Software Engineer IV - Search Platform

Grainger; United States; Hybrid; USD 134,000 - 224,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

PTO 23 days

401(k) matching

Tuition reimbursement

Student loan refinancing

Financial counseling

Maternity/paternity leave

Job summary

Grainger is seeking a Lead Software Engineer (Software Engineer IV) to guide the development of high-quality software for complex applications. You will mentor engineers, collaborate with Product Managers and Architecture, and focus on search relevance across Grainger's product catalog.

You will work on lexical and semantic retrieval, embedding models, and learning-to-rank techniques to boost relevance. You will also partner with IT Management to ensure design and delivery of technology-based

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years as a software engineer with scalable systems.
• Expert programming with Java and Python.
• Experience with distributed search platforms and indexing.
• Familiar with Agile/Scrum and DevOps practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering on delivering high-quality software for complex apps.
• Influence defaults to enable continuous delivery.
• Lead knowledge sharing on new tech and practices.
• Maintain production software and triage issues.
• Mentor engineers and conduct code reviews.
• Partner with IT management to design and deliver solutions.
• Design and improve search systems using lexical and semantic approaches.
• Develop and optimize ranking strategies for relevance.
• Evaluate search quality with offline metrics and experiments.

Skills

Distributed system design

AI-assisted development tools

Agile / Scrum

Embeddings and vector search

Search relevance

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

Tools

Java

Python

Job description

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 than 4.6 million customers worldwide with maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products and value-added solutions delivered through innovative technology and deep customer expertise. Known for its commitment to service and purpose-driven culture, the Company reported 2025 revenue of $17.9 billion. For more information, visitwww.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

• 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.

Grainger Benefits

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.

Position Details

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.

Date: Sep 25, 2026

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

Company: Grainger Businesses

Work Location Type: Hybrid

Req Number 334762