Sr. Software Engineer (AI First)

OPENLANE

United States

Remote

USD 125,000 - 175,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision benefits

401K (US) with company match

Paid Vacation, Personal, and Sick Time

Maternity/Paternity leave (US)

Disability and Life Insurance

Tuition Reimbursement

Career growth opportunities

Job summary

OPENLANE is hiring AI-first Sr. Software Engineers to build, evolve, and scale our U.S. marketplace platforms. You will work on customer-facing experiences and core services, applying AI as a first-class tool while maintaining rigorous engineering standards.

You will collaborate with Product, Data, Infrastructure, and SRE teams to deliver resilient systems, improve observability, and drive platform evolution in a fast-changing AI landscape.

Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in CS, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience).
5+ years building and supporting production software systems.
Experience with APIs, distributed systems, and cloud-native architecture.
Comfort with modern CI/CD environments.
Experience with observability, monitoring, and incident response.
Ability to own features and systems end-to-end.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and operate scalable services powering U.S. marketplace workflows.
Develop APIs and backend services on a modern cloud-native AI-enabled platform.
Embed AI-driven capabilities into marketplace features such as pricing logic and workflow automation.
Use AI tools to accelerate coding, testing, debugging, and documentation with strong engineering judgment.
Collaborate with Product to translate business needs into durable, scalable technical solutions.

Skills

API design

Distributed systems

Cloud-native

CI/CD

Observability

Incident response

End-to-end ownership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

AWS

CI/CD tooling

React/TypeScript

Job description

Who We Are:

At OPENLANE we make wholesale easy so our customers can be more successful.

We’re a technology company building the world’s most advanced—and uncomplicated—digital marketplace for used vehicles.

We’re a data company helping customers buy and sell smarter with clear, actionable insights they can understand and use.

And we’re an innovation company accelerating the future of wholesale remarketing through curiosity, collaboration, and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Our Values:

Driven Waybuilders. We pursue challenges that inspire us to build, create, and innovate.
Relentless Curiosity. We seek to understand and improve our customers’ experience.
Smart Risk-Taking. We transform risk into progress through data, experience, and intuition.
Fearless Ownership. We deliver what we promise and learn along the way.

We’re hiring AI-first Sr. Software Engineers to build, evolve, and scale OPENLANE’s U.S. marketplace platforms.

These roles are for engineers who already treat AI as a first-class development tool, not a novelty. You’ll use AI to move faster, ship higher-quality software, and reduce operational and development toil, while still applying strong engineering judgment, ownership, and systems thinking.

You’ll work on customer-facing marketplace experiences and core platform services, partnering closely with Product, Data, Infrastructure, and SRE teams to deliver resilient, scalable systems.

AI is an accelerator. Engineering ownership still matters.

Why OPENLANE:

Work on real-time, high-value marketplace systems at scale
Be part of a major platform modernization and AI transformation
Use AI as a first-class development tool—not an experiment
Collaborate with experienced engineers, product leaders, and platform teams
Grow in an environment that values learning, ownership, and impact

You Are:

AI-forward. You already use AI tools to enhance development speed, quality, and efficiency, and you continuously adapt as tooling evolves.
Product-minded. You think beyond code and understand how technical decisions impact customers and business outcomes.
Ownership-driven. You take responsibility for systems end-to-end, including reliability and operational health.
Technically curious. You enjoy learning new technologies and thoughtfully evaluating emerging approaches.
Quality-focused. You value clean, maintainable code, strong testing practices, and production-ready engineering standards.

You Bring:

Core Engineering Skills

Experience building and supporting production software systems
Strong understanding of APIs, distributed systems, and cloud-native architecture
Comfort working in modern CI/CD environments
Experience with observability, monitoring, and incident response
Ability to own features and systems end-to-end

AI-First Mindset

Actively uses AI development tools (code copilots, AI debuggers, test generators)
Curious about applying AI to real customer and business problems
Able to critically evaluate AI outputs instead of blindly accepting them
Comfortable learning and adapting in a fast-changing tool landscape

Technical Experience (One or More)

Backend development (Java, Kotlin, Go, Python, .NET, Ruby, or similar)
Frontend experience (React, TypeScript) is a plus
AWS or similar cloud platforms
Microservices and event-driven architectures
SQL and data-driven applications

You Will:

Design, build, and operate scalable services that power U.S. marketplace workflows such as Buy Now, 45M, Simulcast, and DealerBlock
Develop APIs and backend services on the modern, cloud-native, AI-enabled platform
Embed AI-driven capabilities into marketplace features including pricing logic, negotiation flows, and workflow automation
Use AI tools to accelerate coding, testing, debugging, and documentation while applying strong engineering judgment
Partner with Product to translate business needs into durable, scalable technical solutions
Participate in on-call rotations and support live production systems
Improve system reliability, performance, security, and observability
Contribute to technical direction, engineering standards, and long-term platform evolution

How You’ll Use AI in These Roles:

AI-assisted coding and refactoring
AI-generated test coverage and validation
AI-supported debugging and root-cause analysis
AI-assisted documentation and knowledge sharing
Applying AI tools to reduce repetitive work and increase engineering leverage

Who You Will Work With:

Reporting to an Engineering Manager, this role collaborates closely with Product Managers, Data Engineers, Infrastructure, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) teams on a daily basis

Must Have’s:

5+ years of experience building and supporting production software systems
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent practical experience)
Experience building and supporting production software systems
Backend development (Java, Kotlin, Go, Python, .NET, Ruby, or similar)
Strong understanding of APIs, distributed systems, and cloud-native architecture
Comfort working in modern CI/CD environments
Experience with observability, monitoring, and incident response
Ability to own features and systems end-to-end
Actively uses AI development tools (code copilots, AI debuggers, test generators)
Curious about applying AI to real customer and business problems
Able to critically evaluate AI outputs instead of blindly accepting them
Comfortable learning and adapting in a fast-changing tool landscape

Nice to Have’s:

Frontend experience (React, TypeScript)
AWS or similar cloud platforms
Microservices and event-driven architectures
SQL and data-driven applications
Marketplace, e-commerce, or high-volume transaction systems
Reliability engineering or SRE experience
Experience modernizing or migrating legacy systems

What We Offer:

Competitive pay
Medical, dental, and vision benefits with employer HSA contributions (US) and FSA options (US)
Immediately vested 401K (US) or RRSP (Canada) with company match
Paid Vacation, Personal, and Sick Time
Paid maternity and paternity leave (US)
Employer-paid short-term disability, long-term disability, life insurance, and AD&D (US)
Robust Employee Assistance Program
Employer paid Leap into Service Day to volunteer
Tuition Reimbursement for eligible programs
Opportunities to expand your skill set and share your knowledge across a publicly traded, global organization
Company culture of internal promotions, diverse career paths, and meaningful advancement