Lead Software Engineer - Platform Services

salesforce.com, inc.; Indianapolis (IN); On-site; USD 172,500 - 260,100; Full time

Job summary

Salesforce is seeking a Lead Software Engineer for Platform Services to provide hands-on technical leadership across architecture and large-scale distributed systems. You will shape roadmaps with Product and Engineering leadership and drive cloud-native engineering practices.

The role emphasizes mentoring, collaboration, and modern AI-assisted development tools to accelerate delivery and quality across global digital experiences.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software development experience in large-scale, production services.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS or equivalent work experience.
• Experience with microservices, REST/GraphQL APIs, and cloud platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture and design of scalable platform services.
• Influence architectural direction across multiple engineering teams.
• Partner with leadership to shape technical roadmaps.
• Design and deliver high-scale distributed systems and APIs.
• Mentor engineers and promote engineering excellence.
• Drive DevOps, CI/CD, and cloud-native practices.

Skills

Distributed systems

Technical leadership

AI-assisted development

Architectural decisions

Collaboration

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/related

Master's degree (optional)

Tools

AWS

REST/GraphQL

Node.js/TS

Terraform

OAuth/OpenID

CI/CD tooling

Job description

Lead Software Engineer - Platform Services

Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans and agents drive customer success together. It brings ambition, action, tech, and trust to a way of life where innovation leads to better business and a better world, with AI at its core.

About the Role

This role sits within the Platform Services team in Salesforce’s Digital Marketing Technology organization. As a Lead Software Engineer, you will provide hands‑on technical leadership across architecture, platform innovation, and large‑scale distributed systems.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the architecture and design of scalable, secure, and resilient platform services
• Drive technical strategy and influence architectural decisions across multiple engineering teams
• Partner with Product and Engineering leadership to shape technical roadmaps aligned with business goals
• Design and deliver high‑scale distributed systems and APIs supporting Salesforce’s global digital experiences
• Champion engineering excellence through best practices in system design, testing, observability, scalability, and operational maturity
• Drive innovation in Agile development, DevOps, CI/CD, and cloud‑native engineering practices
• Evaluate and adopt modern technologies and AI‑assisted engineering workflows that improve developer productivity and software quality
• Mentor and coach engineers while fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement
• Help evolve platform capabilities that enable dynamic and personalized customer experiences globally

Who We’re Looking For

• Strong technical leader with deep experience building and scaling distributed systems
• Hands‑on engineer passionate about solving complex platform and architecture challenges
• Experience working within modern digital, marketing technology, or customer identity ecosystems
• Strong collaborator who can influence technical direction across organizations
• Engineer who effectively leverages AI‑assisted development tools to improve engineering productivity and accelerate software delivery
• Passion for building scalable, reliable, and secure customer‑facing systems

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software development experience designing, building, scaling, and maintaining large‑scale, highly performant, and resilient production services.
• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science or related technical subject area, or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience in microservices architecture, domain‑driven design, and RESTful and GraphQL APIs.
• Experience building high‑scale microservices on AWS (preferred), GCP, or other public cloud substrates.
• Experience with AWS components such as API Gateway, Lambda, SNS, SQS, ElastiCache, AppSync, and NoSQL databases like DynamoDB, Neo4j, Neptune, and data streams such as Kafka, Kinesis.
• Experience developing back‑end software using JavaScript or TypeScript and runtimes such as Node.js (preferred).
• Experience with web security including JWT lifecycle management, CORS, CSP, and XSS prevention.
• AI fluency and proven experience using AI coding assistants (e.g., Cursor, Windsurf, Codex) to accelerate the SDLC.
• Experience in test‑driven development and testing frameworks such as Jest, Playwright.
• Experience in service orchestration using tools like Terraform (preferred).
• Experience in consumer/B2C identity package implementations such as Okta/Auth0 and identity protocols like OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect (preferred).
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.

Accommodations

If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or recruiting process, please submit a request via the Accommodations Request Form. Salesforce uses AI tools to assess and evaluate candidates, but humans make the final hiring decisions. Please see the Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about AI use and opt‑out options.

Posting Statement

Salesforce is an equal‑opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non‑discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. All employees and prospective employees will be assessed on merit, competence, and qualifications without regard to protected characteristics. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit.

In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, experience, and skills. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits including time‑off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k) and an employee stock purchasing program.

The typical base salary range for this position is $172,500 - $260,100 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range is $207,800 - $285,800 annually. The range represents base salary only and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity, or benefits, as applicable.