Sr Staff Technical Architect

Grainger; Lake Forest (IL); Hybrid; USD 135,000 - 226,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision insurance

PTO 18 days + 6 holidays

6% 401(k) company match

Employee discounts and tuition support

Maternity and parental leaves

Job summary

Grainger in the United States is seeking a seasoned software architect to lead architecture deliverables for Grainger’s Supply Chain systems, ensuring scalable and resilient solutions aligned to enterprise strategy.

With 10+ years in software engineering and cloud-native architectures, you will mentor engineers, drive cross-team initiatives, and influence senior stakeholders while shaping technology direction and standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS, Engineering, or related field.
• 10+ years of software engineering with architecture experience.
• Expertise in cloud-native and distributed systems design.
• Hands-on with APIs, CI/CD, and IaC.
• Proven ability to align teams around architecture vision with business impact.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture deliverables for Supply Chain systems.
• Evolve long-term architecture and domain authority.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Architecture partners.
• Mentor Senior Engineers and Engineering Managers.
• Drive architectural decisions through review processes.

Skills

Software architecture

Cloud-native

Distributed systems

APIs & CI/CD

Leadership

Mentoring

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

SAP / ERP systems

Job description

About Grainger

W.W. Grainger, Inc., is a leading broad line distributor with operations primarily in North America, Japan and the United Kingdom. At Grainger, We Keep the World Working by serving more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with products and solutions delivered through innovative technology and deep customer relationships. Known for its commitment to service and award-winning culture, the Company had 2024 revenue of $17.2 billion across its two business models. In the High-Touch Solutions segment, Grainger offers approximately 2 million maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) products and services, including technical support and inventory management. In the Endless Assortment segment,Zoro.comoffers customers access to more than 14 million products, andMonotaRO.comoffers more than 24 million products. For more information, visitwww.grainger.com.

Work Location Type: Hybrid

Compensation

The anticipated base pay compensation range for this position is $135,400.00 to $225,600.00.

This role is also eligible for performance-based compensation including cash bonus and company stock (RSUs).

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.
• 18 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.

You Will

Lead architecture deliverables for Grainger’s Supply Chain systems, ensuring solutions are scalable, resilient, and aligned to enterprise strategy.

• Act as a domain-level technical authority evolving the long-term architecture for Supply Chain capabilities.
• Collaborate with Product, Engineering, and Architecture partners to align technical strategy with business outcomes and roadmaps.
• Mentor and coach Technical Leads, Senior Engineers, and Engineering Managers on architectural thinking, design patterns, and modern delivery practices.
• Participate in recruiting efforts, including candidate evaluation and technical interviews, to help build strong engineering teams.
• Drive architectural decisions through established design and architecture review processes, clearly articulating tradeoffs and recommendations.
• Influence the broader GTG engineering community by shaping technology, architectural direction, and standards adoption.
• Research current and emerging technologies, assessing their applicability and proposing changes or pilots where they deliver clear business value.
• Identify systemic technical risks and proactively drive mitigation strategies across teams and platforms.

You Have

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, including several years in architecture roles guiding large-scale systems.
• Deep expertise in cloud-native architecture and distributed systems design (e.g. microservices, event-driven designs, container orchestration).
• Bring a systems-thinking perspective, choosing the appropriate integration patterns between capabilities within their specific domain.
• Strong hands-on experience building custom software solutions using modern tech stacks and development practices (APIs, CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code).
• Demonstrated success driving technical initiatives, aligning multiple teams or platforms around a common architecture vision with business impact.
• Excellent communication and leadership skills, with a proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and mentor technical teams in a collaborative, matrixed environment.
• Bachelor’s degree in business (or Management), Computer Science, Engineering, related disciplines, or equivalent work experience
• Supply chain knowledge is a plus.
• Experience with SAP or large-scale ERP systems is a plus.

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.