Software Engineer IV - Search Platform

W. W. Grainger; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 134,000 - 224,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Life insurance

PTO and holidays

401(k) match

Tuition reimbursement

Student loan refinancing

Financial counseling

Job summary

Grainger is seeking a Lead Software Engineer (Software Engineer IV) to develop applications aligned with a strategic vision and to coach engineers. You will focus on search relevance for Grainger’s product catalog, working across lexical and semantic retrieval, embedding models, and collaboration with Product and Analytics on relevance metrics.

You will lead the engineering effort to deliver high-quality software, mentor teammates, and partner with IT management to ensure successful design and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent.
• 5+ years of experience as a Software Engineer with scalable applications.
• Proficiency in Java and Python.
• Knowledge of distributed system design (sharding, indexing, caching).
• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum and DevOps practices.
• Experience with embeddings and vector search (ANN), latency vs. relevance tradeoffs.
• Experience tuning search and AI-based customer experiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineer on a team delivering high-quality, maintainable software for complex applications.
• Influence adoption of defaults enabling continuous delivery.
• Lead knowledge sharing sessions on new tech and engineering practices.
• Maintain production software with effective triage and issue resolution.
• Mentor developers, conduct code reviews, and pair program.
• Collaborate with IT management to deliver technology solutions.
• Design and improve search systems using lexical and semantic retrieval.
• Develop and optimize ranking strategies including hybrid retrieval and learning-to-rank.

Job description

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Location: CHICAGO, IL, US, 60654-4203 Remote, IL, US, N/A

Work Location Type: Hybrid

About Grainger

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 than4.6 million customersworldwide with maintenance, repair andoperating(MRO) products and value-added solutions delivered through innovative technology and deep customerexpertise. Known for its commitment to service and purpose-driven culture, the Company reported2025 revenue of$17.9 billion. For more information, visit www.grainger.com.

Compensation

The anticipated base pay compensation range for this position is $134,100.00 – $223,500.00. This role is eligible for an incentive target of up to 15% or $, 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.
• 23 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.

As a Lead Software Engineer (Software Engineer IV) you will develop applications that align with a strategic vision. In addition to coaching engineers, you will partner with key stakeholders including Product Managers and Architecture. You will embrace curiosity to ensure a deep understanding of the business requirements that drive the analysis and physical design of technical solutions.

In this role you will focus on search relevance for Grainger's product catalog, the systems that determine which products a customer sees when they search. You will work across both lexical and semantic retrieval, partnering with Data Science on embedding models and with Product and Analytics on how relevance is measured. Search quality at this scale is measured rather than assumed, so experiment design and analysis are a core part of the role alongside engineering.

You Will

• Lead engineer on a team responsible for the application and delivery of high-quality, maintainable software for highly complex applications
• Influence team adoption of sensible defaults to enable continuous delivery activities
• Contribute to continuous learning on your team culture by leading knowledge sharing sessions with latest technological features and engineering practices
• Maintain software in production with demonstrated ability to triage and resolve issues
• Mentor developers, conduct code reviews, and participate in pair programming
• Partners directly with IT Management team to ensure successful design and delivery of technology based solutions
• Design, build , and improve search systems using lexical ( e.g ., BM25/TF-IDF) and semantic / vector-based retrieval approaches .
• Develop and optimize ranking strategies , including hybrid retrieval , reranking , and learning-to-rank techniques to improve relevance .
• Evaluate search quality using offline metrics ( e.g ., NDCG, MRR, Precision/ Recall ) and online experiments , and build tooling that makes relevance experiments repeatable and measurable .

You Have

• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience in computer science or similar; or equivalent experience required
• 5+ years experience as a Software Engineer; with experience in modern software engineering; designing; devloping, testing and deploying scalable software applications within a variety of technologies and environments.
• Expert knowledge of programming skills , including Java and Python
• Demonstrated knowledge of distributed system design and integration patterns , , including sharding, replication, indexing, query routing, and caching in distributed search platforms
• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum methodologies and Dev Ops Practices , and AI-assisted development tools
• Experience with analyzing, interpreting and communicating complex problems and practices
• Hands-on experience with embeddings and vector search, including ANN indexing and the practical tradeoffs between relevance, latency, and cost
• Experience tuning search and AI-based customer experiences, using user behavior and measured outcomes to decide what to change

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.