Senior Staff Backend Architect

Ukg-6; Atlanta (GA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 209,000; Full time

Job summary

UKG, the Workforce Operating Platform, is seeking a Sr. Staff Software Engineer to anchor the technical direction of our core platform and backend services. This senior IC sets architectural standards, stays hands-on with design and code on high-leverage problems, and acts as a trusted technical voice across multiple teams.

The role emphasizes architecture, scalability, observability, and AI-assisted development, with mentoring and leadership across engineering groups in a SaaS environment.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with 3+ years in a lead or staff capacity.
• Proven experience owning architecture for a significant backend product area, ideally in a SaaS environment.
• Strong proficiency in Java, C#, Kotlin and API design; microservices and distributed systems.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP), CI/CD pipelines, and container orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Hands-on use of AI coding agents to accelerate development; ability to mentor across teams.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end architecture for core backend services, balancing scalability, reliability, security, and cost.
• Set technical standards, design patterns, and engineering best practices for adoption by other teams.
• Lead architecture reviews and major design decisions and evaluate emerging technologies.
• Design and build highly available distributed backend systems and the exposed APIs.
• Champion quality, observability, and operational readiness across services.
• Mentor engineers through design reviews and hands-on guidance; influence technical direction.

Skills

Java

C#

Kotlin

Microservices

Distributed systems

API design

AWS

Azure

GCP

Kubernetes

CI/CD

AI coding agents

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

GitHub Copilot

Claude Code

Cursor

Job description

UKG, the Workforce Operating Platform, is seeking a Sr. Staff Software Engineer to anchor the technical direction of our core platform and backend services. This senior IC sets architectural standards, stays hands-on with design and code on high-leverage problems, and acts as a trusted technical voice across multiple teams.

The role emphasizes architecture, scalability, observability, and AI-assisted development, with mentoring and leadership across engineering groups in a SaaS environment.