Senior Developer - Information Technology

United Airlines; Chicago, Northern (IL, KY); Hybrid; USD 112,000 - 147,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

Disability insurance

Parental leave

Employee assistance program

Commuter benefits

Paid holidays

Paid time off

401(k) and flight privileges

Job summary

United Airlines is seeking a Senior Developer for its Digital Technology team to lead the evolution of the Ticketing Platform from legacy mainframe toward cloud-native architectures and AI-enabled software engineering. You will partner with Product, Engineering, and EQE to deliver scalable, secure backend solutions using C#/.NET Core and AWS, while mentoring engineers and shaping architectural directions.

The role emphasizes collaboration across Product, Engineering, Architecture, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field preferred
• 3+ years of experience in software development
• Experience in the design, development, documentation, testing, and debugging of enterprise software systems
• Deep expertise in C# development, .NET Core, and advanced object-oriented design principles
• Strong experience designing and developing distributed systems, microservices, and API-first architectures
• Experience modernizing legacy or mainframe-based applications into cloud-native architectures
• Production experience with enterprise integration technologies, including Solace messaging and Kong API Gateway
• Proven experience building cloud-native applications and infrastructure on AWS
• Advanced experience with CI/CD automation tools, including GitHub Actions and Harness
• Hands-on experience integrating AI coding agents, LLM workflows, or AI-assisted engineering practices
• Strong understanding of spec-driven development, technical documentation, and automated software delivery practices
• Experience working within Agile/Scrum or SAFe frameworks and tools such as Jira, Confluence, or Azure DevOps
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate across Product, Engineering, Architecture, and Operations teams
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, facilitation, and leadership skills
• Experience mentoring developers and fostering growth within engineering teams
• Ability to influence without direct authority and navigate differing perspectives
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship
• Successful completion of interview required
• Reliable, punctual attendance is essential

Responsibilities

• Lead technical design phases by configuring AI agents to ingest PRDs and requirements
• Orchestrate agent workflows to transform artifacts into implementation-ready specs
• Oversee end-to-end design, development, testing, deployment of backend solutions in C# and .NET Core
• Lead decomposition of legacy mainframe ticketing into scalable cloud-native services
• Design event-driven architectures leveraging Solace
• Define and govern API contracts, policies, and Kong routing
• Architect deployments across AWS services (ECS, EKS, Lambda, RDS)
• Maintain CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and Harness
• Refine AI prompt pipelines and engineering guardrails
• Lead API integrations using API-first design
• Collaborate with Product Managers to translate capabilities into solutions
• Partner with multiple teams for quality and operational readiness
• Facilitate design reviews and architecture assessments
• Document risks and blockers and drive resolution
• Mentor and coach developers in cloud-native engineering and AI development
• Foster culture of technical excellence and continuous learning
• Champion quality engineering with EQE to improve automation and reliability
• Communicate complex concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences
• Stay current with industry best practices in distributed systems and AI-enabled software

Skills

C# development

.NET Core

Distributed systems

API-first

Cloud-native

CI/CD

AI integration

Agile/Scrum

Leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Solace

Kong

AWS

GitHub Actions

Harness

Job description

Achieving our goals starts with supporting yours. Grow your career, access top-tier health and wellness benefits, build lasting connections with your team and our customers, and travel the world using our extensive route network.

Come join us to create what’s next. Let’s define tomorrow, together.

Description

United's Digital Technology team is comprised of many talented individuals all working together with cutting-edge technology to build the best airline in the history of aviation. Our team designs, develops and maintains massively scaling technology solutions brought to life with innovative architectures, data analytics, and digital solutions.

Job overview and responsibilities

The Senior Developer will be responsible for the design, development, and evolution of United's Ticketing Platform. This role will lead the transition from legacy mainframe development approaches toward cloud-native architecture and AI-enabled, spec-driven software engineering while delivering scalable solutions that support critical ticketing capabilities across the enterprise.

The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with strong leadership, communication, and mentoring skills. This individual will partner with Product to translate business outcomes into actionable solutions, collaborate with Engineering and Architecture on technical design, work with EQE to strengthen quality and automation, and coach developers as they grow their technical and professional capabilities.

• Lead technical design phases by configuring AI agents to ingest Product Requirements Documents (PRDs), business requirements, system architectures, and approved engineering standards.
• Orchestrate agent workflows that transform high-level business and technical artifacts into detailed, implementation-ready specifications for microservices and platform capabilities.
• Oversee the end-to-end design, development, documentation, testing, deployment, and support of backend solutions built on C# and .NET Core.
• Lead the decomposition of legacy mainframe ticketing capabilities into scalable, resilient, and cloud-native services.
• Design event-driven architectures and communication patterns leveraging Solace messaging technologies.
• Define and govern API contracts, policies, security standards, and routing rules managed through Kong API Gateway.
• Architect scalable, resilient, and secure infrastructure deployments across AWS services, including ECS, EKS, Lambda, RDS, and related cloud-native technologies.
• Maintain and enhance CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions and Harness to automate build, testing, security validation, deployment, and release activities.
• Continuously refine AI prompt pipelines, validation practices, and engineering guardrails to improve the accuracy, completeness, and quality of agent-generated technical specifications.
• Lead API integrations between internal platforms, external systems, and cloud services using API-first design principles.
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers and business stakeholders to translate business capabilities into scalable technical solutions and delivery plans.
• Partner with Engineering, Architecture, EQE, Platform Engineering, and Operations teams to ensure solution quality, successful delivery, and operational readiness.
• Facilitate technical discussions, design reviews, and architecture assessments, helping cross-functional teams reach clear and timely decisions.
• Highlight and document risks, issues, blockers, dependencies, and technical decisions while driving resolution plans with the appropriate stakeholders.
• Mentor and coach developers in software engineering best practices, cloud-native design, AI-assisted development, technical problem-solving, and software craftsmanship.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, accountability, inclusion, collaboration, and innovation.
• Champion quality engineering by partnering with EQE to improve automation, testability, reliability, and overall software quality throughout the development lifecycle.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences, and build trusted relationships across the organization.
• Stay current with industry best practices and emerging technologies in distributed systems, cloud engineering, API development, platform engineering, and AI-enabled software delivery.

Qualifications

What’s needed to succeed (Minimum Qualifications):

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field preferred
• 3+ years of experience in software development
• Experience in the design, development, documentation, testing, and debugging of enterprise software systems
• Deep expertise in C# development, .NET Core, and advanced object-oriented design principles
• Strong experience designing and developing distributed systems, microservices, and API-first architectures
• Experience modernizing legacy or mainframe-based applications into cloud-native architectures
• Production experience with enterprise integration technologies, including Solace messaging and Kong API Gateway
• Proven experience building cloud-native applications and infrastructure on AWS
• Advanced experience with CI/CD automation tools, including GitHub Actions and Harness
• Hands-on experience integrating AI coding agents, large language model workflows, or AI-assisted engineering practices into the software development lifecycle
• Strong understanding of spec-driven development, technical documentation, and automated software delivery practices
• Experience working within Agile/Scrum or SAFe frameworks and tools such as Jira, Confluence, or Azure DevOps
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively across Product, Engineering, Architecture, EQE, Platform Engineering, and Operations organizations
• Strong verbal and written communication, stakeholder management, facilitation, and leadership skills
• Experience mentoring developers and fostering technical and professional growth within engineering teams
• Ability to influence without direct authority, navigate differing perspectives, and build alignment across cross-functional teams
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, decision-making, and organizational skills in a fast-paced delivery environment
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer without sponsorship
• Successful completion of interview required to meet job qualification
• Reliable, punctual attendance is an essential function of the position

What will help you propel from the pack (Preferred Qualifications):

• Experience supporting airline Ticketing, Order Management, Reservation Systems, Passenger Services Systems, or related airline technology platforms
• Knowledge of Generative AI frameworks, prompt engineering, AI agent orchestration, and evaluation techniques
• Proficient in Python scripting for automation, data analysis, and operational tooling.
• Experience leading adoption of emerging engineering practices and technologies
• Experience serving as a technical mentor, coach, development lead, or facilitator of an engineering community of practice
• Experience designing highly scalable event-driven architectures and platform services
• Familiarity with Domain-Driven Design (DDD), event sourcing, CQRS, and cloud-native architecture patterns
• Experience driving quality improvements in partnership with Quality Engineering teams
• Agile experience

The base pay range for this role is $112,480.00 to $146,540.00.

The base salary range/hourly rate listed is dependent on job-related, factors such as experience, education, and skills. This position is also eligible for bonus and/or long-term incentive compensation awards.

You may be eligible for the following competitive benefits: medical, dental, vision, life, accident & disability, parental leave, employee assistance program, commuter, paid holidays, paid time off, 401(k) and flight privileges.

United Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, or any other protected category under applicable law. We provide reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. To request an accommodation, contact [e-mail]