Senior Software Engineer

Responsive; Northern (KY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Responsive is seeking a Senior Software Engineer with a product mindset to lead technical initiatives in a fast-paced SaaS environment.

You will mentor engineers, architect scalable solutions, and drive incident response while collaborating closely with Product, QA, DevOps, and Customer Success teams. Candidates should have strong Java/Spring expertise, React skills, and cloud-native experience.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in software engineering with 2+ years in production support or customer-facing roles.
• Experience with cloud-native SaaS platforms in high-growth environments.
• Strong Java/Spring expertise and React front-end skills.
• Hands-on DB experience with MongoDB or SQL; data modeling and query optimization.
• Proficient in RESTful APIs, JSON, HTTP/HTTPS in microservices.

Responsibilities

• Troubleshoot complex multi-layer issues to maintain platform availability.
• Perform root-cause analysis and develop long-term fixes.
• Advise customers with clear technical updates and communication.
• Manage high-severity incidents and prioritize workload effectively.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Product, QA, DevOps and Customer Success teams.
• Document knowledge bases, runbooks, and incident summaries.
• Advocate for product improvements, tooling, and robust monitoring.

Skills

Java

Spring Framework

React

APIs

AI/ML NLP

Logging & tracing

Performance tuning

Incident management

Distributed systems

Cloud-native SaaS

Education

BSc or MSc in CS/IT

Tools

MongoDB

SQL

Elasticsearch

Solr

Job description

Responsive (formerly RFPIO) is the global leader in strategic response management software, transforming how organizations share and exchange critical information. The AI-powered Responsive Platform is purpose-built to manage responses at scale, empowering companies across the world to accelerate growth, mitigate risk and improve employee experiences. Nearly 2,000 customers have standardized on Responsive to respond to RFPs, RFIs, DDQs, ESGs, security questionnaires, ad hoc information requests and more. Learn more at responsive.io.

About the Role

Responsive is looking for a product-minded Senior Software Engineer with strong technical leadership skills and a passion for architecting and building scalable, high-performance solutions. This is an opportunity to lead technical initiatives, mentor junior engineers, and contribute to the growth of a top-tier SaaS company in a fast-paced, innovative environment.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Technical Troubleshooting: Investigate and resolve complex, multi-layered issues across application, integration, data, and environment tiers to maintain high platform availability and customer trust.
• Root-Cause Analysis: Reproduce edge cases, analyze system logs, perform deep-dive diagnostics, and engineer long-term fixes while documenting clear post-mortems and preventive measures.
• Customer Advocacy & Communication: Serve as a trusted technical advisor by delivering clear, empathetic, and timely updates to customers through written and verbal channels.
• Incident & Priority Management: Evaluate business impact and urgency across multiple active cases, efficiently prioritizing workload and driving high-severity incidents to swift resolution.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Engineering, Product, QA, DevOps, and Customer Success teams to champion product fixes, streamline workflows, and elevate the overall user experience.
• Technical Knowledge Sharing: Identify documentation gaps and author high-quality knowledge-base articles, troubleshooting playbooks, internal runbooks, and incident summaries.
• Product & Support Evolution: Identify recurring friction points to advocate for product enhancements, diagnostic tooling, automated solutions, and robust system monitoring.

What We’re Looking For

Education:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.

Experience:

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, including at least 2 years on production support, application troubleshooting, or customer-facing engineering roles.
• Proven track record supporting cloud-native SaaS platforms or complex enterprise software in high-growth, fast-paced environments.

Skills, Qualifications & Ability:

• Deep expertise in Java programming, Java design patterns, and Spring Framework, alongside high-performance server-side development.
• Strong proficiency in React for web application development, including state management libraries such as Redux, React Query, or Context API.
• Hands-on experience with MongoDB or relational databases (SQL), schema design, data modeling, and query optimization.
• Solid foundation in RESTful APIs, JSON, and HTTP/HTTPS protocols, within scalable microservices and modern cloud-native architectures.
• Experience with AI-driven solutions, NLP, semantic search, vector databases, or enterprise search platforms (e.g., Elasticsearch, Solr).
• Exceptional analytical skills with a proven ability to dissect complex, distributed system issues, determine root causes, and engineer sustainable technical solutions.
• Strong proficiency in inspecting application logs, tracing network requests, evaluating APM metrics, and analyzing heap and thread dumps to isolate defects.
• Proven ability to efficiently prioritize active high-severity cases and lead critical production incidents to swift resolution.
• Strong sense of accountability, dedicated customer advocacy, and a proactive mindset toward improving product reliability and runbooks.
• Demonstrated capability in system refactoring, performance tuning, and architectural enhancements is a plus.
• Willingness to work in shift patterns is required for this role.

Why Join Us?

• Impact-Driven Work: Build innovative solutions that redefine strategic response management.
• Collaborative Environment: Work with a passionate team of technologists, designers, and product leaders.
• Career Growth: Be part of a company that values learning and professional development.
• Competitive Benefits: We offer comprehensive compensation and benefits to support our employees.
• Trusted by Industry Leaders: Be part of a product that is trusted by world-leading organizations.
• Cutting-Edge Technology: Work on AI-driven solutions, cloud-native architectures, and large-scale data processing.
• Diverse and Inclusive Workplace: Collaborate with a global team that values different perspectives and ideas.