Senior Software Engineer

W. W. Grainger; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 112,900 - 188,100; Full time

Job summary

W. W. Grainger, Inc.

is a leading broad line distributor with operations primarily in North America and Japan. The Senior Software Engineer will design, code, and support applications across on-prem and cloud platforms, mentoring juniors and coordinating with product managers to meet business requirements. This role reports to the Sr Mgr, Data Engineering and requires in-office presence in Chicago two days a week.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required.
• 3+ years designing, building, and deploying scalable software.
• Experience with distributed systems and Agile/DevOps practices.

Responsibilities

• Design, code, test, and support software across on-prem and cloud platforms.
• Mentor junior engineers and collaborate with product managers.
• Develop real-time eventing, API endpoints, and data processing.
• Drive CI/CD and DevOps best practices.
• Maintain Kubernetes, Kafka, Airflow, and IBM platforms.

Skills

Java Spring Boot

Microservices

Kubernetes

Kafka

CI/CD

DevOps

REST APIs

Linux scripting

IBM MDM

Data engineering

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Tools

IBM InfoSphere MDM

IBM DataStage

Airflow

Websphere

React

Job description

Company Overview

W.W. Grainger, Inc. is a leading broad line distributor with operations primarily in North America and Japan. At Grainger, We Keep the World Working® by serving more than 4.6 million customers worldwide with maintenance, repair and operating(MRO) products and value-added solutions delivered through innovative technology and deep customer expertise. Known for its commitment to service and purpose-driven culture, the Company reported 2025 revenue of $17.9 billion. For more information, visit www.grainger.com.

About the position

As a Senior Software Engineer (Software Engineer III) you will be involved in the full systems life cycle and responsible for designing, coding, configuring, testing, implementing and supporting application software and systems that are delivered on time and within budget. In addition to mentoring junior engineers, you will work closely with technical teams, stakeholders and product managers to understand the business requirements that drive the analysis and physical design of technical solutions. You will report to Sr Mgr, Data Engineering and will be required to work in the Chicago office 2 days per week. You will span across multiple on-prem and cloud platforms building real-time eventing, API endpoint creation and maintenance, customer master data processing, probabilistic matching algorithms, ETL batch jobs, and performing end user support for these platforms and users.

You Will

• Build applications and develop product design solutions in partnership with engineers, architects, and analysts leading to scalable and maintainable software solutions
• Utilize (Frontend/Backend/Full Stack) specialized skills based on specific platform or domain as required
• Implement continuous delivery activities (CICD) and drive engineering best practices
• Support team activities and pair with peers to work on stories
• Coach and mentor junior engineers
• Consistently practice sensible defaults
• Work on enhancements and maintenance to IBM MDM, IBMDatastage/Websphere, IBMDSUI, Kubernetes, S3, Airflow, Node, Next, React, Spectrum address services, Perceptyx, and Kafka.
• Work comfortably in CI/CD, Trunk-based branching, and other modern DevOps skillsets.

You Have

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience required
• 3+ years experience with modern software engineering; designing, building, and deploying scalable software applications required
• Understanding of distributed system design
• Experience analyzing and interpreting complex problems and processes
• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum methodologies and DevOps practices
• 3+ years of experience with modern DevOps practices, including CI/CD, feature flags, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), trunk-based development, blue/green deployment strategies, and related software delivery practices.
• 3+ years of experience with IBM InfoSphere Master Data Management (IBM MDM), with a strong focus on implementing enhancements to REST API endpoints, extending the data model, and tuning the Probabilistic Matching Engine (PME).
• 3+ years of experience developing Java Spring Boot microservices, including asynchronous API endpoints.
• 3+ years of experience with Kubernetes, Helm, and service mesh technologies, including Istio and GLU.
• 3+ years of experience with Kafka, including topic creation and maintenance, and the creation and maintenance of consumers and producers to enable near-real-time event flows internally and hand-in-hand with other teams.
• 3+ years of experience with data engineering platforms and practices, with a focus on IBM DataStage and Apache Airflow, including platform administration, maintenance, and operational support.
• 3+ years of experience working in Linux environments, with proficiency in shell scripting using sh, bash, csh, or similar Unix/Linux shells.

Compensation

The anticipated base pay compensation range for this position is $112,900.00 – $188,100.00. This role is eligible for an incentive target of up to 10%, based on the achievement of individual and company performance objectives in accordance with the current terms of the incentive program which are subject to change.

Rewards and Benefits

With benefits starting on day one, our programs provide choice and flexibility to meet team members' individual needs, including:

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans with coverage starting on day one of employment and 6 free sessions each year with a licensed therapist to support your emotional wellbeing.
• 18 paid time off (PTO) days annually for full-time employees (accrual prorated based on employment start date) and 6 company holidays per year.
• 6% company contribution to a 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan each pay period, no employee contribution required.
• Employee discounts, tuition reimbursement, student loan refinancing and free access to financial counseling, education, and tools.
• Maternity support programs, nursing benefits, and up to 14 weeks paid leave for birth parents and up to 4 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents.

The pay range provided above is not a guarantee of compensation. The range reflects the potential base pay for this role at the time of this posting based on the job grade for this position. Individual base pay compensation will depend, in part, on factors such as geographic work location and relevant experience and skills.

The anticipated compensation range described above is subject to change and the compensation ultimately paid may be higher or lower than the range described above.

Grainger reserves the right to amend, modify, or terminate its compensation and benefit programs in its sole discretion at any time, consistent with applicable law.

Equal Employment Opportunity

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or expression, protected veteran status or any other protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

We are committed to fostering an inclusive, accessible work environment that includes both providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities during the application and hiring process as well as throughout the course of one’s employment, should you need a reasonable accommodation during the application and selection process, including, but not limited to use of our website, any part of the application, interview or hiring process, please advise us so that we can provide appropriate assistance.