Staff Software Engineer, Growth

Sustain.Life; Ames (IA); Remote; USD 129,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Discretionary bonus

Restricted Stock Units

Comprehensive employee benefits

Job summary

Workiva is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead design and scaling of AI-powered applications on the Workiva platform. This role blends hands-on building with strategic leadership, guiding architecture and cross-team collaboration to deliver high-impact, secure software.

You will shape technical strategy, mentor engineers, and drive execution across teams, with a focus on AI features, LLM integration, and scalable systems using TypeScript, Java/ Kotlin, and Postgres.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in software engineering, delivering complex systems or products.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

• Drive product development and iteration from prototype to production.
• Own architecture and scale emerging products across systems.
• Act as a technical force multiplier; set high bar for quality and delivery.
• Lead and influence across teams; mentor engineers and align stakeholders.

Skills

Experience

System design

AI platforms

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

TypeScript

Java/Kotlin

Go

Postgres

MongoDB

Job description

The Growth Engineering team is focused on bringing new AI-driven product ideas to life, from early experimentation through to scalable, customer-facing solutions. Engineers on this team work across the full product lifecycle, balancing rapid iteration with thoughtful system design. As a Staff Software Engineer, you’ll help define architecture, guide technical strategy, and make high-impact contributions to products that are still taking shape.

We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer to lead the design, development, and scaling of AI-powered applications and agent-driven experiences built on the Workiva platform. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who thrives at the intersection of hands‑on building and technical leadership. Someone who can navigate ambiguity, drive architectural decisions, and influence across teams to deliver meaningful business outcomes.

As a Staff Engineer, you’ll shape technical strategy, mentor engineers, and solve complex problems that span systems and domains. You’ll work across our modern stack, primarily TypeScript, Java/Kotlin, and Postgres (SQL) and make significant hands‑on contributions to deliver secure, scalable, and high-quality software. AI is central to both how we build and what we build: you’ll help develop LLM-powered features and workflows, so we expect fluency with tools such as Claude, OpenAI Codex and/or Cursor to create intelligent, user‑facing capabilities.

What You’ll Do

Drive product development and iteration

• Build and iterate on new AI‑powered product concepts from prototype to production, using rapid feedback loops to validate and refine ideas. You will be building a lot.

• Partner closely with Product and Design to shape problem definition, test hypotheses, and evolve solutions based on user and business impact.

• Make pragmatic trade‑offs between speed and scalability, knowing when to optimize for learning versus long‑term durability.

Own architecture, and scale what works

• Define and evolve architecture for emerging products, enabling a path from early experiments to reliable, scalable systems.

• Lead technical discovery and implementation for ambiguous, high‑impact initiatives that span multiple systems.

• Establish patterns, frameworks, and guardrails that allow teams to move quickly without sacrificing quality.

Act as a technical force multiplier

• Set a high bar for code quality, system design, and operational excellence while maintaining a bias toward action and delivery.

• Unblock teams, navigate cross‑team dependencies, and drive alignment in fast‑moving, evolving problem spaces.

• Identify technical risks early and shape the roadmap to support both near‑term delivery and long‑term sustainability, again with heavy influence from AI.

Lead and influence across teams

• Mentor engineers and provide technical guidance across projects and teams.

• Collaborate with Product, UX, and stakeholders to align on priorities, trade‑offs, and outcomes.

• Contribute to a culture of experimentation, learning, and continuous improvement.

What You’ll Need

Minimum Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience in software engineering, with a track record of delivering complex systems or products from concept to production.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong experience with one or more of: TypeScript, Java/Kotlin, Go, or similar modern languages, along with relational databases such as Postgres and noSQL solutions like MongoDB.

• Strong foundation in Account concepts and how they can be applied in software solutions

• Experience building and shipping AI‑powered features, such as LLM integrations, copilots, or agent‑based workflows, in customer‑facing applications.

• Familiarity with AI development platforms and tools such as OpenAI, Claude, Cursor, or similar.

• Proven ability to operate in ambiguous environments and drive solutions from early‑stage ideas to production systems.

• Strong systems design skills, with the ability to balance rapid iteration and long‑term scalability.

• Experience influencing technical direction beyond your immediate team.

• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to navigate trade‑offs and align stakeholders.

• A proactive, product‑minded approach with a passion for building and learning.

• Experience with AWS or similar cloud platforms and modern SaaS architectures.

Travel Requirements & Working Conditions

• Up to 10% travel for team jams and internal developer conference

• Reliable internet access for any period of time working remotely, not in a Workiva office

How You’ll Be Rewarded

Salary range in the US: $129,000.00 - $210,000.00

A discretionary bonus typically paid annually

Restricted Stock Units granted at time of hire

401(k) match and comprehensive employee benefits package

The salary range represents the low and high end of the salary range for this job in the US. Minimums and maximums may vary based on location. The actual salary offer will carefully consider a wide range of factors, including your skills, qualifications, experience and other relevant factors.

Why Join Workiva

Workiva is the platform designed to bring confidence, control, and a competitive edge to the world’s most complex organizations. Our AI‑powered platform unifies finance, risk, and sustainability on a single, secure foundation—ensuring data is trusted, traceable, and ready to act on. With an unbroken path from source to output, leaders gain confidence in their numbers, visibility into current and emerging risks, and the ability to move with speed and precision in a constantly changing world.

At Workiva, you’ll bring technology to market that executives, boards, and regulators depend on. The work you do here helps organizations navigate uncertainty, maintain trust, and make decisions that stand up to scrutiny. If you’re energized by meaningful challenges, inspired by collaborative teams, and motivated to help organizations turn uncertainty into advantage, we’d love to meet you.

Employment decisions are made without regard to age, race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, citizenship status or any other protected characteristic.

Workiva is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. To request assistance with the application process, please email [e-mail].

Workiva employees are required to undergo comprehensive security and privacy training tailored to their roles, ensuring adherence to company policies and regulatory standards.

Workiva supports employees in working where they work best - either from an office or remotely from any location within their country of employment.

#LI-KP1