Senior Software Engineer

Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC; United States; Hybrid; USD 138,000 - 169,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Financial Health: 401k match up to 6%

Stock Ownership Potential

Comprehensive health benefits

Job summary

Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC is seeking a software engineer to architect, develop, and optimize Python-based applications and APIs using FastAPI/Flask, with an emphasis on asynchronous design and cloud-native services.

The role involves building data pipelines with PostgreSQL and vector databases (Weaviate, Pinecone), applying NLP techniques, and advancing AI governance and security. Collaboration with cross-functional teams is essential, with remote-work consideration per policy.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in CS or related field with relevant experience.
• 5 years of software engineering experience or related roles.
• Experience with SQL Server and PostgreSQL, design and migrations.
• Production Python development, REST APIs and data preprocessing.
• Familiarity with NLP, embeddings and ML concepts.

Responsibilities

• Architect, develop Python-based applications and APIs (FastAPI, Flask, REST) and cloud-native services.
• Architect and optimize relational and vector databases (PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy, Weaviate, Pinecone).
• Drive AI security, governance, and ethical AI practices.
• Research and review AI-driven platforms (RAG, LLM fine-tuning, governance).
• Document architecture, enforce coding standards, and ensure scalable codebases.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align AI strategies with business needs.

Skills

Python Development

APIs (REST) development

Cloud services (AWS)

PostgreSQL

Data processing with Pandas

NLP

CI/CD

Git

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Master's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Weaviate

Pinecone

SQLAlchemy

QlikView

Plotly

Matplotlib

Job description

Job Duties

Architecting, optimizing and developing Python-based applications and APIs (FastAPI, Flask, RESTful services), including asynchronous programming and event-based architectures using cloud-native services (20%). Architecting, optimizing relational and vector databases (PostgreSQL, SQLAlchemy, query optimization, indexes, replicas, migrations, Weaviate, Pinecone) and working with dataframes for data processing and analysis (SQL-based agents) (20%). Driving AI security, compliance, and governance strategies (hallucination mitigation, ethical AI practices, AI guardrails) (10%). Architecting, researching and reviewing AI-driven enterprise platforms (retrieval-augmented generation, LLM fine-tuning, AI governance, model optimization) (20%). Defining and reviewing technical documentation, setting architectural guidelines, enforcing best coding practices, conducting design reviews, and ensuring maintainability and scalability of codebases (10%). Collaborating with cross-functional teams to align AI strategies with business needs and technical requirements (20%). Remote work requests will be considered consistent with company's remote work policy.

Job Requirements

This position requires a bachelor's degree in computer science, or a related field, or foreign equivalent and 5 years of relevant experience as a Software Engineer, Application Development Associate, or in a related position. In alternative, we accept a Master's degree in Computer Science, or a related field, or foreign equivalent and 3 years of relevant experience as a Software Engineer, Application Development Associate, or in a related position. This position also requires database engineering management through RDBMS (SQL Server, PostgreSQL) including design, normalization, optimization, sharding, ACID transactions, and migrations. Python Development: Production applications, APIs (calling and invoking, Rest API’s) for data preprocessing. Object-oriented programming in Python/Java, including OOP design patterns and UML architecture. Data processing and visualization by using QlikView and Python (Pandas, Plotly, Matplotlib). Agile development practices with emphasis on customer-centric delivery. Cloud and infrastructure management by using various cloud services such as AWS S3, Aurora, RDS, API Gateway, and AWS Lambda. Machine learning and statistical methods, including natural language processing (NLP) and embeddings. Version control and CI/CD (Git, application deployment and monitoring tools). Authoring technical documentation for developers, technical, and non-technical users. Vector Databases & Retrieval: Weaviate, Pinecone, GraphQL-based querying, AI-powered retrieval. Scalability & Performance: Queuebased request handling (SQS, Celery), event-driven architectures, caching using in-memory data structures such as Redis. AI Adoption: Driving AI tool adoption within enterprises. Multiprovider integration (OpenAI, Anthropic, MistralAI, etc.), Retrieval augmented generation, function calling, structured outputs, conversational memory. Prompt Engineering: Chain-ofthought prompting, prompt caching, zero-shot prompting. Agentic Frameworks: LangGraph or AutoGen for building agentic orchestrations. Feature Flagging tools such as Split or CloudBees. Financial AI Applications: Investment-related AI, financial data analysis. Contributions to Python open-source projects or packages. LLM Understanding & Safety: Transformers, attention mechanisms, fine-tuning, hallucination mitigation, AI safety guardrails. Will accept any suitable combination of education, training, and experience. Must possess unrestricted right to work in the U.S. in this position.

Compensation and Benefits

Base Salary Compensation: $153,317.00

• Financial Health: 100% 401k match up to 6% of salary
• Stock Ownership Potential
• Company provided life insurance - 1x salary + commission
• Physical Health: Comprehensive health benefits (medical/dental/vision) including potential premium discounts and company-provided HSA contributions (up to $500-$2,000 annually) for specific plans and coverages
• Additional medical Wellness Incentives - up to $300-$600 annual
• Company-provided long- and short-term disability insurance
• Emotional Health: Trust-Based Time Off
• 6-week Paid Sabbatical Program
• 6-Week Paid Family Caregiving Leave Competitive 8-24 Week Paid Parental Leave
• Adoption Assistance Leadership Coaching & Formal Mentorship Opportunities
• Annual Flex Stipend - $1000 annually to cover personal education & well-being expenses Tuition Reimbursement
• Social Health: Charitable Matching Gifts program Dollars for Doers volunteer program Paid volunteering days 15+ Employee Resource & Affinity Groups
• Morningstar's hybrid work environment gives you the opportunity to collaborate in-person each week as we've found that we're at our best when we're purposely together on a regular basis. In most of our locations, our hybrid work model is four days in-office each week. A range of other benefits are also available to enhance flexibility as needs change. No matter where you are, you'll have tools and resources to engage meaningfully with your global colleagues.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Morningstar is an equal opportunity employer.

US Applicants

Morningstar is an E-Verify program participant.

Right to Work (English): https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Verification/E-Verify/E-Verify_Native_Documents/OSC_Right_to_Work_Poster.pdf

Right to Work (Spanish): https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Verification/E-Verify/E-Verify_Native_Documents/OSC_Right_to_Work_Poster_ES.pdf

This Organization Participates in E-Verify (English): https://e-verify.uscis.gov/web/media/resourcesContents/E-Verify_Participation_Poster.pdf

This Organization Participates in E-Verify (Spanish): https://e-verify.uscis.gov/web/media/resourcesContents/E-Verify_Participation_Poster_ES.pdf