Lead Software Engineer - Internal Developer Platform & Developer Experience

Wellmark-Blue-Cross-and-Blue-Shiel; Des Moines (IA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Wellmark is seeking a Lead Software Engineer for Internal Developer Platform & Developer Experience to design, build, and mature internal developer platform capabilities. You will lead cross-team initiatives, partner with cloud, security, and architecture teams, and drive self-service experiences for developers across multiple engineering teams.

The role requires strategic thinking, strong communication, and proven leadership in platform delivery, with a focus on measurable improvements in

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, MIS, or related field and at least five years of software engineering experience or nine years of related and applicable experience.
• Strong analytical problem-solving skills and attention to detail.
• Demonstrated experience in software development lifecycle methodologies.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and coach/mentor team members.
• Big picture thinker with the ability to translate WaaS strategy to company strategy.
• Strong ability to perform root cause analysis and recommend solutions using data.
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships and communicate with stakeholders.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-team technical initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience designing, building, integrating, or supporting platform capabilities used by multiple engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and implementation of highly complex programs.
• Serve as a subject matter expert for internal developer platforms, developer experience, software catalogs, platform integrations, self-service capabilities, and related engineering practices.
• Provide technical leadership, training, and guidance to team members in problem solving and solution optimization.
• Mentor and collaborate with other technology areas in design, development, and implementation of solutions.
• Partner with multiple technology teams to integrate platform capabilities and processes.
• Utilize relationships with Wellmark leaders to advise on platform strategy and improvements.
• Lead platform roadmap development, capability assessments, and proof-of-concept activities as needed.
• Maintain industry best practices, set enterprise standards, and monitor compliance.
• Lead and mature internal developer platform capabilities, including developer portal and software catalog.
• Develop health checks, templates, and self-service capabilities to reduce developer friction and improve adoption.
• Glean developer feedback, prioritize capabilities, and measure platform health and outcomes.
• Operate and continuously improve internal developer platform capabilities with cross-team collaboration.
• Other duties as assigned.

Skills

Leadership

Software engineering

Agile

Platform experience

DevOps/CI/CD

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or MIS

Tools

AWS

APIs

SDKs

CI/CD

Source control

Security tooling

Job description

Lead Software Engineer - Internal Developer Platform & Developer Experience

• Full-time


• Department: Technology


• Pay Grade: 25

Why Wellmark: We are a mutual insurance company owned by our policy holders across Iowa and South Dakota, and we’ve built our reputation on over 80 years’ worth of trust. We are not motivated by profits. We are motivated by the well-being of our friends, family, and neighbors–our members. If you’re passionate about joining an organization working hard to put its members first, to provide best-in-class service, and one that is committed to sustainability and innovation,

Why Wellmark Technology?Wellmark is building innovative, modern solutions using cutting edge technology. We are driving organizational transformation and business strategy by empowering our technology team to innovate new and elegant solutions to enhance the customer experience. Together, we are leaning into the future, owning the outcome, and driving organizational change to transform how we work.

Leads the design, development, and evolution of complex software engineering solutions and internal developer platform capabilities that support Wellmark’s business and technology initiatives. Serves as a technical leader for internal developer platform, developer experience, software catalogs, platform integrations, self-service, and engineering enablement. Ensures engineering solutions align with business expectations, Wellmark standards, architecture principles, and security requirements.

Utilizes established relationships with Wellmark leaders and acts as a consultant on platform capabilities, engineering delivery challenges, process improvements, and technology enhancements. Provides technical leadership and contributes to the direction and evolution of the internal developer platform initiatives, including software catalogs, platform integrations, self-service experiences, and continuous improvement of developer workflows.

Preferred:

• Experience working within Agile product delivery or software engineering environments.


• Experience building or supporting internal developer platforms, developer portals, and self-service engineering capabilities.


• Experience developing internal developer platform integrations, automation, and self-service capabilities using AWS services, APIs, SDKs, and infrastructure as code


• Experience integrating internal developer platforms with source control, cloud platforms, CI/CD systems, security tooling, documentation, observability solutions, service management systems, and enterprise data sources.


• Experience developing self-service workflows, templates, automation, documentation, and onboarding capabilities that improve developer productivity and platform adoption.


• Experience identifying developer friction and driving measurable improvements across developer journeys, tools, processes, platforms, and teams.


• Experience using platform health, adoption, usage, reliability, or developer productivity measures to identify opportunities and evaluate outcomes.


• Experience operating and continuously improving an internal engineering platform, including monitoring, troubleshooting, documentation, and service ownership.


• Experience applying product management principles to internal engineering platforms, including gathering developer feedback, prioritizing capabilities, and measuring platform adoption, effectiveness, and alignment with engineering standards.

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, MIS, or related field of study and at least five years of software engineering experience or nine years of related and applicable experience.


• Strong analytical problem-solving skills and attention to detail.


• Demonstrated experience in software development lifecycle methodologies.


• Demonstrated ability to communicate and coach/mentor team members.


• Big picture thinker with the ability to translate WaaS strategy to company strategy.


• Strong ability to perform root cause analysis and recommend solutions using data.


• Demonstrated ability to build relationships and communicate with stakeholders.


• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities.


• Continuous learning mindset and awareness of industry trends.


• Ability to collaborate and work within a diverse development team model.


• Demonstrated experience leading cross-team technical initiatives.


• Demonstrated experience designing, building, integrating, or supporting platform capabilities used by multiple engineering teams.

a. Lead the design, development, and implementation of highly complex programs. Coordinate the preparation, coding, testing, and debugging of complex programs including the analysis and development of workflows that utilize emerging technology and meet and exceed Wellmark’s evolving business needs.

b. Serve as a subject matter expert for internal developer platforms, developer experience, software catalogs, platform integrations, self-service capabilities, and related engineering practices. Lead the implementation of innovative, secure, scalable, and cost-effective capabilities used across multiple applications, systems, and engineering teams.

c. Provide technical leadership, training, and guidance to team members in gathering information, conducting root cause analysis, defining problems and formulating solutions, verifying outcomes and continuously optimizing solutions.

d. Mentor, guide and problem-solve with other technology areas in the design, development, and implementation of solutions, including how to use new or enhanced software/applications.

e. Partner with application engineering, cloud, security, architecture, operations, quality engineering, and other technology teams to integrate platform capabilities, products, and processes.

f. Utilize established relationships with Wellmark leaders and act as a primary consultant on platform strategy, engineering capabilities, delivery challenges, process improvements, and technology enhancements.

g. Lead and participate in platform roadmap development, capability assessments, project proposals, estimates, and proof-of-concept activities as needed.

h. Maintain awareness of industry best practices and standards and proactively participate in relevant industry and knowledge-sharing groups. Provide direction for enterprise standards, conduct code reviews, and monitor adherence to standards.

i. Lead the design, development, integration, adoption and ongoing maturity of internal developer platform capabilities, including the developer portal and software catalog. Connect source control, cloud platforms, CI/CD systems, application portfolio information, documentation, security, and other engineering systems to provide a unified developer experience while maintaining clear metadata, ownership, and system relationships.

j. Develop health checks, scorecards, campaigns, templates, reference implementations, documentation, automation, and self-service capabilities that provide actionable visibility, reduce developer friction and enable engineering teams to adopt Wellmark standards and preferred engineering practices.

k. Apply a product mindset to the internal developer platform by gathering developer feedback, understanding developer journeys, prioritizing capabilities, contributing to the platform roadmap, and defining measures for platform health, adoption, reliability, effectiveness and developer experience outcomes.

l. Operate, support, monitor, and continuously improve internal developer platform capabilities. Partner with Architecture, Security, Cloud, CI/CD, application engineering, and other Technology teams to evaluate technical tradeoffs, recommend platform improvements, and promote reliable service and shared team ownership.

m. Other duties as assigned.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

This job requires a non-compete agreement.

An Equal Opportunity Employer

The policy of Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is to recruit, hire, train and promote individuals in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law.

Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation due to a disability at any stage of the employment application process should contact us at [e-mail]

At this time, Wellmark is not considering applicants for this position that require any type of immigration sponsorship (additional work authorization or permanent work authorization) now or in the future to work in the United States. This includes, but IS NOT LIMITED TO: F1-OPT, F1-CPT, H-1B, TN, L-1, J-1, etc. For additional information around work authorization needs please refer to the following resources: Nonimmigrant Workers and Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants

Wellmark supports and expects the responsible use of AI for our workforce! We welcome the responsible use of these tools by job seekers as well and are interested in learning from you; you will have an opportunity in the application process to share which tools you used and how you applied them.

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