Staff Software Developer, Production Engineering

Ladders; United States; Remote; USD 130,000 - 155,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Life insurance

Generous leave policy: 20 vacation, 4‑

Remote work up to 90 days/year outside

Job summary

Ladders is seeking a Staff Software Developer, Production Engineering to strengthen platform reliability across distributed systems and lead practices that reduce incidents. You will influence product engineering and leadership, shape architecture decisions, and develop tools to accelerate incident mitigation.

Remote work flexibility across North America is available, with load testing and capacity planning guiding improvements to performance and resilience.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience in platform, infrastructure, or SRE roles.
• Proven ability to reduce incidents and raise operational standards.
• Strong background in backend systems and distributed architectures.
• Experience with load testing and capacity planning.
• Ability to influence cross-functional teams without direct authority.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, Helm, and modern deployment tools.
• Excellent written and verbal communication for leadership audiences.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement platform improvements to minimize incidents through guardrails and engineering standards.
• Develop tools to expedite incident mitigation, including AI-assisted incident response products.
• Lead investigations on load test outcomes and translate insights into reliability enhancements.
• Collaborate as a technical influencer across engineering teams in architecture reviews and coaching service owners.
• Identify and implement platform-level solutions for repeating failure patterns.
• Contribute to aligning reliability efforts with product engineering on incident themes and critical risks.

Skills

Load testing

Capacity planning

Cross-functional influence

Incident response

Tools

Kubernetes

Helm

Job description

For our client, we are seeking a Staff Software Developer, Production Engineering to join the team of a leader in the Finance & Insurance space. This role focuses on strengthening platform reliability, reducing incidents, and improving the operational standards that support scalable financial services. You will work across engineering teams to diagnose complex system failures, shape architecture decisions, and drive practical improvements that make the environment more resilient. The position also has a strong influence component, partnering with product engineering and technical leadership to align on risks, learnings, and long-term reliability outcomes. You will also help develop tools that speed incident mitigation and support faster response when issues arise. In addition, you will use load testing and capacity-planning insights to guide engineering changes that improve performance and stability across distributed systems.

Location: Remote

Compensation: $130,000 – $155,000 annually

Responsibilities

• Design and implement platform improvements to minimize incidents through guardrails and engineering standards
• Develop tools to expedite incident mitigation, including AI-assisted incident response products
• Lead investigations on load test outcomes and translate insights into reliability enhancements
• Collaborate as a technical influencer across engineering teams in architecture reviews and coaching service owners
• Identify and implement platform-level solutions for repeating failure patterns
• Contribute to aligning reliability efforts with product engineering on incident themes and critical risks

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, particularly in platform, infrastructure, or SRE roles
• Proven success in enhancing reliability at scale through reducing incidents and establishing operational standards
• Strong background in backend systems and distributed architectures with the ability to diagnose complex failures
• Experience in load testing and capacity planning with the ability to implement engineering improvements based on findings
• Demonstrated ability to influence cross-functional engineering teams and promote best practices without direct authority
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, Helm, and modern deployment tools
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills for presenting ideas to both technical teams and leadership

Benefits

• Comprehensive health benefits and life insurance
• Long-term group savings plan with employer matching
• Generous leave policy: 20 vacation days, 4 wellness days, unlimited sick and mental health days annually
• Opportunity to work remotely outside Canada for up to 90 days per year
• Active employee resource groups supporting diversity and inclusion in the workplace
• Flexible work environment fostering collaboration with talented and driven colleagues across North America

Our client is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every qualification—your background could be exactly what this team needs.