing, event‑driven systems, and microservices architectures.
• Knowledge of CI/CD practices.
• Proven ability to analyze and permanently resolve production issues in high‑availability systems.
• Strong incident management and operational best practices.
• Observability, logging, alerting, and system diagnostics expertise.
• Ability to balance short‑term operational needs with long‑term architectural improvements.
• Excellent communication and collaboration in a global team.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the technical lead for Support & Operations, owning design decisions to ensure reliability and scalability.
• Define and enforce technical standards, best practices, and coding guidelines across applications.
• Lead design discussions for operational improvements and risk mitigation.
• Evaluate system tradeoffs and assist architecture decisions with business impact in mind.
• Review designs and solutions prior to implementation.
• Lead analysis of production incidents and drive permanent, scalable solutions.
• Ensure operational readiness for live conferences with health checks and playbooks.
• Collaborate with Product Managers, Scrum Masters, and engineering managers to translate needs into work.
• Coordinate with global teams for quality and smooth handoffs.
• Drive quality, security, observability, and sustainable delivery.

Skills

C#/.NET Core

Angular/React/TypeScript

SQL/data modeling

Cloud platforms AWS/Azure

Event-driven / microservices

CI/CD

Incident management

Observability & diagnostics

Distributed team collaboration

Problem solving & architecture

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS/Software Eng

Job description

About Gartner IT:

Join a world-class team of skilled engineers who build creative digital solutions to support our colleagues and clients. We make a broad organizational impact by delivering cutting‑edge technology solutions that power Gartner. Gartner IT values its culture of nonstop innovation, an outcome‑driven approach to success, and the notion that great ideas can come from anyone on the team.

About Gartner Conference Technology:

Join a world‑class team of engineers building creative, reliable, and scalable digital solutions that power Gartner Conferences. Gartner Conference Technology values a culture of nonstop innovation, operational excellence, and outcome‑driven delivery. Our teams support mission‑critical platforms that enable world‑class experiences for colleagues and clients globally.

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced Lead Software Engineer to serve as the technical leader for the US‑based Support & Operations team within Conference Technology. This role is critical to ensuring the stability, reliability, and continuous improvement of the platform that supports Gartner's global conferences.

As a Lead Software Engineer, you will act as the technical authority for operations and support in the region, setting engineering standards, owning architectural decisions, and leading complex problem‑solving efforts. You will partner closely with your manager, product leaders, QA, analytics, and global engineering teams to proactively reduce incidents, improve system resilience, and ensure conference readiness.

This is a hands‑on technical leadership role—not a people‑management position—focused on software development, technical execution, architecture, technical decision‑making, mentorship, and operational excellence.

What You Will Do

Technical Leadership

• Serve as the technical lead for Support & Operations, owning technical design decisions to ensure reliability, scalability, and maintainability.
• Define and enforce technical standards, best practices, and coding guidelines across supported applications.
• Lead technical design discussions for operational improvements, complex defect resolution, and risk mitigation initiatives.
• Evaluate system tradeoffs and assist on architecture decisions with a strong understanding of business impact and conference readiness.
• Review technical approaches and solutions before implementation.

Operational Excellence & Incident Reduction

• Lead analysis of production incidents, identify systemic causes, and drive permanent, scalable solutions.
• Own recurring incident themes and ensure they are prioritized, tracked, and resolved through architectural or process improvements.
• Ensure operational readiness for live conferences by validating system health, deployment quality, and support playbooks.
• Act as a technical escalation point during high‑severity incidents, providing calm, structured problem‑solving and clear communication.

Delivery, Execution & Collaboration

• Partner with Product Managers, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and Engineering Managers to translate operational needs into actionable technical work.
• Collaborate with global engineering teams (US, Spain, India, and others) to ensure consistent quality, smooth handoffs, and shared understanding of system behavior.
• Lead technical planning and estimation for operational enhancements, refactors, and other enabling initiatives.
• Ensure solutions are delivered with a strong focus on quality, security, observability, and long‑term sustainability.
• Opportunity for domestic and international travel to attend key conference events.

Coaching, Mentorship & Influence

• Provide technical guidance, coaching, and mentorship to junior and mid‑level engineers within the support organization.
• Review designs and code, offering clear, actionable feedback to raise the overall engineering bar.
• Promote strong engineering habits, including system documentation, runbooks, and knowledge sharing.
• Influence technical direction across teams by building trust, presenting well‑reasoned proposals, and setting an example of engineering excellence.

What You Will Need

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field.
• 7‑10+ years of professional software development experience, with significant experience in supporting and operating production systems.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a technical lead or overseeing complex systems.
• Strong expertise in:
  • Backend development using C#, .NET Core, or similar technologies
  • Modern web technologies (Angular, React, TypeScript)
  • SQL and data modeling for production systems
• Deep understanding of cloud platforms (AWS or Azure), including services used for reliability, monitoring, and scalability.
• Experience with asynchronous processing, event‑driven systems, and microservices architectures.
• Knowledge of Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment practices.
• Proven ability to analyze and permanently resolve production issues in high‑availability systems.
• Strong knowledge of incident management, root‑cause analysis, and operational best practices.
• Experience improving observability, logging, alerting, and system diagnostics.
• Ability to balance short‑term operational needs with long‑term architectural improvements.
• Exceptional problem‑solving skills, with a creative and analytical approach to complex technical challenges.
• Strong communication skills, capable of conveying technical concepts clearly to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Confidence to set direction, make decisions, and influence without direct authority.
• Comfortable working in a global, distributed team environment.

Who You Are

• A deeply technical engineer who enjoys owning systems end‑to‑end.
• Passionate about software architecture, maintainability, and operational excellence.
• Calm under pressure, especially during live incidents or critical events.
• Proactive in identifying risks, inefficiencies, and opportunities for improvement.
• Motivated by setting high standards and helping other engineers succeed.

Don’t meet every single requirement? We encourage you to apply anyway. You might just be the right candidate for this, or other roles!

What you will get:

• Competitive compensation.
• Limitless growth and learning opportunities.
• Ongoing mentorship and apprenticeship; Leadership courses, development programs, technical courses, certification opportunities and more!
• A collaborative and positive culture — join a diverse team of professionals that are as smart and driven as you.
• A chance to make an impact — your work will contribute directly to our strategy.
• Enjoy the flexibility of working from home and the energy of collaborating with peers in our dynamic offices.
• 20+ PTO days plus holidays and floating holidays in your first year.
• Extensive medical, dental insurance and vision plan.
• 401K with corporate match, immediate vesting.
• Health‑and‑wellness‑related allowance programs.
• Parental leave.
• Tuition reimbursement.
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Gartner Gives Charity Match. And much more!

The policy of Gartner is to provide equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, citizenship status, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected status and to seek to advance the principles of equal employment opportunity.

Gartner is committed to being an Equal Opportunity Employer and offers opportunities to all job seekers, including job seekers with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access the Company's career webpage as a result of your disability. You may request reasonable accommodations by calling Human Resources at [phone] or by sending an email to [e-mail].