Software Engineer – Build & Release Automation (Gradle/Maven)

State Farm; Bloomington, Dunwoody, Richardson, Tempe (IL, GA, TX, AZ); Hybrid; USD 96,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Get Paid

Stay Well

Develop and Grow

Plan Ahead

You Time

Give Back

Finish Strong

Job summary

State Farm is seeking a Software Engineer / Lead Software Engineer to own and modernize the Enterprise Technology Claims build ecosystem. You will drive CI/CD pipelines, migrate legacy Jenkins to GitLab CI, and evolve builds toward Gradle, while ensuring scalable, observable release processes across multiple streams.

You will manage shared infrastructure, artifact repositories, and multi-environment deployment, enabling faster releases with a focus on quality and security.

Qualifications

• Strong engineering fundamentals (design, secure coding, testing, maintainability) with experience delivering production build/release systems at scale.
• Hands-on CI/CD pipeline development: writing pipeline definitions, multi-stage workflows, shared runners, and pipeline-as-code patterns.
• Proficiency in shell scripting (Bash) for build automation, interacting with Git, REST APIs, and multi-step builds.
• Solid Git workflows: branching, tagging, multi-stream release management, and merge validation.
• Unix/Linux command-line fluency; experience with Docker container images for CI environments.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and maintain GitLab CI pipelines that compile, package, and validate a large-scale Java application across multiple release streams using shared AWS runners and custom Docker images.
• Migrate and retire legacy Jenkins jobs by re-implementing them as modular, reusable GitLab CI pipelines using shared templates/includes.
• Build and maintain developer-facing utilities such as tagging tools, merge validation, code search, build comparison/diff, version reporting, and code metrics.
• Develop and evolve internal dashboards that provide release teams and developers real-time visibility into build health, queue times, and deployment status.
• Manage shared build infrastructure: custom container images, artifact repository integration (JFrog Artifactory), credential management, multi-environment deployment orchestration, and runner configuration.
• Automate release operations: branch/tag management across multi-stream releases, version management, configuration-only builds, and externalized configuration.
• Drive long-term modernization: evaluate and implement Gradle as a replacement for Ant and Maven; prepare for migration from GitLab to GitHub.

Skills

CI/CD pipelines

Bash scripting

Git workflows

Unix/Linux

Docker

Java build tools

AWS

GitLab CI

Code quality

Tools

GitLab CI

JFrog Artifactory

Gradle

Docker

AWS

GitHub Actions

Job description

Overview

Being good neighbors – helping people, investing in our communities, and making the world a better place – is who we are at State Farm. It is at the core of how we operate and the reason for our success. Come join a #1 team and do some good!

Grow Your Skills, Grow Your Potential

Responsibilities

As a Software Engineer / Lead Software Engineer in Enterprise Technology (ET) Claims, you will join the Enterprise Claim System (ECS) Build team, the team that owns CI/CD pipeline infrastructure, build automation, and release engineering for one of State Farm's largest and most complex applications. ECS spans 40+ product modules across concurrent release streams, compiled and deployed through scheduled full-system builds orchestrated by both a legacy Jenkins cluster and an evolving GitLab CI platform. You will drive the modernization of this ecosystem, migrating Jenkins jobs to GitLab CI pipelines (with GitHub on the long-term horizon), evolving builds from Ant/Maven toward Gradle, and building the shared tooling and automation that keeps hundreds of Claims developers productive.

What you will do

• Design, implement, and maintain GitLab CI pipelines that compile, package, and validate a large-scale Java application across multiple concurrent release streams using shared AWS runners and custom Docker images.
• Migrate and retire legacy Jenkins jobs by re-implementing them as modular, reusable GitLab CI pipelines using shared templates and source libraries.
• Build and maintain developer-facing utilities such as tagging tools, merge validation, code search, build comparison/diff, version reporting, and code metrics, all delivered as pipeline-triggered automation.
• Develop and evolve internal dashboards that provide release teams and developers real-time visibility into build health, queue times, and deployment status.
• Manage shared build infrastructure: custom container images, artifact repository integration (JFrog Artifactory), credential management, multi-environment deployment orchestration, and runner configuration.
• Automate release operations: branch/tag management across multi-stream releases, version management, configuration-only builds, and externalized configuration.
• Drive long-term modernization: evaluate and implement Gradle as a replacement for Ant and Maven build scripts; prepare for eventual migration from GitLab to GitHub, aligned with enterprise technology direction.

Qualifications

Required

• Strong engineering fundamentals (design, secure coding, testing, maintainability) with experience delivering and supporting production build/release systems at scale.
• Hands-on CI/CD pipeline development: writing pipeline definitions, designing multi-stage workflows, working with shared runners, and managing pipeline-as-code patterns (not just triggering builds).
• Proficiency in shell scripting (Bash) for build automation, comfortable writing scripts that interact with Git, REST APIs, and orchestrate multi-step build processes.
• Solid Git workflows: branching strategies, tagging conventions, multi-stream release management, and merge validation.
• Unix/Linux command-line fluency; experience with Docker container images for CI environments.
• Strong ownership, collaboration, and communication; comfortable working across teams and navigating ambiguity.

Desired

• Experience with Gradle (Kotlin or Groovy DSL), particularly migrating large Java projects from Ant or Maven.
• GitLab CI advanced patterns: parent-child pipelines, shared templates/includes, dynamic variable generation, custom runner configuration, container registry management.
• Apache Ant and/or Maven deep knowledge (for maintaining the current estate while migrating forward).
• Artifact repository management (JFrog Artifactory or similar): promotion strategies, credential management, retention policies.
• Python scripting for build automation and reporting.
• GitHub Actions experience (future-state target).
• Cloud platforms (AWS): understanding of compute runners, region selection, and cost optimization for CI workloads.
• Web development skills (HTML/CSS/JavaScript) for building internal dashboards and reporting tools.
• Observability tools (Splunk, Dynatrace) for pipeline performance monitoring and troubleshooting.
• Experience with security scanning tools (Snyk or similar) integrated into CI pipelines.

HYBRID:

Qualified candidates must live within a 180-mile radius of a hub location listed below and should plan to spend time working from home and some time working in the office as part of our hybrid work environment.

HUB LOCATIONS:

Bloomington, IL; Dunwoody, GA; Richardson, TX; or Tempe, AZ

SPONSORSHIP:

Applicants for this position are required to be eligible to lawfully work in the U.S. immediately; employer will not sponsor applicants for U.S. work authorization (e.g. H-1B visa) for this opportunity

Our Benefits

Because work-life balance is a priority at State Farm, compensation is based on our standard 38:45-hour work week!

• Potential starting salary range: $95,800 - $140,000
  • Starting salary will be based on skills, background, and experience
  • High end of the range limited to applicants with significant relevant experience
• Potential yearly incentive pay up to 15% of base salary

At State Farm, we offer more than just a paycheck. Check out our suite of benefits designed to give you the flexibility you need to take care of you and your family!

• Get Paid! On top of our competitive pay, you are eligible for an annual raise and bonus.
• Stay Well! Focus on you and your family’s health with our robust health and wellbeing programs. State Farm pays most of your healthcare premium, and we offer multiple healthcare plan options, including a high deductible plan. All medical plans provide 100% coverage for in-network preventative care, AND you and your family have access to vision, dental, telemedicine, 24/7 mental health professionals, and much more!
• Develop and Grow! Take advantage of educational benefits like industry leading training programs, top-notch tuition assistance programs, employee resource groups, and mentoring.
• Plan Ahead! Plan for those big moments in life with benefits like fertility/IVF/adoption assistance, college coaching, national discount programs, interactive monthly financial workshops, free financial coaching, and more. You can also start a savings account or consider financing through our State Farm Federal Credit Union!
• Take a Little “You” Time! You will have access to our generous time off policies designed so you can plan around holidays, family events, volunteering, or just to take a relaxing day off. With the opportunity to initially earn up to 20 days annually plus parental leave, paid holidays, celebration day, life leave (40 hours/year), bereavement leave, and community service/education support days, there will be plenty of time for you!
• Give Back! We offer several ways to give back through our Matching Gift Program, Good Neighbor Grant Program, and the Employee Assistance Fund.
• Finish Strong! Plan for retirement using free financial advisors and a 401(k) plan with company contributions of up to 7% of your salary.

Visit our State Farm Careers page for more information on our benefits, locations and the hiring process of joining the State Farm team!