Lead Software Engineer - UI/API Application Development

USAA Life Insurance Company; San Antonio (TX); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

USAA Life Insurance Company in San Antonio, TX is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to steer a portfolio of Property Core Platform applications. You will provide technical leadership, modernize legacy systems, and ensure production stability while guiding architectural decisions that impact members and families.

The role emphasizes servant leadership, cross-team collaboration, and the ability to mentor engineers within an Agile environment. Office presence is required 4 days per week.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or 4 years of relevant education/experience.
• 8 years of software development with leadership exposure.
• Experience delivering solutions across the software lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, code and test complex technical solutions.
• Lead code/design reviews and communicate impacts to stakeholders.
• Organize work and lead multiple teams on features.
• Resolve production issues and drive end-to-end troubleshooting.
• Mentor junior and seasoned engineers in design principles.
• Collaborate with architects on cross-functional tech directions.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

Kubernetes

REST APIs

GitLab

Cloud platforms

Code reviews

AI awareness

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Docker

OpenShift

SQL

Kafka

Job description

Why USAA?

At USAA, our mission is to empower our members to achieve financial security through highly competitive products, exceptional service and trusted advice. We seek to be the #1 choice for the military community and their families.

Embrace a fulfilling career at USAA, where our core values - honesty, integrity, loyalty and service - define how we treat each other and our members. Be part of what truly makes us special and impactful.

We are proud to support active‑duty military spouses. USAA roles may offer remote or hybrid flexibility for active‑duty military spouses consistent with applicable policy and business needs.

The Opportunity

Join a high‑visibility engineering organization responsible for shaping the future of the Property Core Platform that supports homeowners, renters, and other Property insurance products. As a Lead Software Engineer embedded within an Agile team, you will provide technical leadership across a complex portfolio of applications, guiding modernization efforts, architectural improvements, production stability initiatives, and strategic technology decisions that directly impact the business and member experience.

We are looking for a servant leader and accomplished engineer who thrives in navigating complex environments, mentoring others, and driving solutions across organizational boundaries. This is an opportunity to influence technology strategy, lead modernization efforts spanning legacy and cloud platforms, partner with architects and business leaders, and help build the next generation of Property technology while ensuring the reliability and performance of mission‑critical systems used by millions of members and their families.

We offer a flexible work environment that requires an individual to be in the office 4 days per week. This position can be based in the following location: San Antonio, TX.

Relocation assistance is not available for this position.

What you'll do:

• Design, develop, code, and test complex tactical as well as strategic cross functional technical solutions, often collaborating with Engineers or Architects outside of team/department.
• Leads the team in in‑depth code/design reviews and communicates updates and impacts to stakeholders to ensure smooth daily operations and accurate planning for multiple teams.
• Organize work and lead multiple teams to deliver features and solutions.
• Independently resolves complex production issues and leads troubleshooting end‑to‑end solutions that span multiple applications and systems.
• Mentor and coach junior / experienced engineers, including coaching of design principles for their teams and others.
• Work with architecture to help define directions for cross functional or highly complex key and emerging technologies within a specific domain.
• May begin advancing professional development through active participation in industry organizations, writing programming publications, pursuing educational opportunities, establishing personal networks, and participating in professional societies.
• Leverages Site Reliability Engineering practices in their domain.
• Ensure risks associated with business activities are effectively identified, measured, monitored, and controlled in accordance with risk and compliance policies and procedures.

What you have:

• Bachelor's degree; OR 4 years of relevant education and/or experience.
• 8 years of software development experience demonstrating depth of technical understanding within a specific discipline(s)/technology(s) to include 2 years demonstrated leadership driving enterprise technology projects or initiatives
• 6 years of experience delivering technology solutions in all phases of the software systems and application development lifecycle.
• Highly proficient in software engineering languages and tools; ability to develop on multiple platforms.
• Knowledge and advanced experience of leading code/design reviews.
• Demonstrated ability to address complex production issues by troubleshooting applications and systems.
• Ability to quickly understand applicable business acumen to provide appropriate Engineering solutions.
• Deep Understanding of one or more of the following: AI-Assisted Software Engineering, Building AI-Powered Applications (RAG, AI Agents, Spring AI, OpenShift AI)
• Java, Swift, Objective-C, JavaScript, Kotlin, C++, HTML, CSS, Go, Python, JSON, XML, SOAP, REST APIs, Spring Boot, React, Redux, Git, GitLab, OpenShift, Docker, Kubernetes fundamentals, Open Liberty, SQL, JUnit, Mockito, Kafka or MQ, Dynatrace
• zOS, TSO/ISPF, PL/I, Cobol, SQL, JES2 / JES, RACF, WLM, SMF, JCL, PROCs, Job Scheduling concepts, Fault Analyzer, REXX, Python on z/OS, CICS, DB2, IMS, UDB, Oracle, IBM z/OS Connect
• Demonstrated experience working with cloud technologies and tools.

What sets you apart:

• Experience supporting Property & Casualty insurance platforms and business processes.
• Experience supporting large‑scale insurance, financial services, or other highly regulated business environments.
• Experience applying